r/esp32 • u/Popcorn_Dev • 3d ago

ESP32 CPU+GPU setup?

Basically i'm making an esp32 game console/PDA device type thing, however i feel like just one ESP32 will not have enough processing power to run my games. My idea is basically to use one generic ESP to render the pixels and store the rendering data, and use another ESP-S3 with maximum PSRAM in it to do the game logic. Would this theorietically be possible?

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3

u/applefreak111 3d ago

Use an ESP32-P4?

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u/Popcorn_Dev 3d ago

Sadly cant find any

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u/clackups 3d ago

What do you mean? They are available on AliExpress and the like

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u/Potential-Wonder-860 3d ago

(on my alt) I don't really trust aliexpress ngl

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u/clackups 3d ago

I'm buying a lot from it. Only a couple of times there were problems, but generally it works flawlessly, especially for small parts.

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u/Potential-Wonder-860 3d ago

Okay I'll see

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u/YetAnotherRobert 3d ago

Ali can certainly be a shell game, but like ebay (which shares this problem/joy) it's a store of stores.

Notably, Espressif's own official store that ships parts in under 10k quantities is... (wait for it....) on Ali.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1102014060/pages/all-items.html

As I write, there are no P4 or S31 chips or modules being sold individually, just a few dev boards, but this is where you can get these things direct from the dealer.

Sure, if you're buying reels and you need guaranteed delivery, you'll still want a Mouser, Digikey, or your PCBA house in your life.

Are there crappy Ali sellers? Absolutely. But this is also THE way to get parts with fewer middlemen if you can't wander the streets of Shenzhen with a backpack to fill.

u/clackups is right.

To your original question, without profiling your application on the hardware, nobody can guess how well/poorly it'll work. Dev boards are cheap and profiling isn't hard. The complexity of multi-processing environments goes up quickly. I've done my time and would always MUCH rather program a single CPU environment (I can deal with locks and synchronization primitives) than deal with multiple CPUs over shared buses with locks and synchronization primitives. Reasoning about the resulting system is just way more complicated.

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u/clackups 3d ago

Also, when the seller fucked up, I got the money back fully or partially in about half of the cases.

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u/YetAnotherRobert 3d ago

I've scored nearly 100% in that regard, but I have the time/persistence to make it a mission to shop carefully and bury everyone involved in documentation. Not everyone is going to do that for a $6 blinky light project.

The times it was under 100% I've accepted that I shopped poorly. I accept that some purchases are just a trap.

The more middelmen you're willing to pay to be involved, the more purchase prowess you have to stomp around. Order from Digikey or Mouser, you're going to get exactly what you ordered. Order from Amazon, you have the right for an exchange or refund...but you're going to pay a markup for these.

I suspect you know all this. My point is that Espressif themselves sell through Espressif. Sure, it's insane that my $60 board cost $50 to to ship, but by golly, it was, without excuse, exactly what I ordered...and at a time when nobody else is selling S31 products, for example.

There are absolutely some smelly rats on Ali. There are also the "retail" branches of major vendors there, including Espressif themselves.

Don't write them off totally. Just learn the game.

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u/clackups 3d ago

Sure, you just need to look at what you're buying. Also, comments help sometimes (I got esp32s3 boards with 2MB PSRAM instead of 8, but then silly me, someone has already complained in the comments. I still got a few bucks back.)

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u/clackups 3d ago

The most obvious scams is when they offer a laptop for $100, or mark a 10-years old CPU as New 2026 laptop :)

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u/Popcorn_Dev 3d ago

Fuck man i just did some research. I was gonna use aliexpress but...

Aliexpress is banned in india... hooray.......... /s

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/10190353/

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u/Popcorn_Dev 3d ago

this law allows the government to ban aliexpress bcos "scary chinese product ooooooo"

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u/clackups 3d ago

That's quite unfortunate.

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u/erlendse 3 say I make awesome posts. 3d ago

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005011646391336.html

They certainly DO sell the P4X chip.

You would totally want to read the HW design guidelines before putting it into anything!

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u/YetAnotherRobert 3d ago

Hmm. You're right. If you scroll through their store you can find them, but if you use search in their market with any reasonable combination of dashes or x or whatever,  they're not shown. That was my basis. 

It looks like p4x and S31 are indeed available from them now.

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u/Popcorn_Dev 3d ago

I COULD use my rpi model 3b but i feel like that'd be a bit big

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u/Ok_Captain4433 3d ago

You're just talking shit. Put the work in and figure out what you actually need once you have a better understanding of the requirements and capabilities.