Hardware

Revision as of 22:30, 23 December 2011 by CHR15x94 (talk | contribs) (Added SoC section. Mainly just a small summary about the CPU.)

This page lists and describes the hardware found inside the Nintendo 3DS. Many of these parts are custom made and are expanded upon here or in other pages.


Specifications

Type Name Datasheet Source
SoC Nintendo 1048 0H (Custom): CPU, GPU, VRAM & DSP all on one chip. N/A N/A
Processor Core ARM11 MPCore 2x 268MHz & 2x VFP Co-Processor [1] [11]
GPU DMP PICA 268MHz N/A [11]
DSP 134Mhz. 24ch 32728Hz sampling rates. N/A [11]
VRAM 6 MB within SoC. Independent of system memory (FCRAM). N/A [11]
FCRAM 2x64MB Fujitsu MB82M8080-07L [2][3][4] [5]
Storage Toshiba THGBM2G3P1FBAI8 1GB NAND Flash N/A N/A
Power Management Texas Instruments PAIC3010B 0AA37DW N/A FCC filing
Gyroscope Invensense ITG-3270 MEMS Gyroscope [5] N/A
Accelerometer ST Micro 2048 33DH X1MAQ Accelerometer Model LIS331DH [6] N/A
Wifi 802.11b/g Atheros AR6014 [7] N/A
Infrared IC NXP infrared IC, "S750 0803 TSD031C" N/A [10]
Auxiliary Microcontroller UC CTR, custom Nintendo microcontroller N/A N/A
  • [11] Official Documentation
  • [5],[10] According to iFixit.com (source):
  • Datasheet for memory is for a chip in the same series, it has less memory than the one inside the 3DS (128mbits vs 512mbits).
  • There is a trove of data on the FCC website at [8].

FCRAM

There is one FCRAM (Fast Cycle RAM) IC in the 3DS, produced by Fujitsu and branded as MB82M8080-07L. The Fujitsu MB82M8080-07L chip internally contains 2 dies, where each die is branded MB81EDS516545 and MB82DBS08645.

The MB81EDS516545 die is a CMOS Fast Cycle Random Access Memory (FCRAM) with Low Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR) SDRAM Interface containing 512MBit storage accessible in a 64-bit format. The MB81EDS516545 is suited for consumer applications requiring high data bandwidth with low power consumption.


SoC

The 3DS has much of it's internals housed in a SoC (System on Chip) just like it's predecessors. This is done to reduce build costs, cut down on power consumption, as well as make the PCB layout less complex and make the system harder to tamper with. The SoC, branded as the Nintendo 1048 0H, contains the CPU, GPU, DSP and VRAM.

According to official documents, the CPU used is a dual-core ARM11 CPU, clocked at 268MHz. One core is dedicated to system software, while the other is used for application programming, each known as the syscore and appcore, respectively.


Images

Front

 

High Resolution

Back

 

High Resolution

NAND pinout

 

NAND dumping has been successful, but the image is encrypted.

WiFi dongle pinout

 

SDIO interface is colored red:

  • CLK
  • CMD
  • D0, D1, D2, D3

This is the interface for the 'NEW' WiFi module (based on Atheros AR6002) first included in DSi.

The proprietary and by now ancient DS-mode WiFi is colored yellow, pins are unknown.

I2C eeprom is colored blue:

  • SCL
  • SDA

SPI Flash is colored purple:

  • CLK
  • CS#
  • SI
  • SO
  • WP#
  • NC

Auxiliary Microntroller

 

Monitors HOME button, WiFi switch, 3D slider, volume control slider. Controls LEDs, various power supplies.

Devices attached to I2C bus:

  • UC (master?)
  • Accelerometer (slave address 0x18)
  • SoC (master? slave?)