Nintendo DS Game Cards Lifespan

[shabb]

Hi there,
I wanna know what type of Storage does the DS Cards use. is it flash (bot, game data plus user Data)?
How durable is it, and how is the Data Retention?
Normal flash cards got something about 10 years, that would be bad for a games collector I think.

and btw is it possible to repair worn out gold contacts on a DS game?

thank you

Shabb

[theshizzle3000]

I doubt that the game will stop working after 10 years i am sure that nintendo made their DS cartridges with a pretty good warranty. I mean they have to be or they will not work for very long. The developers had to take their size into consideration when they originally made the cartrigdes. The smaller they made them the more they realized that durability would be absolutely necessary

[Kid Ice]

Games going back to RCA Studio II cartridges and Apple II floppies are still working. IMO we should start worrying about stuff not working anymore when stuff actually stops working.

[shabb]

yeah but does Nintendo do use flash in the nintendo ds gamecards instead of ROMs in older systems, I wanna know if its as reliable as ROMs.

and are manufactured, one write only Flash Roms are more reliable then the media memory cards I can buy in every media store? because if not, then DS not really are a godd investment of money

[§ Gideon §]

IMO we should start worrying about stuff not working anymore when stuff actually stops working.
O_O

[Icarus Moonsight]

Since flash is just an upgrade of EEPROM there shouldn't be a problem as far as life span is concerned. It's much better than the older carts (NES, Genny and Snes) cause the save files are not battery saved. I think GBA carts were flash rom also. Though I'm not 100% on that.

[shabb]

but are these different from all those flash cards I can put in my digicam and so. cause I found this on the web:

------------------------------
again, DS cards are ROM or or one time programmable memory. in either case they will last very long, practically infinately and much longer than flash cards. however, even flash memory is extremely stable and unless you use it in harddisk-like applications (many millions of cycles in a year), you will never have a problem. read cycles do not wear out memory and can be applied infinately. the 10 or 100 write cycles and 10 or 100 years data retention are theoretical minimums, usally they last much longer. the only type of memory that actually sometimes loses data within the product life cycle is battery-buffered SRAM where some games (game boy and game boy advance only, DS games use EEPROM=flash instead) store data like high scores, etc.
--------------------------------
...and I wanna know if this information is right.

[cyberfluxor]

again, DS cards are ROM or or one time programmable memory. in either case they will last very long, practically infinately and much longer than flash cards. however, even flash memory is extremely stable and unless you use it in harddisk-like applications (many millions of cycles in a year), you will never have a problem. read cycles do not wear out memory and can be applied infinately. the 10 or 100 write cycles and 10 or 100 years data retention are theoretical minimums, usally they last much longer. the only type of memory that actually sometimes loses data within the product life cycle is battery-buffered SRAM where some games (game boy and game boy advance only, DS games use EEPROM=flash instead) store data like high scores, etc.
If you're going to quote from someplace else on the web be sure to inform us of the source. From the horrible grammer and punctuation it is not professional and considered a highly unreliable source, although it does provide some insight into the discussion.

[shabb]

and the real thing I mean is the storage where the game source code is stored on. I believe its two different chips, one for the game data and one for the save game data.
how is that inside a Nintendo ds?

[shabb]

excuse me...its from the guy who developed Nanoloop for the NIntendo Gameboy

http://www.nanoloop.de/w-agora4/view.php3?bn=nanoloopforum_discussion&key=1160160505&first=1160423183&last=1158517341

[shabb]

bump

[cyberfluxor]

bump
Why are you bumping? These forums don't have enough traffic to bump after 30 minutes of no response.

[shabb]

I found this:
-------------------------
-----


NDS


GBA

CPU
Main ARM946E-S (67MHz)
Sub ARM7TDMI (33MHz) ARM7TDMI (16.78MHz)

Memory
Main memory 4KB
32KB - ARM9/ARM7 common use
64KB - ARM7 only RAM
656KB - VRAM Work RAM - 288KB
VRAM - 96KB

Video


3-inch, semitransparent reflective TFT color LCD with 256 x 192 pixel resolution and .24 mm dot pitch, capable of displaying 260,000 colors -backlit 2D core (x 2) + 3D core
2nd Touch Screen - Same specs as top screen, but with a transparent analog touchscreen.
240 x 160 x RGB dots
32,768 colors

Sound
16ch (ADPCM/PCM) 4ch (GB interchangeability) + 2ch (PCM)

Game medium
Matrix 3-D Memory (? ) Masked ROM cartridge
-----------------------------------
http://www.ndsemulator.com/nds-emulator.htm


go to the link to see the not twisted version of the text.

anybody know if this is confirmed now, that nintendo uses these new 3d memory technology?

[shabb]

isnt anybody here who can help me with that?

is there a 3d memory chip inside that modules? if not what does the DS use?

I dont know where to look when here isnt anybody who knows stuff like that!