Nintendo64 System Description

The following is a very basic description of the N64 unit, taken fron Nintendo's WWW site and modified to be somewhat more accurate. Short of detail, this summary is a brief introduction to the N64 unit. Other sections of my N64 TechInfo site examine different aspects of the system in greater detail (follow the links from this page or see the main index).

Nintendo have their own glossary of terms, though be warned that many of the explanations are simplified and some are actually inaccurate - N64 TechInfo has explanations in considerably greater detail.

Main CPU:

64-bit MIPS RISC 93.75MHz CPU (customized R4300i series).

[Explanation and Discussion of MIPS/MFLOPS Performance Concepts]

Memory:

36Mbit (4.5MB) Rambus DRAM [4MB + parity].
500MHz system event speed [250MHz clock, data transfers on both clock edges].
32bit RGBA frame buffer.

Memory Bandwidth:

9bit bus (8bit + parity), so peak data rate is 500MB/sec.

Graphics/Sound Coprocessor:

'Reality Immersion' (RCP) Coprocessor.
64bit 62.5MHz custom MIPS ASIC vector processor.

Currently Supported Output Resolutions:

256x224,
646x486 (NTSC),
768x576 (PAL). Flicker free interlace mode supported.
21bit colour video output.

[Explanation and Discussion of 'frames per second' Concepts]

RCP Graphics Hardware Functions:

Z buffering
Texture Mapping
Gouraud Shading
Anti-Aliasing
Trilinear Mipmap Interpolation (TLMMI)
Perspective Correction
Environment Mapping
Depth Cueing (fog, mist, haze, etc.)
Alpha (transparency) effects
Load Management
Spot/Point/Directional lights, Specular Reflection

[Explanation and Discussion of 'polygon' Performance Concepts]

Dimensions and Weight:

1.1Kg (2.42lb); 260mm (W) x 73mm (H) x 190mm (D) [10.23" x 2.87" x 7.48"]