Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Discuss hardware-related topics, such as development cartridges, CopyNES, PowerPak, EPROMs, or whatever.

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loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

More new (to me) chip photos.

6527P

Unknown brand. All of them have a 4 digit code starting with C followed by "1PC".

6527P.png

HA6527P

Unknown brand. 4 or 5 digit code starting with C.

HA6527P.png

HA6538

Unknown brand. Code "DR21" beneath. Likely the same maker as HA6527P since fonts and layout are the same.

HA6538.png

6527-21

Unknown brand. Code or continuation of name "P03" beneath, and "9211M 7056" codes underneath that. Could be related to SENiTON 6527P-SS-P03 since the names have some similarity. 1992 date code on this one.

6527-21.png

SL/WH6527AP

Unknown brand. Date code 9117. Could be related to SENiTON 6527AP because of the "AP" name, maybe.

SL_WH6527AP.png

Continued in next post...
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

Last one for now!

SNC6527P

Unknown brand. Date code 9116.

SNC6527P.png
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

Just received a handful of these puppies to test.

Edit: They work great!

1.jpg
2.jpg
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

Well, I managed to get these ten "6527P" chips. Unfortunately, they don't work too great. They appear to have 16x clock dividers, and every one so far has had pretty severe and bizarre audio and/or visual glitches. Oh well...

IMG_2119x.JPG
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Individualised
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by Individualised »

loglow wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:24 am Well, I managed to get these ten "6527P" chips. Unfortunately, they don't work too great. They appear to have 16x clock dividers, and every one so far has had pretty severe and bizarre audio and/or visual glitches. Oh well...


IMG_2119x.JPG
It would honestly be interesting to see some of these in action. I don't think I've ever seen what a damaged CPU or PPU looks like before.
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

Individualised wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 5:18 am It would honestly be interesting to see some of these in action. I don't think I've ever seen what a damaged CPU or PPU looks like before.
I'll try and get some nice example video for you!
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Individualised
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by Individualised »

loglow wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 7:52 pm I'll try and get some nice example video for you!
That would be great!
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

Individualised wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:20 am That would be great!
I made a video for you!

Make sure to select 720p60 quality if your connection is fast enough.

https://youtu.be/35kXEj89lVY
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Individualised
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by Individualised »

loglow wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:17 am
Individualised wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:20 am That would be great!
I made a video for you!

Make sure to select 720p60 quality if your connection is fast enough.

https://youtu.be/35kXEj89lVY
Not at a place I can properly watch this at the moment but I'll let you know when I do. Really appreciate it!
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TmEE
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by TmEE »

Those are some fun glitches !
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Individualised
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by Individualised »

loglow wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:17 am
Individualised wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:20 am That would be great!
I made a video for you!

Make sure to select 720p60 quality if your connection is fast enough.

https://youtu.be/35kXEj89lVY
Interesting stuff! I wonder how chips even get like this. Also still strange how all CB and CS revisions of that UMC PPU have been found to be faulty.
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

Individualised wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 2:46 am Interesting stuff! I wonder how chips even get like this. Also still strange how all CB and CS revisions of that UMC PPU have been found to be faulty.
I can only speculate about this, but my thinking is:

A. Perhaps the -** codes on these chips indicate the particular fab that produced them. For example, I've noticed on the UA6527Ps that the -A* (-AS) chips always appear to be made from a visually different material, a sort of darker and shinier black plastic. So anyway, if that's the case, then something about the fabs that produced the -CS and -CB UA6528s could have made them more prone to degrade over time.

B. I suspect that a lot of the varied (and colorful) problems that appear in the bad -CS and -CB UA6528s are actually due to failure of just one (or maybe sometimes two) register bits. In this case, a particular bit that could be either 0 or 1 gets stuck and can then only be 0 or 1 at all times. The exact position of the stuck bit would of course determine whether the symptom is related to color, alignment, scrolling, sprites, etc.

Again, I'm just jumping to conclusions! Maybe someone with a deeper understanding can make more sense of it.

In the meantime, I have a nice (not so) little collection of uniquely beautiful faulty UA6528s. I picked 8 at random (from the same lot) for the video, but I think I have over 60 of them, each one with a different problem.
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forple
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by forple »

I'm curious what the most "functional" CS/CB UA6528 is like, if there is one that can be considered as such. I wonder how Battletoads would fare against them, hahaha!

--

I want to bring to the attention of this thread the existence of a few clone chips: A CPU clone called the XYZ-6783, and various chips by WDL that seems to serve identical functionality to the "TA" line of chips. The WDL chips have two kinds of markings, one referring to the clone CPU/PPUs as UM0x (UM02 is PPU, UM03 is CPU) as well as another that marks each one with the UMC part number (6527, 6528). However the 6527 CPU doesn't seem to really be common or exist? I have yet to see a WDL 6527, as boards with it are instead the XYZ chip which has no real company association outside "was paired with WDL PPUs".

I believe images of these could be readily and easily discovered, but none of real good quality; the one forum I found on it had cached thumbnails of the images, but the images themselves were no longer hosted. If things work out I can provide the Wiki and this thread and some info pertaining to them. However I'm also likely going to be sending them off at some point to someone who can probably document them better than me.
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

forple wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2023 3:48 pm I'm curious what the most "functional" CS/CB UA6528 is like, if there is one that can be considered as such. I wonder how Battletoads would fare against them, hahaha!
There are a few with only very minor issues, like very subtle or occasional sprite glitches.
loglow
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Re: Help collecting pictures of CPU and PPU packages

Post by loglow »

This arrived today in a small batch of UA6527P chips, all with their original markings, and I've never seen one of these before.

It has the "new" style UMC logo and layout. On top it's marked "UA6527PQ" with "9306" (date code) underneath, and nothing else. On the bottom it's stamped "B40L7" in white. Presumably made 6th week of 1993, which is quite late for these, but not exceptional (the latest made UA6527P I've seen is 9323-BG).

I haven't tested it yet, but I will as soon as I can. Does anyone know what this is?

UA6527PQ.jpg
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