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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2013
- What's inside a 1997 vintage Nintendo 64 gaming console?
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Dave, I think you'll find that the CPU will not respond without a cartridge due to the security measures that Nintendo added. When a cartridge with a corresponding CIC chip is not present, the CPU is kept in reset state, so the system will not play pirated games.
Not to mention that RDRAM also needs termination as another youtube viewer said so you'd have to put in the expansion pack for it to properly work. A second look into this please!
23:56 - Taking back the doppler effect on the electrons' "engine noise". Possibly the nerdiest self-correction ever.
"Look at that bastard security skrew" ... I love your personality. Subscribed.
James Jeffery Hahahahha
EEVBlog, your background knowledge and attention to detail on these teardowns is awesome. I just watched you formulate a more thorough understanding of the workings of this system without a game, power supply, or prior usage of the system than some people who have been playing and studying this system since it came out. Good job my friend!
Those are some impressive specifications for the time. No wonder games like GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark looked so good.
Really cool video. I was a game developer for the N64 back when it was still referred to as the "Ultra 64". This was of course before it was released to the public. So I suspect the "NUS" on the chips stood for "Nintendo Ultra Sixtyfour", rather than "Nintendo Ultimate Sixtyfour".
Liked that electron drift velocity save :D
Someone send him a bloody cartridge!
no
@@user-yk1cw8im4h 6 years old and still relevant :D
The screws are NEC External Line Head "GameBit" screws. You can remove them by melting a clear Bic pen over them and unscrewing. SGI designed it very similar to one of their CGI workstations but the RCP was designed by a team eventually known as ArtX (supposedly assembled and contracted by Nintendo). After designing the GameCube GPU they were bought by ATI and put to work on the Radeon 9700 Pro and newer GPUs.
Some of the workers there probably still design GPUs for AMD, who knows, perhaps some of the people behind the recent cards that can do crazy stuff like Ray Tracing worked on the Nintendo GameCube graphics chip back in the late 90s
I believe the Jumper Pak was to delay the cost of the extra memory and to expand the product life. The systems were built in '96, and the cost of the 4MB RAMBus memory was huge. but the cost in '99 (when the Jumper Pak was released) was a fraction. That is why the pak was even included for free in Donkey Kong 64.
+D.E. Sarcarean Yep, I still have the pack that came with Donkey Kong 64!
The Expansion Pak was bundled in with DK64 because of a game-breaking glitch. Without it, the game would crash and become unplayable. Rare discovered that the Expansion Pak fixed the glitch and thus asked Nintendo to include it with the game.
Wasn't that game more expensive though?
i would think another reason for the cartridge port being socketed is if it was damaged or broken they could just pop it out and stick in a new one
As for the cartridge socket connector, I actually think it's a pretty solid design, and not a questionable cost-cutting measure.
Think about what's going on here. First of all, kids absolutely *will* slam cartridges home, possibly on a regular basis. I'm sure I did it myself back when my '64 was in service. One of my first thoughts when you started looking at the main socket was "solder joints will be pulled off the board in no time with a kid slamming that cartridge home". Solder joints are pretty solid, but impact force transmitted against the joint via a through-hole pin is a great way to delaminate the copper pad entirely from the board, if not fracture the joint outright.
But with this design, right off the bat, by having the cartridge socket connected via a socket of its own, there are now two points of play to absorb the stress of this impact. Also, because the mounted socket is through-hole and *on the bottom* (leaving the solder pads on the top layer), any impact force which is transmitted through both sockets to the solder joints is now *pulling the joint together* (into the board), as opposed to pushing it apart (away from the board).
Clever, if you ask me.
marshaul Not only that, but those connectors could get worn out. Replacing them was now trivial. It is a very, very clever design all around.
That memory expansion slot on top is most likely the 'Jumper Pak', which you were supposed to replace with the 'Expansion Pak' (4MB RAM expansion, sold separately) released later by Nintendo. The expansion slot on the bottom was intended for the 64DD, a disk drive add-on for the N64 that basically failed commercially. It only came out in Japan.
N64 without the memory expansion would have a Rambus DRAM Terminator on the expansion slot there, the system either requires that terminator or the expansion to work.
You have to have the memory expansion module inserted for the thing to function, remember, it's RAMBUS.
All slots must be populated with RAM or jumper modules.
Also worth noting is that sometimes, if not often, there were additional circuitry on the cartridges themselves to support extra features of the game(s). Extra processing and memory, like what was often seen in old Atari carts, IIRC.
The expansion slot on the bottom was for the N64DD - Nintendo 64 Disc Drive. A relative failure of an expansion that got a limited release in Japan between December 1999 & August 2000 and never made it outside of Japan.
Well then. That proves Nintendo likes Japan more that other countries. Hmmmm....
TheGamerWithMore Considering Nintendo (and Sony) is a Japanese company, it makes sense that they test things like the 64DD in their home country before trying to export it internationally. :P
I read they also planned on having a modem for that expansion slot, but like the disk drive never made it out of Japan.
Funny, I've donne a course in computer programming, and worked in programing. Then I went for a course in networking, and am now working as both a sysadmin and networking engineer. These videos, after recently discovering your channel, almost makes me want to go back to college and learn electronics, as soon as I'm done paying my student loans (worked for the last 5 years, still 10 years to go on my loans (not as expensive as the US in Canada, but still expensive). I love to learn these things.
Should have done EE the first time. Those other two are under the umbrella anyway.
It is 2013 and this is currently one of the most inspiring blogs on youtube. The mystery of electronics hardware is sooo interesting to hear about, and Dave is an excellent teacher for this. Thousands thunbs up from me!
I love the power direction arrows on the silkscreen!
EEVblog A really cool tid-bit about the N64, is that it and the GameCube used the exact same AV cable plugin. So you could use the gamecubes should your N64s go bad or vice-a Verse-a.
Also controllers ... or at least sockets & protocol
Hans Meier Sorry. I can confirm that's wrong, The GCs is pluging for controllers is Much smaller and has a metal prong system on the outside, the N64 lacks that.
TheLastRaven6 not a problem :) Never used a GC myself and grabbed that info from an usually reliable source. Thanks for correcting.
The AV out at least has the same connector as the SNES tho ... that's first degree knowledge on my part.
Hans Meier Its alright. I cant confirm on the SNES one though, it wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo had done that.
The snes also use the same video connector. :) For example RGB signals is only supported on all variations though. I'be also seen this connector on extremely rare NES versions (i believe you had to live in france, have the NES2 and complain about the video quality to customer service to get one)
Random thought: The RAMBUS RAM wouldn't have any termination without the memory expansion or a termination pack installed. It probably wouldn't start up properly with the memory non-functional.
Yes. The memory expansion port would have a terminator installed if the RAM expansion pack was not installed. Without either, the memory would not work, hence the lack of signal on that bus.
As well as a cartridge
I think the sega saturn would be a much more interesting system to tear down and review like that.
Lots and lots and lots of off the shelf chips and like 6 separate memory areas, also the drive mechanics and such.
I knew I wouldn't be disappointed with this teardown! Fighting with the security screw and pulling out the drill is what I come here for, love it!
For the screws: take a plastic pen (casing only) which fits in the hole and hold it above a lighter which melts the plastic. Then press the hot plastic pen casing into the hole with screw and when the plastic is cooled off you have a fitting mold to unscrew these.
Or, just buy a game bit driver for a couple of bucks and do it the right (and easy) way.
The N64 used RDRAM. The console shipped with a terminal jumper stuck under that little door. Most games ran fine, but for things like frame buffer effects and motion blur you had to have the additional module, which I believed doubled the system RAM. They only made like three or four games that required it, though; Majora's Mask and Donkey Kong 64 were two of them.
+rlrsk8r1 dk64 only needed it because of a bug that caused a memory leak ,the pak fixed it ,perfect dark needed it too for the main gameplay ,conkers bad fur day is wAY superior to DK64 and did not need it :) and that game had full facial animations and dynamic realtime lighting effects etc etc
'Road Rash 64' also used the Expansion Pak (NUS-007) that increased framerate from 30 to 60 Hz.
Love this video! Would love to see more retro Nintendo vids from you. Been gearing up to mod my Nintendo 64 for RGB output, and your soldering tutorials have been extremely helpful for me! Thanks so much, and keep up the amazing work!
This was fantastic! Thanks for the insight and the nostalgia!
I wish you had taught every single one of my electrical engineering classes.
they wanted to.. they tried.... there where arguments in meeting rooms every day..... it was important...when something is important you need to stand for it... but there was no give.... they would not call they could not call the peripheral interface chip: P-NUS or the amp-nus the A-NUS
hahahahahah!!
trash joke
@@user-yk1cw8im4h could be worse
Excellent teardown! Enjoyed this video very much, thank you.
The pcb layout and quality looks very very nice!
True story: I dropped my N64 down two flights of wooden/metal stairs (no carpet) and it survived without only relatively minor cosmetic damage.
That video connector was also used in the SNES
Hello Dave,
Thanks for a brilliant teardown, as always. Keep up the good work.
Best regards from Sweden :)
Many thanks to Dave (plus eevblog) for this vid, been looking for an n64 in recycling centers and op shops and verge collection for ages (I've no $$$) but nice to see the internals!
You sound alot like Murray (Rhys Darby) from Flight of the Concords, great video by the way :D Can't get enough of these tear-down videos!
matt jolliffe He's New Zealand right? In that case I'm offended!
+EEVblog Stay cool, Murray
+matt jolliffe LEGGY LEGGY LEGGY LEGGY leggy leggy leggy leggy LEGGY LEGGY LEGGY LEGGY leggy leggy leggy leggy BLONDIE BLONDIE BLONDIE BLONDIE blondie blondie blondie blondie BLONDIE BLONDIE BLONDIE BLONDIE blondie blondie blonde goooooooobye!!!
I had a budgie but it died... whoa oh oh... I like... pie!
I set one of these on fire (I bought a jewel case one and wanted to dick around with mine) it still ran.
I dropped it 6 stories, still ran.
Ran over it with a 3/4 ton pickup, still ran.
Put it underwater and waited for it to dry, still ran
these things make todays consoles look like wet tissue paper
legionbunny They're the Toyota Hilux of consoles... I even remember overclocking mine. Made Perfect Dark, well, perfect.
frtard yeah consoles used to be great. I have this and a ps2, I managed to drop the ps2 from the top of wardrobe and it survived, and I dropped by accident the n64 from the loft when i was taking it out onto the ground floor two floors below me, and it survived, so these things were sturdy.
My friend once said that consoles used to be made out of nintendium, the second hardest substance known to man, right after nokadium
legionbunny lol
+legionbunny Forgot to turn mine off while I went on a 2 month summer vacation. Came home and continued my OOT game.
The red thing is the ram expansion. Only used for some games.
I am so addicted to these teardown videos now ....
have you gotten rid of your addictiob
I love your voice its brilliant, those complaining simply need to get out a bit.
In a hurry so haven't got time to watch the whole vid yet but the chipset on this was co-designed by Silicon Graphics. This was around the time the first hardware accelerated graphics cards where around and the developer version of this was like £64,000 :o(
Cheers Dave, I learned something about checking clocks from this one!
as a kid i could remember the smell of warmth metal out of them top vents ,was a nice smell playing a demanding game
FYI: The N64 was not a failure.
Death's Heir To be honest, even though the N64 is one of my favorite consonles, as far as the mainstream gaming market of the time is concerned, yes it was. The PS1 outsold it massively and many planned add ons and games were completely dropped and canceled due to low sales. I really have more of a problem with the part where he claims that most other consoles had DVD drives at the time... wtf...
Kristina I think he meant CD drives.
Kristina DVD: Digital Video Disc.
Jasper Teakle yes, I know what DVD means, but game consoles during the time of the N64 used CDs, not DVDs
Jasper Teakle DVD is an acronym for Digital Versatile Disc.
I cringed when you brought the drill out, that was the 8mb (i think) memory expansion in that n64, quite rare these days.
The expansion pack added 4 MB of RAM I believe.
It increased it from 4MB to 8MB so yes it added 4MB.
Ronald Smith There's some second-party ones out there, and I think they're not so rare either.
Also, that RAM expansion does nothing for the N64's major failing...not enough texture cache! (They probably couldn't have done much better given die space.)
Ed Herdman Actually, I better walk back that comment about "does nothing" - I forget that the RAM actually helps some games attain better frame rates, and others get better textures. The texture cache is still a problem - I imagine that the RAM is just allowing more textures to be quickly available for rendering in the cache.
Ed Herdman and also required for donkey kong 64, for a graphics bug I beleive?
Reminds of the good ol' days. More vintage/retro stuff please!
What a nice board, very well designed! I love it! Cheers Dave for the insight into the N64!
n64 is vintage ? im old :(
The bootloader is on the cartridge, also you didn't even have the memory termination on it...
jonharson - Technically, the initial bootloader is in the PIF chip (lower-right of the board), but yep, it does read about 1MB from the start of the cart into RDRAM, then executes that...
The R4300 reset vector is a 0x1FC00000, and the RCP chip maps the PIF chip Boot ROM into that address space at power-up too.
Part of the small PIF boot code actually loads into the RSP (vector CPU inside the RCP), which then initializes the Country / TV region and RDRAM, checks the CIC lockout chip, then loads the cart boot code into RDRAM.
Yep, the N64 must have the "jumper pak" installed before it can boot at all.
Not only do the resistor arrays on the jumper pak pull the RDRAM data / control lines up to a VTERM voltage, but it also routes the RAM clock through the jumper pak and back into the console.
It does that so the clock is always input from the end of the "chain" of RAMBUS chips, as it's at quite a high speed, and the routing helps with the impedance matching.
A few years ago I managed to emulate part of the PIF chip on an FPGA, and got the N64 to show some stuff on the screen without even needing a cart in. ;)
***** Hi - it was just a basic test to see if the N64 would try to boot from some simple code in the PIF Emu on the FPGA.
I simply lifted the three data / clock pins on the original PIF, then hooked up the signals to / from the RCP directly to the FPGA board...
The test boot code only enabled the VI (Video Interface) so it would show something on screen, and because the RDRAM was uninitialized, it only displayed some garbage (coloured dots etc.).
IIRC, there's only about 2KB worth of boot code in the PIF, so not much to play with.
It would be possible to get it to display a simple logo or something without a cart in though.
I didn't implement the controller / EEPROM / CIC stuff either, so the CIC codes would need to be spoofed to get carts to run (like most emulators do).
It was more of an experiment really, but I'm way further along than that now...
We may possibly be seeing an N64 FPGA core in the coming months, and maybe even an open-source SNES core. :)
loved the design of the console and controller as well it was a sweet design idea how the bulk end of the power supply plugged into the console the first and only time i have ever seen that implemented to my knowledge.
Pin 130 is VCC (3V3), and pin 154 is Ground, so it's probably just for impedance / noise control etc.
There are only a few signals going from the CPU to the cart slot, like NMI and /INT2. The COLDRESET signal comes from the PIF and control both the CPU and RCP main reset.
(I did some almost-complete schematics under Eagle a few years back).
they put security screws so you don't see the cheap heat sink.
yeah cheap heat sink but effective
They made up for it with game cube.
such a dumb comment
I still play with my parents N64
Castlemaster712 I don't think that's what he meant.
cutemimi25 I know, he just needed to add a " ' " after parents :P
Well okay then.
One of my favorite consoles from my childhood, It rather difficult to tear down as I remember.
Dave I was so into this tear down. I blew the dust out when you opened it up. 😂
NUS = Nintendo Ultra Sixty Four. The console's second codename in development (the first was Project Reality, hence the SGI chip names). It's common practice for Nintendo to use an acronym of the codename for all the part names of consoles. For example, everything on the GameCube was labelled DOL (Project Dolphin) and the Wii - RVL (Revolution). Ultra 64 was going to be the final name of the N64, but was quickly changed just before release due to another game developer having trademarked the name.
Sorry if I'm the 1 millionth person to tell you that.
Ultra 64 wasn't a code name for it. That's just what they planned to call it until changing it for reasons you mentioned.
game bit screws suck also that memory expansion is worth something (if it works)
I think it'd actually be pretty cool if you did some other consoles, I've been watching your videos for years, but the vintage computer and game system ones are some of my favorites.
Thanks Dave and Dave. I love N64's, can't believe I've never seen inside one before this!
I bashed the shit out of mine because I thought I could take the processor out and put it into my PC
92MHz (i think) glory!
Isiah Folio 93.75mhz.
Nintendo Ultra 64. Not Ultimate
wrong
Excellent video mate, love it! , thanks for explaining some of the components on the PCB as I am noob with electronics and your knowledge is incredible!, thanks for a great video!
It really looks very well built up.
Fuck, N64 is retro now? Twenty years passes quickly. I was eight years old with this thing came out and it was the cutting edge of consoles in my feeble mind. I remember playing the NES in the late '90s and thinking that shit was outdated.
I bashed the shit out of mine because I thought I could take the processor out and put it into my PC. Lo and behold, there's a lot of different chips in there and I couldn't figure out which was the CPU. I was unaware that if it didn't have AMD or Intel socket pins, I was shit outta luck.
+joh n Live and learn, brother.
I'm sounding like an old fart now.
Where does that leave me and my Commodore C64?
I bashed the shit out of mine because I thought I could take the processor out and put it into my PC
N64 and PS have been considered retro since about the time xbox 360 came out, found it pretty weird first time I saw a 3d console refered to as retro.
I still have my Nintendo 64 and it still works very well, I have so many memories of playing MarioKart 64 and Super Mario 64 and Lylat Wars ( Star Fox 64 to those of you in America). The N64 was my favourite video game system of the late 90s.
I have all the consoles and computers I've bought since the mid-1970s. Some of them need maintenance, but the only ones that have never given me any problems at all are the Nintendos - don't know whether I'm lucky or whether it's just they're built so well.
Do a barrel roll!!!
Kevo F "Hey Einstein I'm on your side!!!!!"
Leevi Klemi You mean the little red memory unit? It's 4Mb, which brings the total to 8Mb.
Leevi Klemi You're welcome ;)
Thannks, Dave for the donation
Originally the console shipped with a "Jumper Pack" which terminated the RAMBUS. The Expansion Pack was a replacement, you take out the jumper pack and insert the expansion pack. It doesn't work without one of these two devices connected! Also, it gives no signal without a cartridge, confused me to no end why I had absolutely nothing, but it was a dirty cartridge connector and wasn't detecting or booting the games.
It lacks power supply and ROM charge, it's not faulty.
Fact : the n64 was designed to boot using the 8mb expansion by default and would only go to the integrate 4mb when the expansion wasn't plugged in
RandomVideos woow didnt kow that. but what i dont understand is why made it the graphic of some games better, namingly turok 2 if i remember correkt
Noxy Keng i guess the normal 4mb couldn't handle high-res images as they use more resources
RandomVideos ah that makes sense thank you very much
Noxy Keng You're welcome
+RandomVideos Not sure what you mean by "boot" using the 8mb expansion?
Part of the initial test of the RDRAM bus is to output a signal from one RAM chip to the next so it can determine how many chips there are, but that's about it.
I'm not even sure the boot code (inside the PIF chip) then does any further checks above the usual 4mb. That's usually left to the boot code inside the cart itself.
But yep - the 8mb expansion was required by some later games so they could store higher res textures, and also leave a bit of extra room for a 640x480 "high res" framebuffer too.
btw, the RAMBUS stuff won't work at all unless the jumper pak is installed, because the jumper pak routes the main RDRAM clock from the clock gen chip back through another pin on the expansion port. The jumper pak also has pull-up resistors to VTERM for setting the idle logic level, so the RCP wouldn't be able to access the onboard RAM at all without it. ;)
Love the video! Good stuff man.
As mentioned, the system sits idle, with no cartridge, which you've probed for and noted. The signal you saw on the video bus was the console displaying a cartridge error.
She looks good to me. B)
I noticed the RDRAM specs show the 2 pairs of pins in the corners of U11 for example are mechanical only.
(P)-NUS
That's not a knife, this is a knife
Hey! That's stolen from that..you know..movie.
The memory expansion has to be plugged in for the system to boot. The original consoles shipped with a termination block in place of the upgrade module.
5:06 ROFL! I work for a city municipality, and I find electronic gear thrown out every day at our recycle and that is one thing you must watch out for.
Back in the day when they've got made in Japan not china...
On the processor, Pins 112 and 116 can be set in different configs.
CPU Pin # 1.0x | 1.5x | 2.0x | 3.0x
Pin 112 GND | +3.3v | GND | +3.3v
Pin 116 GND | GND | +3.3v | +3.3v
A mod on certain revs can add the RGB channels with an op amp or direct connections to the a/v out.
On the NTSC models the JAP and USA models can be cart-slot modded to be compatible with both regions.
The expansion slot comes stock with a jumper pack, which is just a terminator. The 4MB expansions just adds 2 more chips.
The memory expansion or the memory expansion jumper has to be installed for the console to work right.
Yep, good point.
Dave, the TI chip near the controller ports is a buffer. When people trim these boards, they cut it off and wire the controllers without the buffer.
great vid. 13:47 cool to see they used thermal pads instead of thermal adhesive on the CPU, GPU, and RAM.....you could probably remove the pads from the heatsink blocks and apply thermal paste for computers on those chips. I wonder how much of a diff it would make.
Socketed cartridge connector may just be to make it easy to replace when it wears
Very nice video. As few others mentioned, the console sits idle without a cartridge and it isn't hotswappable officially. Probably doesn't help that it doesn't have the expansion memory inserted either (since its RAMBUS). But it will send out a blank video signal with power, which is probably what your seeing. Either way, very cool.
Thanks for posting this! I was looking for a compatible cartridge connector a couple of years ago but they use a non-standard 2.5mm pitch so I wound up getting a used cartridge connector. How it connected without solder was a mystery until today!
that's the current control programming line for the rambus driver on the RCP. basically a current shunt to program the drive strength
Yeah, it's a bit strange.
I just checked my board though, and the inner track definitely goes to the groundplane on the underside (at both ends).
Vterm is a fixed voltage from the reg, so I'm not sure how critical the impedance matching would be in this case.
Excellent video!
He's done an unboxing and test vids on it already. You'll have to check the video list though, I can't remember which blog it was offhand.
dude that was awesome about the cartridge slot!!
I still have my N64 lol it's in a box somewhere. I remember going out and buying the expansion pack (little red thing under that small cover) I was so stoked. Brings back some good memories. Golden Eye was awesome!
Sweet video as always EEV
Pif(P)-NUS (peripheral interface chip) probably counts the cartridge slot as peripheral storage and that's why it does region lockout management.
Cartridges are swapped regularly though so that may be the reason for them using raised grounding pins, even though a reset is required to swap carts.
It might be worth noting that in order for the system to function, you needed at least a jumper pack plugged into the memory expansion port (which the system shipped with). You could buy the memory expansion pack separately, but some of the more popular titles in it's library actually required and shipped with the expansion pack. It also could boot without a cartridge, but it wouldn't get past the boot screen. As far as I know, you couldn't hot-swap the cartridges either.
Also, as noted in the comments already the expansion port on the bottom was for some Japan only add-ons such as the disc drive as well as some development kits.
What was different running with or without the 4MB memory expansion? Could you not run all games without the expansion?
Must be to help shield the trace. Maybe eddy currents in the ground plane were inducing fluctuations in the current and glitching the RDRAM data. Was likely added in one of the board revisions as a trick of the trade.
at 26:00 what are those traces coming from the GPU that stop just before they get to the RAM? I also spied a few coming from the CPU to the cartridge slot.
Fantastic video Dave! I admit I lost it when you pulled out the drill. :D
As someone who has repaired an xbox here and there I too know the hatred for the dreaded "safety screw"!
a good trick for getting out weirdly shaped security screws is to take a plastic pen (the thicker the tube the better), remove the ink cartridge, and heat the end of the empty tube with a lighter. when it's soft enough to mould push it down hard and straight on the screwhead, let it set and you've got yourself a custom screwdriver. It won't last for very long, but it beats drilling things out imo.