Dangers of 3.3V Flash in Retro Consoles. Thoughts & Opinions.

[Bodyshots]

Originally posted July 5, 2017

 

https://db-electronics.ca/2017/07/05/the-dangers-of-3-3v-flash-in-retro-consoles/

[Tanooki]

True but blown out of proportion. Him trying to equate it to cancer was overboard. Cancer you can conclusively with hard numbers link to killing people. How many people can prove their console died from years of flash kit use? Krikzz got rudely singled out on that. He responded a few hours ago on his boards to it and he seems to contradict yet still agree with the guy too that it is a problem, but his designs don't cause the problem to blow out stuff. He has been for years stress testing the same systems with the same boards going on like 7 years now and not had one yet die because of the voltage problem. Given he likely puts more use on any of those given cards than any game player would I have to wonder really what the odds are that an everdrive, powerpak, or anything else is going to cause a voltage destruction of an old Turbo, Nintendo, Sega, etc.

 

In reality, none of these devices ever were made with the mindset that someone would want to let alone bother to use a system after 10 years let alone 30+. I'd really love to see some hard info pointing to where an Everdrive N8 killed an NES versus some related part on the system board just tends to roll over and die after 30 years or so. There's so much hardware out there anyway you can always replace and repair or just say screw it and emulate the stuff anyway.

 

I know the guy is right it's a problem, but I think how much of one is being blown up a bit to make that point.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The general concensus on the Krikzz boards is that the flash carts themselves are more likely to burn out from this issue as opposed to damaging anything on the console itself. Of the carts actually listed, I only own the v1.2 Turbo-ED (Which likely should be a problem child with the issues listed), and a power-pak for my NES. I've never had any issues with either since I've got them. Well, that isn't true, the first turbo-ED I received didn't work at all and I had to send it back to Krikzz directly. He found the issue and sent it back and it has worked excellent ever since.

 

It also makes me wonder since it wasn't directly discussed in the article nor has it really been brought up in the formus. But what about the newer repro carts that use Krikzz flash PCBs? As an example the new homebrew escape 2042 uses such a flash PCB from Krikzz. I wouldn't think these are a problem since the data is already flashed to them before I receive the cart and while they are reusable, I'm not one who would be flashing it to use for something else and plan to keep it as is. So does the act of reading from the flash cart also pose a problem as well?

 

And on the subject of the flashcarts, if the flash chips themselves are the real issue for concern here, then where does the flash chip come into play on most of these? Because it seems to me that with my turbo-ed and my power-pak, I'm reading the data from the SD card before the game loads up. Is that data read from the SD and then flashed to the flash ram and then the cart somehow resets the system so it now reads what is in the flash ram (Simulating an actual game ROM at this point)? Is that the basic process of how it works?

 

If so, then how to other flash carts we own like the Harmony, Melody boards, LTO Flash, VecMulti, Mateos flash carts, Ultimate SDs, etc... work differently? Are they also not potentially at risk of causing problems? Or have they been made with the proper regulation for the voltage?

Edited July 7, 2017 by -^Cro§Bow^-

[Greg2600]

What's interesting is that he labeled SD2SNES "Pure Gold," yet it has the most issues with power of all of them.

[Bodyshots]

SD2SNES has the most issues with power of all of them.

 

 

 

It does? Only as mine (along with every other multicart I've owned) worked perfect without issue.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Bodyshots

[Greg2600]

It definitely does. Some of the earlier SNES consoles didn't give it enough juice. I had constant problems with mine, then got a slightly "newer" console and it was fine.

[Tanooki]

That's a good point and I think I heard of that before too year ago.

 

The thing is, is there really any value in the SD2SNES at this point? I mean unless you're into converted laserdisc game or getting CD audio in hacked SNES gems like Zelda why bother? FX has been mentioned coming for years with no visible progress, and the biggest list of gems SA1 basically says it can't or won't happen.

 

Sure there's the CX4 for Mega Man X2/X3, but Rockman X2/X3 don't use it for some odd reason so that's an easy alternative.

 

Outside of that I think the Super Everdrive v2 w/DSP and that thing have the same list of stuff that won't work. So you're basically paying $200 vs $100 to play english X2/X3 in the end plus the hacked up options of the MSU-1. Doesn't seem worth it, especially if it can have power problems too.

[Tempest]

He's been working on updates to the SD2SNES, so I think at least some of those chips will eventually get emulated. I think he's also adding a cheat system if some sort.