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Upgrade the playstation 1 cpu or even recreate entire console motherboard

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Well considering the cost of everything i may start a go fund me and try to raise some money for this project. I doubt i will raise much. 1 person said i could do it for a few grand. Again the processor has been reverse engineered or at least 1 variant of the ps1 cpu has been reverse engineered but there are a few variants and i would probably want the best variant witch ever that is
 
Right now im looking for 79R3000AE-40F which is kinda a pointless upgrade because i have overclocked the ps1 cpu to 40mhz already but at least its something. Can't find this cpu any where online. Its an R3000 variant clocked at 40mhz but then i could potentially overclock it. Still aint much but its something. Unless there is another cpu out there i haven't thought of yet that will work. This one is the top R3000
 
winetime said:
Right now im looking for 79R3000AE-40F which is kinda a pointless upgrade because i have overclocked the ps1 cpu to 40mhz already but at least its something. Can't find this cpu any where online. Its an R3000 variant clocked at 40mhz but then i could potentially overclock it. Still aint much but its something. Unless there is another cpu out there i haven't thought of yet that will work. This one is the top R3000
Click to expand...

If you're really committed to trying this, here is what I found online. Highest frequency I could find was 33 MHz, so it won't be an upgrade, but you could use it as a test case to see if it would even work.


or

IDT79R3000AE-33G175 Renesas - Distributors and Price Comparison | Octopart component search

Find the best pricing for Renesas IDT79R3000AE-33G175 by comparing bulk discounts from 3 distributors. Octopart is the world's source for IDT79R3000AE-33G175 availability, pricing, and technical specs and other electronic parts.
octopart.com octopart.com

or

www.ebay.com

IDT79R3000AE-33G175 RISC Microprocessor, 32-Bit, 33MHz, CMOS, CPGA175 | eBay

THIS IS FOR IDT79R3000AE-33G175 RISC Microprocessor, 32-Bit, 33MHz, CMOS, CPGA175
www.ebay.com

Here's a link to the data sheet:



All of the above are in a PGA package, so you'll need to have your friend pop off the lid, break the wirebonds, get the die off the package, and assemble it into a new QFP package that matches the PS1 CPU package. I don't think the PS1 pin out is documented anywhere so you'll either have to find someone who has documented it, or have someone figure out which pins are which to map the COTS part pins to the PS1 compatible package. Even then, it still shouldn't work as again, it isn't the same chip and doesn't have any of the customization that Sony's chip does, but if you really want to try it, best of luck!
 
As for recreating the cpu and modifying it. I still don't know how to begin that process. Meaning who do i hire to start the process? Say i had enough money to do it right now. Were do i start? One person said china as in someone in from china. Who in China would i contact? And i want to say i understand the process will be difficult but it is not impossible
 
@winetime

Respectfully, I don't think you're going to get the specific answer you are looking for here. We are PC oriented and less to do with console repair and what not. I don't know that the answer you want is anywhere but I feel confident that we have given you the best answers we have. If you can do it, I'd be happy to hear how. I think we all would. It is an interesting idea but collectively, I don't think we have an answer that will push you forward on this endeavor.

Note: I too have been warned about multiple posting. The "Edit" button is your friend.
 
winetime said:
As for recreating the cpu and modifying it. I still don't know how to begin that process. Meaning who do i hire to start the process? Say i had enough money to do it right now. Were do i start? One person said china as in someone in from china. Who in China would i contact? And i want to say i understand the process will be difficult but it is not impossible
Click to expand...

You could post a job on something like indeed.com or (as an easier route) check fiverr.com . Search for ASIC design and see if you could find anyone that way. I am not endorsing this way as I don't think you'll get your money's worth, but you seem pretty set on trying, so there's a possible path.
 
Well i thank everyone so far who has posted, this will help the future of playstation 1 hardware modding. I have stumbled upon a R3000 Variant device that has a fast cpu in it. Philips Velo handheld PC. It has the 75 MHz PR31700. So i am currently looking for a Philips Velo. It is some kind of windows pc handheld device. Again its called the Philips Velo, If anyone has one of these devices and would like to sell it then message me on here i would gladly buy it from you for testing purposes
 
winetime said:
Well i thank everyone so far who has posted, this will help the future of playstation 1 hardware modding. I have stumbled upon a R3000 Variant device that has a fast cpu in it. Philips Velo handheld PC. It has the 75 MHz PR31700. So i am currently looking for a Philips Velo. It is some kind of windows pc handheld device. Again its called the Philips Velo, If anyone has one of these devices and would like to sell it then message me on here i would gladly buy it from you for testing purposes
Click to expand...

This person is offering it for $200 and it's in working order. You could offer less and see if your offer is accepted.

www.ebay.com

PHILIPS VELO SERIES 500 WORKS PERFECTLY | eBay

<p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">PHILIPS VELO SERIES 500 ,ASSEMBLED IN MALAYSIA,TESTED & WORKS CORRECTLY(SEE PICTURES) , THE OUTSIDE OF THIS ITEM IS NOT GOOD (GENERALLY ITS CONDITION IS NOT GOOD),THAT YOU SEE THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS DON'T HESITATE TO...
www.ebay.com
 
Same thing again the quote button doesn't work. I purchased the Philips Velo 500 series. So its a pda of some kind i don't know much about the hardware. There is one photo of the motherboard online and the cpu looks similiar to ps1 cpu. That was 245$ to purchase. Say it works then i would have to somehow get my hands on a lot of philips Velo 500s to do the mod again. Kinda cool but unsustainable. I would have to reverse engineer the cpu in the philips velo 500 then have them make a bunch of them.
 
winetime said:
Same thing again the quote button doesn't work. I purchased the Philips Velo 500 series. So its a pda of some kind i don't know much about the hardware. There is one photo of the motherboard online and the cpu looks similiar to ps1 cpu. That was 245$ to purchase. Say it works then i would have to somehow get my hands on a lot of philips Velo 500s to do the mod again. Kinda cool but unsustainable. I would have to reverse engineer the cpu in the philips velo 500 then have them make a bunch of them.
Click to expand...


Use the reply button. The quote button is if you want to quote multiple people (push quote on every post you want to quote and then there's an 'insert quotes' button in the post area to insert them).
 
You can also simply highlight the text you want to quote and a little pop up appears that says quote or reply. The latter drops it in the post where your cursor is.
 
I will have the processor removed from the philips velo professionally, then installed into a playstation 1 motherboard. Not sure which revision of the ps1 that i will use, But most likely i will use the 7501 or the 7000 or 7001. I have had success with overclocking the 7501,7000 and 7001, 9001. So that is the revision of the board that i will try. I know for certain 5500 and 1001 won't work overclocked. Most likely it won't work for reasons stated above. Lacking support for the DMA and GTE

Is there a way to add the support for the dma and gte to the better cpu? Assuming the pinout is the same. The bios chip is really easy to remove so modification to that should not be a problem. In the past i have swaped bios chips from 1 board to another and it works. I took a jap playstation 1 then swap the bios chip with an ntsc bios chip and it worked.
 
If the Velo doesn't have a GTE coprocessor it's not going to work, as it resides inside of the CPU on the ps1, it's not like adding a GPU to your motherboard.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'm not an EE and just reading off the PS1 processor Wikipedia page.
 
Wondering if bios would still boot though
Janus67 said:
If the Velo doesn't have a GTE coprocessor it's not going to work, as it resides inside of the CPU on the ps1, it's not like adding a GPU to your motherboard.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'm not an EE and just reading off the PS1 processor Wikipedia page.
Click to expand...
In addition to the CPU core, the R3000 microprocessor includes Control Processor (CP), that incorporates Translation Look aside Buffer and Memory Management Unit. The CP works as a co-processor. Besides the CP, the R3000 can also support external R3010 numeric co-processor and two other external co-processors.

That is what it says on cpu world about co-processors of the R3000. So they all have a CP of some kind from what i understand.
Need to find information on the PR31700. When you google it , you get nothing.

It's possible the GTE isn't something the ps1 only has. Are you certain the GTE isn't an external chip
Seems like a primitive apu GTE built into the cpu thats pretty cool if sony did that but i bet its external especially in the very first 1001 model. All the chips seem to be separate. I am considering buying a development console debugging station. I recently found one for 850$ on Mecari but i have never used Mecari before. Wondering if my odds of success would increase buy buying the development kit model. Wondering if the GTE is external in some models while all one thing in other models. Same with the DMA. Sony made several different revisions to there motherboard over the years. It is very likely that the dma and gte are separte co processors
 
Last edited:
Well ****! Now you;re getting me excited about this project. Looking forward to what you come up with.
 
It would be a total waste of time and a lot of money to do what you want. However, somebody already did what you want. It is called the PS2. The PS2 can even play most PS1 games.

BTW, I doubt you could reverse engineer a PS1 for only a few thousand dollars. If you can raise $100,000 to $1,000,000 then go for it. Then main problem is figuring out how the PS1 worked internally. You really think Sony is going to give anyone that information?
 
Last edited:
winetime said:
Wondering if bios would still boot though

In addition to the CPU core, the R3000 microprocessor includes Control Processor (CP), that incorporates Translation Look aside Buffer and Memory Management Unit. The CP works as a co-processor. Besides the CP, the R3000 can also support external R3010 numeric co-processor and two other external co-processors.

That is what it says on cpu world about co-processors of the R3000. So they all have a CP of some kind from what i understand.
Need to find information on the PR31700. When you google it , you get nothing.

It's possible the GTE isn't something the ps1 only has. Are you certain the GTE isn't an external chip
Seems like a primitive apu GTE built into the cpu thats pretty cool if sony did that but i bet its external especially in the very first 1001 model. All the chips seem to be separate. I am considering buying a development console debugging station. I recently found one for 850$ on Mecari but i have never used Mecari before. Wondering if my odds of success would increase buy buying the development kit model. Wondering if the GTE is external in some models while all one thing in other models. Same with the DMA. Sony made several different revisions to there motherboard over the years. It is very likely that the dma and gte are separte co processors
Click to expand...

The GTE is not external, there is no unaccounted for chip on the motherboard that could be the GTE and everything I've seen lists it as part of the CPU. It's not really an APU, there is a separate GPU, but as far as I can tell, the GTE does handle the vector math before handing off the info to the GPU for rasterization. Same is also true for the DMA processor (which isn't exactly unique but I believe the implementation is) and some kind of motion processor that apparently was used for processing FMV (kind of like the hardware decoders on modern GPUs).
 
I was under the impression that the earlier PlayStation were like the earlier Amiga, if you change the hardware some games might not work properly after because they were written specifically for that hardware? What would be the benefit of the modifications you want to do, simply faster/stabler or do you want to run games/programs from other versions, maybe a different OS?
 
]-[itman said:
The GTE is not external, there is no unaccounted for chip on the motherboard that could be the GTE and everything I've seen lists it as part of the CPU. It's not really an APU, there is a separate GPU, but as far as I can tell, the GTE does handle the vector math before handing off the info to the GPU for rasterization. Same is also true for the DMA processor (which isn't exactly unique but I believe the implementation is) and some kind of motion processor that apparently was used for processing FMV (kind of like the hardware decoders on modern GPUs).
Click to expand...
Good Afternoon, I just got back from the gym, I am recovering from a MPFL tear, Its a year and half process, I had surgery about 11 months ago. Used to be a distance bicycle rider. Got a bicycle project going on as well, building a custom road bike.

From my own searchers just quickly though, Its saying the GTE as part of the GPU not the CPU Don't know if that is true for certain, The GTE was created by SGI in 1981 but i think it was called the geometry engine witch was a separate chip

Purpose of this modification would be to simply make an improvement in the old system. I would like to be able to run another OS on it but that's another thing all together. But i think, that is what i am gonna have to do to get this thing working. So to answer your question i would like to improve the OS or bios.

With the GTE no longer a problem that still leaves the DMA as a problem. I will do some more research. 30 years later and the fact that this has not been tried puzzles me. I believe its been tried but not written about.

Is Mecari a trustworthy website to buy from? I have been an ebay buyer and seller for a long time, How is Mecari compared to ebay?

I really like the playstation 2, I am using a pc that i built inside a playstation 2. I used to paint and sell them as well. I used to upgrade the power supply in the playstation 2 before they made the new psu for it. I used to take a 180 watt imac power supply and use it to run the playstation 2. They didn't sell well though. But it was double the wattage with 3 12 v rails so i would usually add a 12v fan as well. Again this was before they made the fan upgrade for the system.

As far as reverse engineering and raising money i have not started that yet. I will have to figure out how i would like to do that.
I doubt i can raise enough money though but i may give it shot with a go fund me. Before i do any of that i want to install the PR31700. I got the find the specs of it. It may not work but its worth a try. It supposed to be clocked at 75mhz, doubt any game will run at that speed but hoping bios would at least try to boot. I will have to run a custom bios i think. I got to research what homebrew there is. And supposibly the ps1 can run some kind of primitive linux already

Alright I wrote alot so i will let you guys digest it for awhile, Keep the hope alive, I am hopeing and praying that i can have some success with this project. Im going to need help for sure so keep on posting here. Who knows maybe another modder will back me up
 
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