Dreamcast on a chip

[DYNAGOD]

This thread was first seen on the shmup forums in january:

SAN JOSE -- Renesas Technology has taken many of the technologies used in the Sega Dreamcast game console and combined them into a single core.

Officials from Japan's Renesas, which assumed control over the development of the SH processor from ST Microelectronics on Sept. 28, announced the SH3707 embedded processor at the Fall Processor Forum here today. The SH3707 combines both an advanced SuperH core and a PowerVR graphics core, the components found in the original Dreamcast.

ADVERTISEMENT

Specifically, the Dreamcast console contained a 200-MHz Hitachi SH4 with the capability to perform 360 million instructions per second (MIPS) and 1.4 million megaflops, or floating-point operations per second. The Dreamcast also contained an NEC PowerVR2 graphics chip.

The new SH3707 uses a faster 540 MIPS/2.1 gigaflops engine, with a 64-bit interface to memory. The core also contains a PowerVR MBX chip, a core that Imagination Technologies has licensed to Intel and Texas Instruments, among others.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1667467,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

im extremely curious to see what the end application is going to be..very intriguing..expecially for dreamcast lovers..

[Lilwolf]

now that is cool..

[mcdo15]

sweet

dreamcast still ownz j00

[BombProofPlane]

From what i read it looks like they want to turn it into a dvd player.  Maybe it will also play dc games?

[NIVO]

if this could made the size of a portable cd player, and the fliptop lid has a 4" lcd or something to that effect, it would be sold out everywhere when it debuts

[DYNAGOD]

people will be flashing that thing with DC bios in 2 seconds flat.
i hope its true...

[Lilwolf]

I hope they put it in a little box like the guy who miniturizes all old consoles and did the psp ortable.  the one with the CD sitting out of the top.

[dreamcastninja]

whatever it turns out to be it won't sell...

us DC owners who are really into it have everything we want/need for dc hundreds of games , like 20 controllers couple keyboards, 5 systems, LOL

the hardcore dc guys are like packrats man, we horde everything since it's no longer in production... we buy things just to have them...seriously

dc on a chip like that will be worthless, we have what we need/want already... plus dc on a chip isn't original so collectors won't care (the main majority of the hardcore dc scene)

the new people will say eww dreamcast, eww sega, ewww graphics, ewww wtf is a dreamcast i'm too young to know, or ewwww is it an overpriced dvd player or a second rate gaming system?

it will fail like every other aftermarket idea like that... plus they still make dc's over there in brazil so if anyone really did want something different like that they'd just import one

[DYNAGOD]

resurecting an old thread from oct 2004
the statement was

 

The SH3707 will ship in the first quarter of 2005, Miyazaki said

i wonder if this chip has materialized and if we can get our grubby little hands on one

[Scott84]

Maybe they will enbedd it into a GDROM drive for the pc and sell it for $30. Then you just put th GDROM in your computer case. now that would be slick.

[Grasshopper]

This would be awesome as long as they can manufacture the chips for a realistic price. So many possibilities.

It may take a year or two but I think it's possible the chip could end up being used in the plug and play video games made by Jakks and others as long as there are no cooling issues. Some of the newer P&P games are already based on Megadrive-on-a-chip technology so it's not too much of a stretch to imagine future ones being based on DC technology.

[stellarola]

Man, I remember reading about this a while ago. That would be great to have a P&P dreamcast! Hopefully this will be realized soon, and put some sort of dreamcast-esc product back into production.

[DaemonCollector]

I get the feeling this product was canned :/ I did some searching on their site and it is mentioned NOWHERE. The part number isn't in the catalog and a google search of the site for the part number pulls up sqwat

[DYNAGOD]

I get the feeling this product was canned :/ I did some searching on their site and it is mentioned NOWHERE. The part number isn't in the catalog and a google search of the site for the part number pulls up sqwat

yup, i came up empty as well.
shame..though it might have just changed names, should email a rep.

[MrTroy]

The best thing about it is, all the links that pop up are of people saying "This is so cool!"

[DaemonCollector]

I emailed them asking about it...guess we'll find out soon I hope.

[DaemonCollector]

Well, got an email back.

Josh,
I talked with the PM on this. The part number in the announcement was
incorrect. It should have been SH7307. However, this device was
cancelled since most if not all its features were added to the SH7770.
The SH7770 is for automotive applications.

Regards,
Lyle Supp
Mgr., Renesas Technology America
Technical Support Center
450 Holger Way
San Jose, CA 95134
Phone: 1-888-777-0384
Web: http://tsc.america.renesas.com/magicSSHD

And here is some info on the part.
Link

[DYNAGOD]

well the core is still the same so the old opcodes from the DC should still work, if anything theyve been expanded upon.
so this is still a possibility i think..
hmmmmm

PS gotta kill that link, its too long screwing with the page layout

[Level42]

If they add a (S) ATA interface and firmware to control a HD, i'd buy one 

[toyfiend2004]

it will fail like every other aftermarket idea like that... plus they still make dc's over there in brazil so if anyone really did want something different like that they'd just import one

I disagree here... when PS2 was coming out, Sony got smart and also released their PSOne at the same time, or right around there.  Aftermarket ideas are not always that bad.  It has real potential and Might bring back more DC games out of hiding. 

[TravistyOJ]

Maybe this will be something like what nintendo is doing in china with the Nintendo iQue.
http://www.game-machines.com/consoles/nintendo-ique.php

A controller console like Jakk's but lets you download games.  Of course DC GD-ROMs are a little bigger than N64, so that probably wouldnt work too well. 

[Dave_K.]

Well, got an email back.

Josh,
I talked with the PM on this. The part number in the announcement was
incorrect. It should have been SH7307. However, this device was
cancelled since most if not all its features were added to the SH7770.
The SH7770 is for automotive applications.

Sweet, I'd love to play Ikaruga while driving my car!

[Franco]

Lets just hope its smaller than this

[ChadTower]

You lose at bandwidth theft.

[Franco]

Soz, I just got carried away in the heady moment. Link changed