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TECHNICAL DATA

Official Specs:

  • CPU: MIPS 64bit RISC CPU (customized R4000 series)
    • CLOCK SPEED: 93.75 MHz
  • MEMORY: RAMBUS D-RAM 36M bit
    • TRANSFER SPEED: maximum 4,500M bit/sec.
  • CO-PROCESSOR:
    • RPC: SP (sound and graphics processor) and DP (pixel drawing processor) incorporated
    CLOCK SPEED: 62.5MHz
  • RESOLUTION: 256 x 224 ~ 640 x 480 dots
    • flicker free interlace mode support
  • COLOR: 32 bit RGBA pixel color frame buffer support
    • 21 bit color video output
  • GRAPHICS PROCESSING:

    • FUNCTION:

    Z buffer
    anti-aliasing
    realistic texture mapping:
    • tri-linear filtered mipmap interpolation
    • perspective correction
    • environment mapping
  • DIMENSIONS: W260mm (10.23") x D190mm (7.48") x H73mm (2.87")
  • WEIGHT: 1.1kg (2.42 lb.)

This Information is as of Nov. 24, 1995. From NINTENDO, INC.


The specs below are current as of 11/27/96. (Source: CapScott)

Nintendo 64 Console Specs

Physical Dimensions:

  • 10.25" x 7.5" x 2.57"
  • 2.42 lbs

Power Supply (U.S.):

  • Input: AC - 120V, 26W, 60Hz
  • Output: DC - 3.3V, 2.7A

Custom CPU:

  • Custom 64-bit MIPS R4300i-class RISC CPU (93.75 MHz)
    • 64-bit data path, registers, buffer
    • 5-stage pipeline
  • CPU Benchmarks
    • 125 Dhrystone MIPS (93 million operations/sec)
    • 60 SPECint92
    • 45 SPECfp92

Co-Processor:

  • Custom 64-bit MIPS RISC "Reality Immersion" RCP (62.5 MHz)
    • Built-in Audio/Video Vector Processor (RSP)
  • RCP Benchmarks
    • Over half a billion (500,000,000) vector operations/sec
      • 10 times more than some Pentium engines
    • Built-in Pixel Drawing Processor (RDP) takes care of:
      • Advanced Texture-Mapping
        • Detail Texturing
        • Tri-linear Mip Map Interpolation
        • Perspective Correction
        • Environment Mapping
        • Depth Buffering
      • Color Combiner
      • Anti-Aliasing and Blending
      • Rasterizing
      • Z-Buffering
      • Automatic LOD Management
      • Vertex positioning and transformations
      • Depth, color and texture clipping
      • Transparency (256 levels max)
      • Gouraud Shading

Processor/Co-Processor Engine:

  • Contains Over 4 Million Transistors Total
  • Manufactured by NEC
    • Based on .35 Micron Process

Memory:

  • 4 Megabytes (36 megabits) total RAM
  • Rambus DRAM subsystem
    • Transfers up to 562.5 MBytes/sec
  • Custom 9-bit Rambus Bus (to the DRAM)
    • Runs at 500 MHz max
  • Internal data bus to the RCP is 128-bit

Audio:

  • Stereo 16-bit
  • ADPCM Compression
  • 100 PCM channels possible
    • Each PCM channel takes 1% of the CPU time
      • Average 16-24 channels
  • Wavetable Synthesis
  • Sampled at 48 KHz max
  • Internal Special Effects
    • Voice (w/ Pitch Shifting)
    • Gain and Pan
    • Reverb and Chorus
  • External (software) Effects Supported

Video:

  • Video Output
    • RF
    • Stereo A/V
    • S-Video
    • HDTV
  • Video and Resolution:
    • 256 x 224 to 640 x 480
      • Limited by TV Standards
      • Flicker Free Interlace Mode
    • 21-bit color output
    • 32-bit RGBA Pixel Color Frame Buffer

Controller Ports:

  • Four Controller Ports
  • Three-prong Feed

Controllers:

  • Digital joypad at left
  • Analog stick in middle
  • Six buttons on the right
    • 'B' and 'A' buttons
    • Four "C Group" buttons
  • 'L' and 'R' buttons on top
  • One "Z Trigger" button on the bottom
  • Memory card port on back
    • Initial controller paks start out at 256k
    • Paks (up to 2 MB) will be available
    • Supports other 'paks' such as a "Jolt Pak"

Expansion Options:

  • Cartridge Slot
  • Controller Ports
  • Extension Port (bottom)
  • Memory Expansion option (top front)

N64 Console Games:

  • Games begin at 32-128 Megabits
  • Uses JPEG image format for pre-rendered images
  • Produces polygon graphics on the fly
  • On-board hardware decompression; software optional
  • 256 Megabit carts max; (four 64 meg ROMs)
    • Downward Compatible

64DD Specs

Physical Dimensions/Weight:

  • 10.2" x 7.5" x 3.1"
  • 3.53 lbs

System:

  • Magnetic Storage Disk Medium
    • Supports Error Correction
  • Utilizes Nintendo 64 console for processing
    • Supports same compression algorithm
  • 4" front loading disk feed
  • 2-4 megabyte RAM expansion

Benchmarks:

  • 75 ms seek time
  • .79 MB/sec data transfer rate

Disk Physical Dimensions:

  • 3.98" x 4.06" x .4"

Games/Disks:

  • High Density, Double-Sided disks
  • 64 MB total capacity
  • Read/Write capable
    • Dynamic writable space
      • Up to 32 MB

*NOTE* The Reality Immersion Graphics Processor and Audio Processing Unit are combined into a single co-processor.

Just in case you don't know, the N64 uses Rambus DRAM. Rambus DRAM is 9-bit (8 bits of data and 1 parity bit) instead of the usual 8-bit RAM. So, if you multiply 9 (the number of bits of the RAM) x 4 (the number of megabytes of RAM in the N64), then you get 36 megabits. Which, when converted to megabytes, is 4.5 megabytes. But, the N64 actually only has 4 megabytes of RAM. So, in conclusion, Nintendo is technically correct when they say 36 megabits because that's how many megabits of RAM they have.

Textured mapping is a process in which a computer takes an image (e.g. a "texture") and wraps it around a 3-D object.

Morphing is going from one 3-D object to another, changing its shape and transforming until it reaches the new shape.

Scaling means to shrink or enlarge an object.

Rotation means to show the playing field from a different angle.

Skewing means to slant an object.

Shading is the process by which the computer simulates lighting effects on objects in a 3-D scene.

Anti-aliasing is the process of surrounding the particular color with "blending" colors so the screen colors appears smooth next to each other and "blend together". This process will eliminate the jagged edges of diagonal lines on a TV or Monitor.

Detail Texturing is when you supply the texture unit with two or more of the same texture -- each one more detailed than the other. That way, when you zoom into the texture, it will gradually interpolate between two of the textures so there won't be any pixelation.

Tri-linear mip map interpolation stops textures from aliasing when they are far away. It will switch to a smaller, less-detailed texture to prevent this from happening.

Load Management will eliminate the "pop-up" effect of parallax backgrounds in 3-D games.

Depth Buffering removes hidden surfaces during the real-time rendering process of a scene.

Transparency means you can see through an object.

Gouraud Shading calculates a color for each vertex on the object and then blends the shading between each pair of vertices to determine the color for the pixels.

Phong Shading calculates a color for each pixel in the object which generally results in more color and shading variation and therefore more realism in the rendered scene.

Flat Shading gives each side of a polygon a single color. It is the least realistic of the three but also takes the least amount of time to calculate. This is usually the kind of polygons they are talking about when they give benchmarks. It makes your polygon number seem much higher than it really can be used usefully for.

Thanks to Scott McCall, N64HQ.

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