Upgrade the playstation 1 cpu or even recreate entire console motherboard

[winetime]

I have looked on the internet and can't find anything about upgrading the cpu of the original sony playstation 1. How would i go about doing this? I would like to upgrade the old hardware. I do know and understand that there has already been a released playstation classic but in my opinion it just sucks. I would like to turn the old console into something useful, not just playing old games but maybe run linux like the ps2. Would this be possible? to have a cpu made for it even if there are none that can direct replace it. I am willing to have one made if non exist. What processor can replace the sony ps1 cpu. This is completely off regular topics that are on this site but i figure this would be the place to get answers. I have already overclocked the ps1 console in the past but i want something more stable and functional.

Post magically merged: Mar 24, 2024

I really like the old hardware and i have the new systems already

 

[EarthDog]

I can't answer anything with certainty. Seems like a cool project!

I am willing to have one made if non exist.

A new cpu? I like your zeal, but that isn't something mere mortals commission to create.

 

[Janus67]

Honestly you're best off turning the chassis of your PS1 into an emulator of PS1 games. I can't imagine it is possible to simply replace the onboard CPU (outside of some probably pretty serious soldering work, but that would just be like for like), let alone with a 'better' one.

 

[don256us]

What CPU is in a Playstation? Is it an x86 compatible? Regardless, I feel confident that the entire eco system is proprietary. Meaning that the way the CPU interfaces with RAM, storage, etc is not conventional in any sense of the word. I think that this is a non-starter. I'd be happy to be wrong.

I'm going to echo @Janus67 . Use hardware that can run PS1 software and install that into a PS1 box. I don't see this working any other way.


Edit: What's the goal? Why do you want a faster CPU? These answers may help us find the solution you want.

 

[winetime]

Its just something i have always wanted to do since when i was young all the way up until now. The processor is a mips or risc R3000 Variant. I found some things online. Someone on github reverse engineered one. So that gave me some more hope. The More important question is what is the name of the Socket or pinout? I Can't seem to figure out the exact socket or pinout name for the cpu. They were used in routers the R3000 and its varients up to 75mhz. So i may be able to get an old router with a R3000 Variant inside and harvest it from that. That's my first idea or maybe can have something made for it. Cost can't be that high for such old Tech.

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2024

I used to overclock, paint,modchip them and add fans to them and recap them and sell them. When i discovered step up converters. I started adding fans to them and switches for the disc drive.

 

[]-[itman]

The PS1 CPU isn't an off the shelf product, it was customized by Sony with co-processors and the whole system has a proprietary DMA scheme. I don't think you'll find any CPU that you could just pop in and have it work. If the CPU has been fully reversed engineered, you could theoretically manufacture a replacement with modifications/upgrades but you'd need an engineer to help you and it would cost thousands of dollars to get it made, not including any assembly or testing costs.

PlayStation Architecture | A Practical Analysis

An in-depth analysis that explains how this console works internally

www.copetti.org

 

[winetime]

got to find a router with a R3000 75mhz. Also i didn't know this that the R3000 can go to a maximum of 4gbs of ram

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2024

The PS1 CPU isn't an off the shelf product, it was customize by Sony with co-processors and the whole system as a proprietary DMA scheme. I don't think you'll find any CPU that you could just pop in and have it work. If the CPU has been fully reversed engineered, you could theoretically manufacture a replacement with modifications/upgrades but you'd need an engineer to help you and it would cost thousands of dollars to get it made, not including any assembly or testing costs.

PlayStation Architecture | A Practical Analysis

An in-depth analysis that explains how this console works internally

www.copetti.org

Yeah i know its a custom cpu but it was also used in other products so there might be something out there that might work. IDK witch varient would pop right in but maybe with some pins omitted etc something might work. I would pay a couple grand to do it if i had to go that route but does anyone know anyone or a website i can check out that does prototyping

 

[winetime]

What would be really helpful is a list of devices and device manufacturers who used the R3000 and there varients. I am hopeing that there is an old router with something compatible that runs faster.

 

[]-[itman]

got to find a router with a R3000 75mhz. Also i didn't know this that the R3000 can go to a maximum of 4gbs of ram

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2024

Yeah i know its a custom cpu but it was also used in other products so there might be something out there that might work. IDK witch varient would pop right in but maybe with some pins omitted etc something might work. I would pay a couple grand to do it if i had to go that route but does anyone know anyone or a website i can check out that does prototyping

What I'm saying is that the CPU used in the PS1 was customized specifically for the PS1. If you find an R3000 in another device, it won't be the same CPU.

 

[winetime]

Wondering why sony used such little ram when the R3000 can use up to 4gbs of ram. Makes me want to upgrade that as well have some ram chips made bios would have to modified to support lots of ram though i would have to have a ram switch installed and toggle ram usage

 

[]-[itman]

Wondering why sony used such little ram when the R3000 can use up to 4gbs of ram. Makes me want to upgrade that as well have some ram chips made bios would have to modified to support lots of ram though i would have to have a ram switch installed and toggle ram usage

It didn't have more RAM because of cost. I'm assuming you mean the R3000 could use up to 4 GBs of RAM because it had a 32-bit address space but RAM chips that would allow it to have that much capacity did not exist back then (even if cost was not a factor). RAM back then was measured in tens of MBs at most and cost quite a bit of money if you wanted to get out of single digit MBs of RAM.

There is really not much you can do to hardware mod a PS1 in terms of core components. Pretty much everything inside is custom and can't be replaced with off the shelf components, it just won't work.

 

[winetime]

What I'm saying is that the CPU used in the PS1 was customized specifically for the PS1. If you find an R3000 in another device, it won't be the same CPU.

Yes i understand it would be different cpu but there maybe a way to make it work. What if i find one that is similiar enough that i can tweak it to work. Odds are i won't find one but its worth a try before i go the custom route which i would like to do cause it would be more sustainable

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2024

Yes i understand it would be different cpu but there maybe a way to make it work. What if i find one that is similiar enough that i can tweak it to work. Odds are i won't find one but its worth a try before i go the custom route which i would like to do cause it would be more sustainable

Anyone know when sonys patent runs out for most of the ps1 hardware? Once that happens it will easier to clone. I don't think the ps1 being a budget console is super secret squirrl stuff that was only used in the ps1 i bet i can find something close enough to work but i would need to find a whole bunch of them as well

 

[]-[itman]

Yes i understand it would be different cpu but there maybe a way to make it work. What if i find one that is similiar enough that i can tweak it to work. Odds are i won't find one but its worth a try before i go the custom route which i would like to do cause it would be more sustainable

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2024

Anyone know when sonys patent runs out for most of the ps1 hardware? Once that happens it will easier to clone. I don't think the ps1 being a budget console is super secret squirrl stuff that was only used in the ps1 i bet i can find something close enough to work but i would need to find a whole bunch of them as well

Any patents related to PS1 should be expired by now but this is not legal advice, consult a lawyer if it's really something you want to pursue.

There are no CPUs similar enough, that's what I am trying to tell you. For instance, Sony added the DMA controller (for their own custom DMA scheme) and GTE to the CPU. No other CPU is going to have these and without them, the PS1 will not work. You're only chance would be to recreate the CPU and then tweak it however you want, but that's going to be quite costly in both time and money.

 

[winetime]

Anyone out there see this post and has a R3000

Any patents related to PS1 should be expired by now but this is not legal advice, consult a lawyer if it's really something you want to pursue.

There are no CPUs similar enough, that's what I am trying to tell you. For instance, Sony added the DMA controller (for their own custom DMA scheme) and GTE to the CPU. No other CPU is going to have these and without them, the PS1 will not work. You're only chance would be to recreate the CPU and then tweak it however you want, but that's going to be quite costly in both time and money.

Great the patents are expired. That is good to know. How are you so certain there is nothing similiar. Have you personally looked at every r3000 device? Anything is possible there may be something that will work. If i don't find something then i will recreate it but i got to find someone to work with first

 

[]-[itman]

Anyone out there see this post and has a R3000

Great the patents are expired. That is good to know. How are you so certain there is nothing similiar. Have you personally looked at every r3000 device? Anything is possible there may be something that will work. If i don't find something then i will recreate it but i got to find someone to work with first

Because what Sony added is specific to the PS1's custom DMA scheme and graphics processing and will be IP owned by Sony, so no one else would want to or be able to (even if they wanted to) include that IP in their own chips. Even if it was based around the same MIPS core, those other blocks are required for the CPU to work inside of a PS1 and only Sony has them in their CPU. If you want a chip you can drop in replace inside of a PS1 as an upgrade, you'll have to design and manufacture it yourself (or pay someone else a lot of money to do so).

 

[Janus67]

Also, regarding your statement about not being expensive because it's old tech is a misnomer. If nobody has the tooling setup for making something of that type it will be prohibitively expensive to setup.

For all of that work, you could literally put a raspberry pi4 in there probably and have better performance for around $100.

If you're really going to go down this rabbit hole I wish you the best of luck and hope you keep us updated with costs of how it all goes.

 

[winetime]

How would i go about recreating the cpu? Any advice to get that done. I have the money

 

[EarthDog]

I have the money

I'm curious... how much are you thinking it costs to make a CPU from scratch......? Where's your head at on this one?

 

[Janus67]

https://www.reddit.com/r/playstation/comments/18uyo2x/is_there_any_way_i_can_unsodder_the_gpu_processor

Is that you by chance?

Looks like very similar responses there as well.

Also, the mention of having the firmware for it all to authenticate and drivers etc all for the OS wouldn't work either.

 

[]-[itman]

How would i go about recreating the cpu? Any advice to get that done. I have the money

You'd have to hire a digital design engineer who can reverse engineer the original CPU and then re-design it on a new process that is available for manufacturing today. You'd then need to take that design and tape it out on whatever process he designed it for, have the wafer diced (fab will probably do this for you if you want), packaged, a test board created, validation, and then assembled onto the PS1 main board, and then tested again in the system. You'd also have to find someone who has access to the design tools and PDK necessary to do all this or be willing to front the money for it yourself. There are some open source tools now for this but I don't know if they are good enough to get something like this done.

In total, you're probably looking at spending, I don't know $70,000 minimum. The bulk of the money will be in paying the design engineer and tool costs, if open source tools aren't an option. Not sure how long it would take the design engineer to reverse engineer it and work through any bugs though, could end up being a lot higher if it takes a while. If you find a design engineer who will work for free and can use open source tools, then you'll just have tape out, packaging, and test costs. So maybe you could get it under $5,000, but you'd have to get a lot of stuff for free, mostly design work, and you'd probably need to take some shortcuts on testing/validation and just hope it works inside the PS1.

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2024

https://www.reddit.com/r/playstation/comments/18uyo2x/is_there_any_way_i_can_unsodder_the_gpu_processor

Is that you by chance?

Looks like very similar responses there as well.

Also, the mention of having the firmware for it all to authenticate and drivers etc all for the OS wouldn't work either.

If you reverse engineered the original CPU, you should be able to design it to be compatible with the original OS/firmware, but if you want to load Linux on it as well, then you'd have to hire some system engineer or low level (hardware wise, not talent wise) programmer to get it to boot and get everything working which will at minimum probably double your costs. You'd almost be recreating the entire system at that point and you'd probably never get certain parts of the system to work within Linux without a custom kernel either.