nesdev.org

So, I was looking forward to installing the Kevtris HDMI MOD now that it's finally available. And being the old electronics fiddler that I am, I opted to do it myself as a point of pride, despite remembering what a pain it is to de-solder the CPU/PPU nicely with just a soldering iron and sucking tool.

Well, it seems my pride took a beating - and even more so that poor PPU. While the CPU came out unharmed in any way when bending it out with the usual dull-knife-lever-trick, the PPU fared a lot worse. I seem to have either lost my ways as I've grown old, or just gotten way too impatient. Or possibly both. In any case, I've managed to snap an IC in half for the first time in my life...
Rather than quietly ordering a new console and leaving these things to the expert modders, I instead invite you to laugh at my gross incompetence and the sad slaughter of a working PPU.

...and as a side note I would also like to ask if anyone has a spare 2C02 lying around, either separately, or in an otherwise dead NTSC console? And if so, would you consider sending it over here in an envelope? I'd of course pay postage + whatever you reckon a spare PPU is worth (hopefully a little bit less than a fully working NES itself). And of course promise to take better care of my next patient...

D: !!!

Sometimes places like Aliexpress or Ebay will offer chips like that. I've got no experience on which, if any, are reliable sellers though.

*pours out a bottle of wine* Sad days. May Bananamos' PPU RIP.

It died with glory.

The PPUs glory and my utter shame

Rain

rainwarrior wrote:D: !!!

Sometimes places like Aliexpress or Ebay will offer chips like that. I've got no experience on which, if any, are reliable sellers though.

Can't seem to find spare PPUs on either. More interesting though, is arcadecomponents.com which to my surprise has both the NTSC PPU and CPU listed for just $8.99 eacg. But less surprisingly they are both "currently unavailable", so wondering if they even have them in stock at any time. I've pinged them a mail though, so let's see if they reply with any more information.

In the end it might need to be a fresh console after all, to get the mod done. But I sure wish I could find a spare PPU from a dead one as even with the millions of NES:es floating around, it still feels bad to have removed one from the limited pool. When all I want for xmas is PPU...

Eh, if you want to get really adventurous, the package is broken. There's a nonzero chance that the die is actually okay, and you *could* scrape away and solder to the bond wires to restore it.

mikejmoffitt wrote:Eh, if you want to get really adventurous, the package is broken. There's a nonzero chance that the die is actually okay, and you *could* scrape away and solder to the bond wires to restore it.

Haha, yes... it did snap on the side so in theory the inside should be fine. But there are limits to how far I will go in my attempts to recover this PPU-less NES...

No reply from arcadecomponents.com, guess the site might be dead I've seen defunct Famicoms sold as spare parts on ebay.co.uk, but am a little reluctant to use a PPU from one due to the revision being earlier than 2C02G... does aynone know if 2C02E revisions have some other drawbacks besides $2004 not being readable?

Please stop the graphic violence, I won't be able to sleep at night!

Joke aside, there is so many famicom in junk store around japan that finding a ppu on the cheap wouldn't be an issue. The only problem would be finding the cause of why it was in the junk pile for parts and what is the revision of ppu. I got a few still functional to some degree from junk inventory.

If you buy one they checked, on the other hand, they will charge you an arm and a leg for it. Retro games in japan are not as affordable as they where 10 years ago.

Banshaku wrote:Retro games in japan are not as affordable as they where 10 years ago.

This phenomenon is not restricted to Japan, as far as I can tell. Prices for retro hardware have apparently been skyrocketing all around the world.

My sincere condolences. I've never seen a PPU for sale by itself, anywhere- it's going to have to come from another system.