I'm asking mostly out of curiosity as I have no knowledge of IC design, but is it feasible to develop a chip that performs the graphics operations that are so difficult to emulate precisely on modern PCs? I've read that there are these "fab labs" that can make ICs. Presumably, you hand them a blueprint and they fabricate it for you. I don't know how capable they are, but it's been like 14 years since the gamecube. At that time, the chips in the console were top-of-the-line. Today, surely enthusiasts are capable of producing a chip akin to those in the gamecube? I don't mean replicating the chips transistor for transistor as that would be in direct violation of copyright law; However, implementing the more troublesome operations (and in our own words) seems like it would move emulation toward exactness without slowing down games. Implementing these algorithms in hardware is as much a violation of copyright law as it is in software. The dolphin emulator is still here, so it can't be in violation.
As well, I don't know a whole lot about computer architecture / motherboards / how the GPU communicates with the rest of the computer, etc. Y'all probably know more than I do. I imagine that said chip could plug into a PCI express slot or something and complement the CPU and GPU rather than replace them. Would this work with a current motherboard or are they more fussy than that? Could the chip communicate via USB or is that too slow?
As well, I don't know a whole lot about computer architecture / motherboards / how the GPU communicates with the rest of the computer, etc. Y'all probably know more than I do. I imagine that said chip could plug into a PCI express slot or something and complement the CPU and GPU rather than replace them. Would this work with a current motherboard or are they more fussy than that? Could the chip communicate via USB or is that too slow?