Impressive Famicom Clone: Micro Genius IQ-501
A few months ago I got this unlicensed Micro Genius IQ-501 AV Famiclone system from another member here, seems to be one of the early FC clones out there...To my surprise it isn't NOAC based, but rather real 1-1 discrete cloned hardware...
This unit had 50Hz/PAL settings, making it hard to properly display in American/60Hz NTSC tv sets ..To make matters worse, there was a very nasty Sync signal which made PAL to NTSC video converters to act funny and jump all over the place.. Finally having some spare time I decided to find a solution...
As soon as I took this system apart, I quickly noticed a set of 40 pin chips (with sockets) almost exactly the same as those found in an original Nintendo NES/Famicom system..In other words, a vivid copy of Nintendo hardware....After carefully checking each chip pin by pin JACKPOT!, they were indeed true copies of Nintendo's CPU and PPU.....
Since I had a lonely NES Motherboard laying around for the longest time, I desoldered the original CPU and PPU for the swapping, removed the official Xtal too...
The Micro Genius IQ-501 chip sockets made everything so easy too, simply removed the native CPU,PPU and Xtal and plug those of an original NES, then you'll have a nice NTSC AV Famicom system (can play original NES games w/ converter).. Definitely a grood quality machine for a Famiclone that is.....
This mod is a good solution for those who are Famicom clone enthusiasts and have a PAL Micro Genius IQ-501 (or any other PAL Famiclone with the same feaures) and NTSC equipment.....Although, you might have to sacrifice a probably already broken NES( for the parts)....The Micro Genius is well built and has a somewhat nice look + it's AV!
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