[plerpin]

Did Rambus have a dossier of compromising photos on industry executives in the mid 90's? Why did Intel and Nintendo go all in on such an expensive and technically inferior memory technology? The latency is such a killer, especially if you're on an architecture with really deep pipelines (ahem, P4).

[rasz]

Rambus meant Nintendo shipped 5 gen console on 2 layer pcb with only 4 big ICs. TWO layers! that was a huge cost saving. Compare to Sega Saturn with a total of something like 144bits of various memory buses divided into multiple memory banks over multiple memory chips.

[plerpin]

How many layers did the Saturn's PCB have?

[rasz]

at least 4 like playstation, compare this nightmare https://mcretro.net/sega-saturn-photographing-has-begun/

to https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/trimming-your-... revercse engineered pcb layout here https://gmanmodz.com/2020/01/30/2020-the-year-of-n64-again/

One was thrown together by committee with some function goal in mind, the other designed top to bottom with huge influence from process engineers. Simplified layout and reducent component count/variety means less time in pick&place, faster optical alignment, faster optical inspection, less opportunity for process flaws.

[plerpin]

Very interesting, thanks.