The Nintendo 64

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The MaChIne...

Yo listen up... I know all about 3Dfx cards and the like... they are good... damn good... they cost $250 ...plus a $2000 computer. Then again for a $199 you could get an N64... and beleive me althought your tv is low-res the N64 looks at least just as good and the rest of the time better. Also the N64 supports the up and coming digital HDTV era so if it looks good now... imagine then...

If u dont want to take my word for this have a look at the specifications and then compare them to any 3Dfx cards and then you know that I am not lying. Oh by the way did I mention nintendo are about to offer speedy internet gaming...

I just mentioned that because I happen to be no big fan o telstra... Anyway check out those SPECS!!!

What's Under the Hood

Physical Dimensions:

• 10.25" x 7.5" x 2.57"
• 2.42 lbs

Power Supply (U.S.):

• Input: AC - 120V, 26W, 60Hz
• Output: DC - 3.3V, 2.7A

Custom CPU:

• Custom 64-bit MIPS R4300i-class RISC CPU (93.75 MHz)
  • 64-bit data path, registers, buffer
  • 5-stage pipeline
• CPU Benchmarks
  • 125 Dhrystone MIPS (93 million operations/sec)
  • 60 SPECint92
  • 45 SPECfp92

Co-Processor:

• Custom 64-bit MIPS RISC "Reality Immersion" RCP (62.5 MHz)
  • Built-in Audio/Video Vector Processor (RSP)
• RCP Benchmarks
  • Over half a billion (500,000,000) vector operations/sec
    • 10 times more than some Pentium engines
  • Built-in Pixel Drawing Processor (RDP) takes care of:
    • Advanced Texture-Mapping
      • Detail Texturing
      • Tri-linear Mip Map Interpolation
      • Perspective Correction
      • Environment Mapping
      • Depth Buffering
    • Color Combiner
    • Anti-Aliasing and Blending
    • Rasterizing
    • Z-Buffering
    • Automatic LOD Management
    • Vertex positioning and transformations
    • Depth, color and texture clipping
    • Transparency (256 levels max)
    • Gouraud Shading

Processor/Co-Processor Engine:

• Contains Over 4 Million Transistors Total
• Manufactured by NEC
  • Based on .35 Micron Process

Memory:

• 4 Megabytes (36 megabits) total RAM
• Rambus DRAM subsystem
  • Transfers up to 562.5 MBytes/sec
• Custom 9-bit Rambus Bus (to the DRAM)
  • Runs at 500 MHz max
• Internal data bus to the RCP is 128-bit

Audio:

• Stereo 16-bit
• ADPCM Compression
• 100 PCM channels possible
  • Each PCM channel takes 1% of the RCP time
    • Average 16-24 channels
• Wavetable Synthesis
• Sampled at 48 KHz max

• Internal Special Effects
  • Voice (w/ Pitch Shifting)
  • Gain and Pan
  • Reverb and Chorus

• External (software) Effects Supported

Video:

• Video Output
  • RF
  • Stereo A/V
  • S-Video
  • HDTV
• Video and Resolution:
  • 256 x 224 to 640 x 480
    • Limited by TV Standards
    • Flicker Free Interlace Mode
  • 21-bit color output
  • 32-bit RGBA Pixel Color Frame Buffer

Controller Ports:

• Four Controller Ports
• Three-prong Feed

Controllers:

• Digital joypad at left
• Analog stick in middle
• Six buttons on the right
  • 'B' and 'A' buttons
  • Four "C Group" buttons
• 'L' and 'R' buttons on top
• One "Z Trigger" button on the bottom
• Memory card port on back
  • Initial controller paks start out at 256k
  • Paks (up to 2 MB) will be available
  • Supports other 'paks' such as a "Jolt Pak"

Expansion Options:

• Cartridge Slot
• Controller Ports
• Extension Port (bottom)
• Memory Expansion option (top front)

N64 Console Games:

• Games begin at 32-128 Megabits
• Uses JPEG image format for pre-rendered images
• Produces polygon graphics on the fly
• On-board hardware decompression; software optional
• 256 Megabit carts max; (four 64 meg ROMs)
  • Downward Compatible

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This page was last updated: 14/11/97