Sega, Nintendo, Namco - Triforce - general questions

[Akuma]

Hey everyone. Today I shot two Triforce main units on ebay Germany.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200162228219 and anothe one for Eur 181,-.

Now, I got some questions - most important: Was that a good buy? I would think so. For how much are these things being sold on international ebay.com?

My research so far showed, that the Triforce hardware seems to be pretty rare at the moment and it might take some time to become as available, as the Naomi. Is that correct?

Has anyone here at the msg boards got a triforce (running) - so I might refer to him if other questions might come up?

Concerning games: I couldn't find any on ebay? Do I have to wait? What type of media is used? I saw a pic of the Triforce with the Sega GD-Rom. Are all Triforce games delivered on GD-Rom? How much do games usually sell?

I know - alot of questions. So any reply will be appreciated!

[JimmyU]

Not too many games were released on the Triforce hardware.  Basically, it was a suped-up Gamecube.  Here's what i found on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triforce_(arcade_system_board)

[Jeff AMN]

I'd be willing to pay insane amounts of money for an original F-Zero AX cockpit. I played one at E3 and it was amazing.

[SavannahLion]

Let me tell you that I basically hate you for finding not one, but two.  

That said....

From what I could Google. It looks like you need the GD drive (This Boot update seems confirm this in a roundabout way). I couldn't find very many images where the Triforce isn't accompanied by that external drive. Unfortunately, it seems most of the sites that have any sort of interesting information is either blocked or in Japanese.

So I tried to look for a manual. Found one for Virtua Striker which gives some clues into what's needed and how the Triforce works. It's VGA compatible. Doesn't take power from the JAMMA harness. And apparently requires the GD-ROM to load games. I don't see any place on the Triforce (according to the VS manual) that allows for another type of hardware to be attached for loading games.

[Akuma]

Let me tell you that I basically hate you for finding not one, but two. 

Well, then I guess I have to sell one of them on ebay ; )

Some days ago, I got a GD-Rom drive unit from the same guy along with a Naomi electrical Kit but no dimm board. If the triforce needs the dimm board aswell, then I am screwed - can't find one on ebay anywhere.

[SavannahLion]

DIMM is what they're calling the RAM? Maybe you can get lucky and it's not properietary?

Fat chance of that. But given a wide enough search, I imagine it would be easier to find a DIMM board for the Triforce than it would to find the GD drive or Triforce itself. Who knows, one of us might luck out, find one, remember you, buy it, and initiate a trade of sorts....

[grantspain]

i don't think you need a dimm board for the triforce production model,to be sure look for a small scsi type socket on the board somewhere-probably on the front panel

[SavannahLion]

Ouch, I just read through the rest of the manual. I would definitely like to locate the Triforce only manual. The DIMM board is sub-listed as the "Media Board" which apparently houses a battery and uses a key chip which you get with each game disc. The manual does mention that if the battery dies, it takes longer to load the game so I would guess there is indeed RAM in there.

Grantspain, are there two models perhaps? The manuals I can find definitely mention needing a DIMM board.

[Akuma]

I am pretty sure, that the GD-Rom drive is the same used for the Naomi and Naomi 2 - no specific triforce GD rom. I guess it's the same with the dimm board - those naomi gd-roms all have this security chip aswell. Damn, I need one of those dimm boards... : )

[grantspain]

your gdrom will fit naomi 1,naomi 2,triforce,chihiro
the security chip fits into a hole on the side of the box

[Akuma]

since I received the 2 Triforce motherboards in the meantime, I thought I might shoot some pics for all the other tech geeks, like myself, to look at. Just had the idea, that I might get to run it by connecting it to a naomi jvs2jamma converter. But this is only theoretical, since I don't even own a Naomi Motherboard or a Jamma cab.

Anyway, here are the pics. Oh and before I forget, since I desperatly need some money, I will put up one of the Triforce motherboards on Ebay shortly. If you are interrested, you are welcome to send me a personal message.

Cheers!

[grantspain]

you can run that on a standard jamma cab or a vga monitor using a sega jvs to jamma i/o board,of which i happen to be selling on ebay
all you need is a naomi psu,i/o card,usb cable,vga cable
i am not sure if dil switch 1 will put this onto 15khz
if you want sound you will need a sound amp