Super retro trio tear down - Taking apart the SR3.

[MaxWar]

I recently bought the Super Retro Trio and took it apart, voiding my warranty for you guy's enjoyment! ( And mine too of course )

Following are some pictures of the insides. I tried making them as good as my limited equipment and skills will allow.
I also filmed myself taking it apart while rambling about, If you ever feel like watching my noob attempts at youtube and hear my non-native english


There are some retro trio that will have a problem with the NES sound in some games. Apparently some other SR3 do not have this problem. This is still a little mysterious but it is believed that this is caused by there being two different Variants of the NOAC being used for those consoles. My personal SR3 does have this glitch. Would be interesting if there are observable differences in the PCB of a console without the audio problem.


PLEASE CLICK PICTURES TO HAVE FULL SIZE VIEWS.

Whole PCB, Top view.


Bottom view


NES Board.


NES Board Underside


SNES Board




SNES Board Underside


Genesis Board





Genesis Board Underside

[sandplasma]

Is this very different than the Retron 3?

[Ace]

This is very similar to the latest RetroN3 hardware revision (we're at Version 4 now), but the Super Retro Trio still has better analog circuitry than the RetroN3, so it's a better choice (unless you end up with one that has an NOAC with a bad APU in it).

The KM68U1000 RAM chips on the Super NES board, though, are of critical concern. These chips are running out of their absolute maximum specs with 5V VCC and 5V I/O, a perfect mix to cause premature failure of this RAM.

[MaxWar]

The KM68U1000 RAM chips on the Super NES board, though, are of critical concern. These chips are running out of their absolute maximum specs with 5V VCC and 5V I/O, a perfect mix to cause premature failure of this RAM.

You'd think they have stress tested the things to make sure they can handle it in the long term but you never know with those clone hardwares...

[evildragon]

Cheap Chinese stuff stress tested?

They give us cell phone chargers that electrocute us and catch fire. They want us dead, and our money back.

[MaxWar]

I have done all kinds of things on the sega board and could not get the damn S-video jailbars out.
This is seriously annoying.
Even if I completely disconnect Chroma, they are still there but in black and white.
I will try adding electrolytic caps as termination for chroma and luma tomorrow.

Ace, do you know if the TCT-6801 GOAC outputs RGB somehow? I bet it doesnt...
I wish I could probe the GOAC legs with my scope, but the damn legs are so close I would definitely short legs together with the probe.
I can barely insert a sheet of paper between the legs.
I have an idea where a very thin but rigid piece of material could be coated with a conductive paint on only one side and connected to the probe. Inserting this between two pins would only contact one and isolate the other. Problem is they are so close here that anything I could come up with would likely be too thick or too fragile.

[Ace]

To my knowledge, the best the TCT-6801 can do is S-Video. Of the GOACs I've come across, I know of only the SM801-A1 that is GUARANTEED to output RGB, and I'm going to get myself a few of these chips so I can design my own Geniclone. It's possible the TCT6035 and TecToy-580G also output RGB, but I can't say for sure.

[AlmostOriginal]

This is very similar to the latest RetroN3 hardware revision (we're at Version 4 now), but the Super Retro Trio still has better analog circuitry than the RetroN3, so it's a better choice (unless you end up with one that has an NOAC with a bad APU in it).

The KM68U1000 RAM chips on the Super NES board, though, are of critical concern. These chips are running out of their absolute maximum specs with 5V VCC and 5V I/O, a perfect mix to cause premature failure of this RAM.

Is there a PCB picture of the version 4?

[Ace]

No, but I can get you some. It's actually got green-colored boards now instead of the blue boards of the previous revisions.

However, it has come to my attention that there exists a RetroN3 Version 2.5 with the NES board of the RetroN3 Version 2 and a green-colored version of the RetroN3 Version 3's Super NES/Genesis board. The overall performance is the same as the RetroN3 Version 2, though.

[AlmostOriginal]

If you can find the time to do that it would be awesome. Thanks.

[sean]

I got a trio with a bad noac and the second unit no problems audio wise for castlevania no video with a real cart.
I can even get rad race 2 to boot fine but, glitches in game. The board is the same as i opened mine just to check and no difference.
I will mod mine to fix the easy issues. But, could you add a super cic for the snes to make it region free.

[Kouen Hasuki]

The KM68U1000 RAM chips on the Super NES board, though, are of critical concern. These chips are running out of their absolute maximum specs with 5V VCC and 5V I/O, a perfect mix to cause premature failure of this RAM.

Would it be possible to add some sort of heat sinks to it to help cool the chip? and / or a very silent fan pushing some air through the case?

[Ace]

I got a trio with a bad noac and the second unit no problems audio wise for castlevania no video with a real cart.
I can even get rad race 2 to boot fine but, glitches in game. The board is the same as i opened mine just to check and no difference.

The NOAC is missing CIRAM /CE and /A13 on the cartridge slot. You can't restore CIRAM /CE as the signal never leaves the NOAC, but you can generate /A13 with a 74HC04. Doing so will allow Castlevania III to work.

If I may ask, are the paint jobs any different between the two Super Retro Trios you have?

I will mod mine to fix the easy issues. But, could you add a super cic for the snes to make it region free.

It's already done for you. There's a PIC12F629 already on the Super NES board just behind the cartridge slot.

Would it be possible to add some sort of heat sinks to it to help cool the chip? and / or a very silent fan pushing some air through the case?

While that will extend the life of the RAM, it still doesn't hide the fact the RAM is running out of spec. In fact, at 5V, the KM68U1000s are being run beyond their absolute maximum ratings, which is 4.6V maximum. Samsung themselves warns that running the RAM past 4.6V may cause irreversible damage to the chips. If you can find TSOP versions of the plain KM681000s, those are 5V chips and should be used in place of the KM68U1000s.

[Jorge Nuno]

Do you know for sure that the memory is actually running at 5V? The interface could actually be 3.3V... No need to spread statements without confirmation.

Just noticed the mitsubishi rams are 3.3V too. Maybe the system is full 3.3V

[KnightWarrior]

I will stuck with my Retro Duo for now

When Retro-Bit ever does fix the Audio Problem on all SRT I'll get one