Retroactive Forums

I agree, and I'm confused as well. Think we need input from Marshall, cause every time I read his posts in this subject I get a wee bit more confused... To much at work, damn you SAP , to do some proper digging and reading up on this :'(

I have read the datasheet of one of the clock generators (not sure if the other one is the same, the print on it is not). It seems easily possible to remake it with an FPGA. One thing confuses me though. The only output frequency that the clock generator matches is the "colour sub". I calculated what the other output frequencies of the clock generator would be and they did not match one from the list of frequencies you mentioned. So, either my calculation is wrong, or the other frequencies are divided/multiplied somewhere else again.

Anyways, I just need a better image of what exactly needs to be changed. I do not want to just try something and end up screwing things up, if someone knows the answer anyways.

Read the MX8330 and MX8350 datasheets

8330 is configurable for either Rambus or colorburst based clocking. In older mobos it's used twice, configured differently.

8350 combines two of them into 1 die and removes the unnecessary functionality.

You can either use a fpga PLL to directly drive the OSC sense input on these chips, faking a crystal, or you can remove the clock chips and drive the rest of the board yourself. I'm not sure if the Cyclones can do 250mhz on a single-ended 3.3v output.
If you decide to keep the clockgens, you can have the fpga toggle their modes to set the divisors for each frequency.
Also, I believe the RDRAM base clock is 14.7mhz. Some time ago I drove the clockgen's crystal input (just try both pins and see which works) to push the rambus faster (you can't run it more than about 2% faster before the video corruption starts)

Allright, I think I have all the info I need and I am more confident about this now. I will order a 14.318 MHz oscillator soon and see if I can make one of my PAL N64 run like an NTSC one. Unfortunately I will be moving in two weeks and I have some other projects as well, so it could take a while.

I am pretty excited about this though. I would be pretty hyped if we can make the first switchless N64 region free mod.

Ok, I think I'm finally getting to grips with what I need to do.
I need to remove the crystals that are connected to the MX8330s on my mb, for example in pos C39 (pin 5&6 on osc). I then hook up pin 5&6 to the FPGA and use that instead of 2 new crystals, and I do the same to both MX8330.
Does that sound about right?

Still waiting for parts from China :'(

Ok, I think I'm finally getting to grips with what I need to do.
I need to remove the crystals that are connected to the MX8330s on my mb, for example in pos C39 (pin 5&6 on osc). I then hook up pin 5&6 to the FPGA and use that instead of 2 new crystals, and I do the same to both MX8330.
Does that sound about right?

Still waiting for parts from China :'(

About right, but you only need to connect one of the MX8330 pins to the FPGA. I do not know which one, marshallh said to just give it a try.

I think as a start we can only change the clock for one of the MX8330 chips. The one we would change is the one that generates the video frequency. As a start I think I will try to hook up an oscillator directly to the MX8330. Allthough, in that case you might as well use a crystal, but the oscillator will later be fed to an FPGA I guess, so we can mux between them.

Maybe I will first try a crystal, if I can get that easier.

3 different crystals ordered, and even more waiting until I can get to the bottom of this mod. I'll at least need the SOP to DIP boards before I start soldering and thinking about programming the FPGA. Hopefully the boards will arrive this week so I can implement the region mod, and then I'll try to fix the timing issues when the crystals arrive.

Still no SOP-DIP converters, contacted seller and I'm hoping that they'll send 4 new ones. Waiting for parts is driving me crazy!!!

The PIF:s are not that easy to unsolder, they're actually driving me crazy. Any advice would be much appreciated

Buy one of those $50 hotair stations (like the Atten 858) and just heat the pins/pads until the solder melts.