Huge NES Modification Project

[Epicenter]

I'm working on a project to modify my NES, and I was wondering what you guys thought of it, and if you had any suggestions.

First of all, the casing will be painted blue on the top, black on the bottom, the strip where the controllers are will also be black. Buttons blue. Controllers will be painted to match.

The LED will be replaced with a blue version.

There will be a window cut in the top (acrylic clear plastic variety).

There will be a set of 3 ultra-bright blue LEDs lighting the side of the machine. These were designed for a mid-tower PC case, so they should be quite good at lighting up the inside of a NES.

The lockout chip will be disabled to allow playing imported games.

The CPU will be wired up to a small circuitboard with oscillators to allow overclocking it from the stock speed of 1.79 MHz to 2 or 2.5 MHz. The speeds will be selected with either a switch on the front, or a keylock with 4 settings. 3 settings will be 1.79, 2, and 2.5 MHz, the fourth will be no signal, to effectively lock the system so unauthorized parties cannot use it. (Which sounds better?) The small PCB will be attached by velcro in the machine, most likely on the PCB for show through the window.

The machine will, of course, use a brand new 72-pin connector. I'll also be using gold composite video cables, and a Genesis power adapter to supply the machine with approx. 1000mA instead of the stock 850mA, to make sure the LEDs have enough power.

How's it sound? :)

[chadtower]

The CPU will be wired up to a small circuitboard with oscillators to allow overclocking it from the stock speed of 1.79 MHz to 2 or 2.5 MHz.

I don't quite understand the point of this. Games were designed with very specific specs in mind... the results of overclocking the CPU would be unpredictable at best and would possibly make the games unplayable. There's also the possibility of burning out the cpu if the chip doesn't have a heat rating capable of runnint at higher than stock speed.

[Zubiac666]

I have to agree with Chadtower.
Overlocking a NES-CPU will kill it for sure and I also think it would (if it works) make games unplayable.
I guess I read something about a guy overlocking a SNES and it was fatal as well.
:eek 2:

[ClubNinja]

Yeah, that overclocking bit, don't do it :P

[Epicenter]

Actually, timing with the games and system is NOT reliant on CPU speed. Other components wait for the CPU to finish its work, the game will not accelerate if the main CPU is sped up. The only changes are reduced slowdown/lag in games, and perhaps increased sound pitch/tempo since the sound CPU is part of the main CPU.

I can vouch for all of this, my MegaDrive is running at 13.4 MHz and it seems to be able to go further. Games are all still playable, glitching is rare and extremely minor. All lag is removed just as I thought it would be. ;)

As for heat, even overclocked the MegaDrive's 68000 or the NES' custom 6502 chip do not produce significant heat. We are talking 'room temperature' here. I am considering adding a fan to the top of the case though. Not because it needs it, just because whenever I say I overclocked something, people look for huge heatsinks and fans. This would be a good opportunity to use a clear, glowing blue LED fan I've got lying around.

[jonjandran]

Don't listen to everybody else, overclocking is da total fat rockin bomb !!!!!

[Chunky]

I perfer cd systems with like ya know like 50x readers. then my ears would perk up.

[Bratwurst]

I will overclock my cordless phone into TIME TRAVEL SPEEDS.

[Epicenter]

Since such systems don't exist (unless you count PCs), why are you here? ;)


I perfer cd systems with like ya know like 50x readers. then my ears would perk up.

[jonjandran]

Since such systems don't exist (unless you count PCs), why are you here? ;)


I perfer cd systems with like ya know like 50x readers. then my ears would perk up.

Maybe he's talking about putting a 50 X in a dreamcast or ps1 , overclocking it and using it TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD !!!!!

[Bratwurst]

With TIME TRAVEL SPEEDS.