Is VA7 an acceptable/reliable revision?

[earthwormgrim]

Hearing a lot VA9 is the one to avoid due to a failing old PLL chip,

found out from taking off the toplid and serial I have a VA7, which is a "type 3" (va6-9 range) unless thats just gdemu's classification of it...

I hope this machine Is reliable for many years to come! and if I were to get a Phoebe to replace phantom chip, that will be no problem right? the only cable aside from ribbon I make sure isn't connected to phantom would be the ground that I would disconnect ?

[zyrobs]

All Saturns are 20+ years old now and the electrolytic caps on them are giving out. This is what breaks many units, usually around the PLL area - if the PLL can't supply stable clocks, you get a blank black screen. If you want your unit to be more reliable for a longer period, you should consider recapping it and also replacing the EMI filters around the a/v output since they are known to give out too. Make sure you use the lowest profile caps though, there's very little space under the metal plate, normal caps sometimes don't fit even sideways.

Phoebe/Rhea is a drop-in replacement to the normal CD drives, you don't need to solder anything (beyond two jumpers on the Phoebe to switch signal type to match the motherboard).

For the Phantom chip, you only need to solder a +5V cable, for the best results you should source it from the CD drive instead of the PSU. The ribbon has ground in it already, so you only need the +5V cable.

[earthwormgrim]

Sept 24, 2019 21:10:31 GMT zyrobs said:

All Saturns are 20+ years old now and the electrolytic caps on them are giving out. This is what breaks many units, usually around the PLL area - if the PLL can't supply stable clocks, you get a blank black screen. If you want your unit to be more reliable for a longer period, you should consider recapping it and also replacing the EMI filters around the a/v output since they are known to give out too. Make sure you use the lowest profile caps though, there's very little space under the metal plate, normal caps sometimes don't fit even sideways.

Phoebe/Rhea is a drop-in replacement to the normal CD drives, you don't need to solder anything (beyond two jumpers on the Phoebe to switch signal type to match the motherboard).

For the Phantom chip, you only need to solder a +5V cable, for the best results you should source it from the CD drive instead of the PSU. The ribbon has ground in it already, so you only need the +5V cable.

Thanks and judging from the +5v cable routed underneath cd drive and not near PSU I assume it’s being drawn from the disc drive itself (I didn’t do the install bought it already modded)

1) If I were to go phantom chip to phoebe PCB, I just remove disc drive and phantom and attach the phoebe with power and ribbon cable to Saturn main board? Don’t need to make any PSU mods or check anything else for switching from one solution to another?

2) is it smart to get phoebe for my exact type3 , or should I get a rhea for the va0-1 mark1, get another Saturn that’s that model to put that in down the road? Don’t really need two saturns but curious what the smartest investment would be for rhea/phoebe. I’m aware phoebe is what I need for my particular Saturn tho

3) does rhea/Phoebe make everything region free or do I still have to do some form of saturn region patching in advance?

4) my understanding is no soldering needed at all, you specify which type saturn you have of the four in advance and it comes pre-soldered with right configuration? 

[zyrobs]

1) If you have a Phoebe / Rhea, the modchip is unnecessary, just remove it.
2) They are both equally fine for just games.
3) You have to set up your region in an INI file, after that it is region free.
4) Yes.

[earthwormgrim]

Thanks!

and if I get a Phoebe, I can always just solder the Phoebe to change the configuration assuming I get type 2-4