N64 16M Ram Expansion

[Guest_Torque]

Hello there!

I have been looking into this for a while and after several hours searching today, I have come to the conclusion that if anyone is going to know if this is possible and how, then this is the place ;-)

I have 1 x 16M 72pin dram simm from an older pc and I would like to use it to boost my N64. I've looked around for the real exp pak and they're becoming scarce, so I'd like to build my own, has anyone here done this before and/or know of a guide how to? I have the standard jumper pak which came with the N64 (has just a few resistors on it)  here is a link with details & pics on the jumper: http://tcsr2001.tripod.com/carts/rtc-03/ and here is a link for info on the ram: http://arstechnica.com/paedia/r/ram_guide/...de.part1-7.html

I figure with a bit of careful soldering this should be possible, then again I could be completely wrong!

I would do a trial & error test if there wasn't a couple of thousand different combinations; my experience with electronics is a bit... well... low-brow.

Can it be done???

Thanks in anticipation

Mike

[kendrick]

Seriously, you're talking about quite a bit of expense and labor to replace a part that Nintendo sells on their website for $30.

http://store.nintendo.com/html/Nintendosto...52&parent=14753

In a nutshell, what you're trying to do isn't very practical from the standpoint of backward engineering. It's not just connecting the memory, but building an enclosure (and quite possibly custom power and some kind of interface programming, if not just a clock.) Nintendo has boatloads of these things in stock, and it's worth seeing if the ten-dollar pawn shop and flea market N64 units don't also have RAM expansions hiding in them.

-KKC, having a crazy day at work. Complete with explosions and fire.

[Aidan]

I'd recommend you forget it. The RAM that's used in most PCs is completely incompatible with the N64. The memory you have uses a parallel interface for address/data, as most DRAM does. The N64 uses memory with a serial RAMBUS interface, which is completely incompatible with the memory you have.

There's some more info on RAMBUS on arstechnica

Whilst it's technically possible to do, it's a huge amount of work, and requires you to be pretty well up on high speed logic, given that you'd be working with signals running at nearly 300MHz. Oh, and it'd almost certainly cost you more than $30.

[Guest_Torque]

Ah...     right...     erm...      more than the proper one...      nintendo still sells em...

Your work here, is done.

Thanks alot

[RobIvy64]

the games wont address 16 MB of RAM. The games tha arent designed to take advantage of the extra 4 MB the expansion pak offers, dont take advantage of it.

-R