Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 (N64) is Nintendo's fifth-generation home console, released in Japan in June 1996, in North America in September 1996 and in Europe in March 1997. It was Nintendo's first machine designed around real-time 3D rendering and its last to use cartridges until the Switch. It was developed under the codename Project Reality in partnership with Silicon Graphics.
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| Nintendo 64 console with controller | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Nintendo |
| Type | Home video game console |
| Released | June 23, 1996 (Japan) September 29, 1996 (North America) |
| Discontinued | 2002 |
| CPU | NEC VR4300, 64-bit MIPS R4300i core, 93.75 MHz |
| Memory | 4 MB RDRAM, 8 MB with the Expansion Pak |
| Storage | ROM cartridge; saves on cartridge EEPROM/SRAM/FlashRAM or on the Controller Pak |
| Display | 256×224 to 640×480, composite, S-Video and RF |
| Sound | 16-bit stereo, generated in software on the RCP |
| Graphics | Reality Coprocessor (RCP), designed by Silicon Graphics |
| Power | NUS-002 external supply: +3.3 V and +12 V. No 5 V rail comes in from the brick |
| OS / Firmware | None |
| Predecessor | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Successor | Nintendo GameCube |
| Codename | Project Reality |
| Model no. | NUS-001 |
Nintendo never published a service manual for it. There is no manufacturer parts list, no diagnostic table and no official capacitor list for this machine. What documentation exists is community work, and the pages below say which source each figure comes from. The most useful single document is the NUS-CPU-03/04 mainboard schematic hosted here.[1]
For servicing, see Nintendo 64 Maintenance Guide, Nintendo 64 Troubleshooting Guide and Nintendo 64 Capacitor Replacement Guide.
Architecture
editA NEC VR4300 at 93.75 MHz — a 64-bit MIPS R4300i core with a 32-bit external bus — paired with the Reality Coprocessor, an SGI design that contains both the Reality Signal Processor and the Reality Display Processor. The RCP does the geometry, rasterisation and audio work; there is no separate sound chip, and audio is generated in software on the RSP with the microcode supplied by the game.
Main memory is unified RDRAM shared by CPU, graphics and audio, which is the machine's defining architectural constraint: bandwidth, not processing, is usually what limits an N64 game.
Memory
edit4 MB of RDRAM as shipped, 8 MB contiguous with the Expansion Pak fitted in place of the Jumper Pak.
The Jumper Pak is not optional. It is a passive RAMBUS bus terminator, and with neither pak fitted the console will not boot at all. A missing or half-seated pak looks exactly like a dead console, and neither pak contains any capacitors — there is nothing in either of them to recap.
Saves live on the cartridge, in EEPROM, battery-backed SRAM or FlashRAM depending on the title, or on the removable Controller Pak that plugs into the controller.
Power
editThe NUS-002 external supply is a switch-mode unit, not an adapter, and it delivers two rails over a six-way connector: +3.3 V at roughly 2.7 A and +12 V at roughly 0.8 A, with three ground ways.
No 5 V rail comes in from the brick. The board generates its own +5 V with a 78M05 at U13, from the incoming +12 V, and derives the RDRAM's Vterm (2.56 V) and Vref (1.92 V) on board with a PQ7VZ5 at U12. There is no fuse in the console's power path.[1]
The supply is the most common failure in an N64 system. It contains mains-side capacitors that hold a lethal charge after it is unplugged; see Nintendo 64 Maintenance Guide before opening one.
Video and audio
editOutput resolutions run from 256×224 to 640×480, through composite, S-Video and RF depending on region and lead. The RCP provides Z-buffering, perspective-correct texture mapping, trilinear mipmap filtering and full-scene anti-aliasing — the last of which, combined with the small texture cache, gives the machine its characteristic soft look.
Audio is 16-bit stereo, mixed in software; channel counts and quality vary by title because the audio microcode is the game's choice, not the hardware's.
Input and expansion
editFour controller ports, built in — the first home console generation to treat four-player as standard rather than an accessory. Each controller has an expansion slot taking the Controller Pak (memory), the Rumble Pak (force feedback) or the Transfer Pak (Game Boy cartridge access).
The analogue stick is the console's defining wear item. Its gimbal wears mechanically, and a worn one cannot be cleaned or calibrated back into specification — it is replaced.
Board revisions
editThe mainboard is silkscreened NUS-CPU-xx on NTSC and Japanese machines, NUS-CPU(P)-xx on PAL machines and NUS-CPU(R)-xx on a further variant. The revisions differ in their capacitor complement and in the video DAC fitted, so any component list that does not name a revision does not apply to your board. The schematic hosted here covers NUS-CPU-03 and -04 and marks the one section that is present on the -03 only.[1]
Servicing
edit| Topic | Page |
|---|---|
| Preventive care, supply rails, opening the console | Nintendo 64 Maintenance Guide |
| Symptom-driven fault-finding | Nintendo 64 Troubleshooting Guide |
| Capacitors, mainboard and power supply, by revision | Nintendo 64 Capacitor Replacement Guide |
Case screws are 4.5 mm Gamebit, not tri-wing. Every electrolytic on the mainboard is surface-mount.
Documents hosted here: N64 NUS-CPU-03-04 Schematic.
Motherboard images
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Nintendo 64 mainboard, top -
Nintendo 64 mainboard, underside
Gallery
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Nintendo 64 console and controller -
Expansion Pak -
Controller Pak -
Rumble Pak
Related pages
editReferences
edit- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 N64 NUS-CPU-03/04 Schematic, drawn by RDC, 2013, hosted at File:N64 NUS-CPU-03-04 Schematic.pdf. Power section: connector P4 carries +12 V on pin 6, +3.3 V on pins 2 and 3 and ground on pins 1, 4 and 5; SW1 switches both rails; U13, a 78M05, takes +12 V in and produces the board's own +5 V; U12, a PQ7VZ5, produces the RDRAM supplies Vterm (2.56 V) and Vref (1.92 V) set by R25 130 Ω, R26 316 Ω, R27 301 Ω and R35 390 Ω; D3 is the power LED, fed from +3.3 V through R31 75 Ω. There is no fuse in the console power path. Every capacitor on the drawing is a surface-mount part.