<s>
This	O
article	O
describes	O
the	O
processor	O
,	O
memory	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
components	O
of	O
the	O
1996	O
Nintendo	B-Operating_System
64	I-Operating_System
home	O
video	B-Application
game	I-Application
console	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
CPU	B-General_Concept
:	O
64-bit	B-Device
NEC	O
VR4300	O
(	O
MIPS	O
R4300i	O
)	O
with	O
24KB	O
L1	B-General_Concept
cache	I-General_Concept
,	O
running	O
at	O
93.75	O
MHz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GPU	B-Architecture
:	O
64-bit	B-Device
Reality	O
Coprocessor	O
,	O
running	O
at	O
62.5MHz	O
and	O
over	O
half	O
a	O
billion	O
arithmetic	O
operations	O
per	O
second	O
,	O
capable	O
of	O
dual-issuing	O
scalar	B-General_Concept
and	O
vector	O
operations	O
under	O
the	O
right	O
circumstances	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
microcode-reprogrammable	O
T&L	B-Algorithm
GPU	B-Architecture
,	O
composed	O
of	O
two	O
integrated	O
processors	O
:	O
the	O
Reality	O
Signal	O
Processor	O
(	O
RSP	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
Reality	O
Display	O
Processor	O
(	O
RDP	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parallel	O
Interface	O
(	O
PI	O
)	O
handles	O
configuration	O
and	O
data	O
transfers	O
between	O
parallel	O
devices	O
via	O
the	O
cartridge	B-Protocol
and	O
extension	O
ports	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hardware	O
features	O
:	O
texture	O
mapping	O
with	O
perspective	O
correction	O
,	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
,	O
Z-buffering	O
,	O
bilinear	O
filtering	O
,	O
trilinear	O
filtering	O
,	O
Gouraud	B-Algorithm
shading	I-Algorithm
,	O
8-bit	O
alpha	B-Algorithm
blending	I-Algorithm
,	O
level	O
of	O
detail	O
management	O
,	O
colour	O
keying	O
,	O
YUV	O
to	O
RGB	O
texture	O
conversion	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Peak	O
fillrate	B-General_Concept
(	O
by	O
RDP	O
pipeline	O
configuration	O
,	O
or	O
mode	O
)	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Number	O
of	O
ADPCM	B-Algorithm
voices	O
:	O
16	O
–	O
24	O
channels	O
with	O
pitch-shifting	O
PCM	B-Algorithm
,	O
up	O
to	O
100	O
PCM	B-Algorithm
channels	O
theoretically	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Differing	O
memory	O
countings	O
are	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
9th	O
bit	O
only	O
being	O
available	O
to	O
the	O
RCP	O
for	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
or	O
Z-buffering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Resolution	B-General_Concept
:	O
240p	O
(	O
320×240	O
)	O
,	O
288p	O
(	O
384×288	O
)	O
,	O
480i	O
(	O
640×480	B-General_Concept
)	O
,	O
576i	O
(	O
720×576	O
)	O
,	O
widescreen	O
via	O
letterboxing	O
or	O
anamorphic	O
compression	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Nintendo	B-Operating_System
64	I-Operating_System
's	O
central	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
unit	I-General_Concept
(	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
)	O
is	O
the	O
NEC	O
VR4300	O
,	O
a	O
licensed	O
variant	O
of	O
the	O
64-bit	B-Device
MIPS	O
Technologies	O
R4300i	O
,	O
itself	O
a	O
cost-reduced	O
derivative	O
of	O
the	O
MIPS	O
R4200	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Built	O
by	O
NEC	O
on	O
a	O
350nm	O
process	B-Architecture
,	O
the	O
VR4300	O
is	O
a	O
RISC	B-Architecture
5-stage	O
scalar	B-General_Concept
in-order	O
execution	O
processor	O
,	O
internal	O
24KB	O
direct-mapped	O
L1	B-General_Concept
cache	I-General_Concept
(	O
16KB	O
for	O
instructions	O
,	O
8KB	O
for	O
data	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
120-pin	O
1.7	O
million	O
transistor	B-Application
CPU	B-General_Concept
is	O
manufactured	O
at	O
a	O
process	B-Architecture
size	O
of	O
350nm	O
and	O
has	O
a	O
die	O
area	O
of	O
45mm2	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
a	O
clock	O
rate	O
of	O
93.75MHz	O
,	O
the	O
N64	B-Operating_System
's	O
VR4300	O
is	O
generally	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
most	O
powerful	O
console	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
of	O
the	O
fifth	B-Application
generation	I-Application
of	I-Application
video	I-Application
game	I-Application
consoles	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Except	O
for	O
its	O
narrower	O
32-bit	O
system	O
bus	O
,	O
the	O
VR4300	O
retains	O
the	O
computational	O
abilities	O
of	O
the	O
64-bit	B-Device
MIPS	O
R4200	O
,	O
though	O
few	O
titles	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
64-bit	B-Device
data	B-Architecture
precision	I-Architecture
operations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
N64	B-Operating_System
game	O
titles	O
generally	O
use	O
faster	O
and	O
more	O
compact	O
32-bit	O
data-operations	O
,	O
as	O
these	O
are	O
sufficient	O
to	O
generate	O
3D	O
scene	O
data	O
for	O
the	O
console	O
's	O
RSP	O
(	O
Reality	O
Signal	O
Processor	O
)	O
unit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
is	O
constrained	O
by	O
a	O
562.5MB/s	O
bus	O
to	O
the	O
system	O
RAM	B-Architecture
,	O
and	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
access	O
the	O
RAM	B-Architecture
,	O
the	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
must	O
go	O
through	O
the	O
Reality	O
Coprocessor	O
(	O
RCP	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
not	O
use	O
DMA	B-General_Concept
to	O
do	O
so	O
as	O
the	O
RCP	O
can	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Programs	O
emulating	O
the	O
Nintendo	B-Operating_System
64	I-Operating_System
benefit	O
from	O
the	O
scarcity	O
of	O
64-bit	B-Device
operations	O
in	O
the	O
game	O
's	O
executable	O
code	O
,	O
especially	O
when	O
running	O
with	O
a	O
32-bit	O
machine	O
architecture	O
as	O
a	O
host	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
of	O
these	O
emulators	O
perform	O
the	O
majority	O
of	O
calculations	O
at	O
32-bit	O
precision	B-Architecture
and	O
trap	B-Application
the	O
few	O
subroutines	O
that	O
actually	O
make	O
use	O
of	O
64-bit	B-Device
instructions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nintendo	B-Operating_System
64	I-Operating_System
's	O
graphics	O
and	O
audio	O
duties	O
are	O
performed	O
by	O
the	O
64-bit	B-Device
SGI	O
coprocessor	O
,	O
named	O
the	O
Reality	O
Coprocessor	O
,	O
or	O
RCP	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
area	O
communicates	O
with	O
the	O
other	O
by	O
way	O
of	O
a	O
128-bit	O
internal	O
data	B-General_Concept
bus	I-General_Concept
that	O
provides	O
1.0GB/s	O
of	O
bandwidth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RCP	O
was	O
manufactured	O
by	O
NEC	O
,	O
using	O
its	O
350	O
nm	O
3LM	O
CMOS	B-Device
process	B-Architecture
,	O
which	O
NEC	O
had	O
introduced	O
in	O
1994	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
processor	O
contains	O
2.6million	O
transistors	B-Application
manufactured	O
using	O
this	O
process	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
160-pin	O
processor	O
has	O
a	O
die	O
size	O
of	O
81	O
,	O
giving	O
it	O
a	O
transistor	B-Application
density	O
of	O
over	O
32,000	O
per	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RSP	O
is	O
a	O
MIPS	O
R4000-based	O
128-bit	O
integer	O
vector	B-Operating_System
processor	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
able	O
to	O
address	O
only	O
its	O
4kiB	O
instruction	O
and	O
4kiB	O
data	O
local	O
storages	O
,	O
and	O
lacks	O
the	O
facility	O
for	O
system	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
interrupts	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
programmable	O
through	O
microcode	B-Device
,	O
allowing	O
the	O
chip	O
's	O
functions	O
to	O
be	O
significantly	O
altered	O
by	O
each	O
software	O
title	O
if	O
necessary	O
,	O
to	O
allow	O
for	O
different	O
types	O
of	O
work	O
,	O
precision	B-Architecture
,	O
and	O
workloads	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
number	O
of	O
microcodes	B-Device
were	O
provided	O
by	O
Nintendo	O
,	O
while	O
a	O
few	O
companies	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Rare	O
and	O
Factor	O
5	O
,	O
would	O
later	O
develop	O
their	O
own	O
microcodes	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RSP	O
performs	O
transform	B-Algorithm
,	I-Algorithm
clipping	I-Algorithm
,	I-Algorithm
and	I-Algorithm
lighting	I-Algorithm
calculations	O
,	O
and	O
triangle	O
setup	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
of	O
a	O
discrete	O
sound	O
processor	O
,	O
the	O
RSP	O
frequently	O
performs	O
audio	O
functions	O
,	O
although	O
the	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
can	O
be	O
tasked	O
with	O
this	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
play	O
back	O
most	O
types	O
of	O
audio	O
(	O
dependent	O
on	O
software	B-General_Concept
codecs	I-General_Concept
)	O
including	O
uncompressed	O
PCM	B-Algorithm
,	O
MP3	B-Application
,	O
MIDI	O
,	O
and	O
tracker	B-Application
music	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RSP	O
is	O
theoretically	O
capable	O
of	O
a	O
maximum	O
of	O
100	O
channels	O
of	O
PCM	B-Algorithm
at	O
a	O
time	O
,	O
but	O
only	O
in	O
a	O
case	O
where	O
all	O
system	O
resources	O
are	O
devoted	O
to	O
audio	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
practice	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
storage	O
limitations	O
caused	O
by	O
the	O
ROM	B-Protocol
cartridge	I-Protocol
format	O
limit	O
the	O
audio	O
size	O
and	O
thus	O
quality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RDP	O
performs	O
in-order	O
rasterization	O
and	O
drawing	O
or	O
texturing	O
of	O
pixels	O
in	O
the	O
framebuffer	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
separate	O
memory	O
frontend	O
both	O
directly	O
accessing	O
memory	O
,	O
and	O
moving	O
data	O
to	O
and	O
from	O
the	O
local	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
texture	O
cache	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
RAM	B-Architecture
is	O
connected	O
to	O
the	O
RCP	O
via	O
a	O
562.5MB/s	O
bus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
accesses	O
RAM	B-Architecture
through	O
the	O
RCP	O
's	O
memory	O
map	O
using	O
the	O
system	O
address/data	O
bus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RCP	O
has	O
DMA	B-General_Concept
controllers	I-General_Concept
in	O
many	O
of	O
its	O
interfaces	O
,	O
and	O
its	O
internal	B-General_Concept
bus	I-General_Concept
arbiter	O
handles	O
priorities	O
between	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RCP	O
,	O
like	O
the	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
,	O
is	O
passively	O
cooled	O
by	O
an	O
aluminum	O
heatspreader	O
that	O
makes	O
contact	O
with	O
a	O
steel	O
heat	O
sink	O
above	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
final	O
major	O
component	O
in	O
the	O
system	O
is	O
the	O
random-access	B-Architecture
memory	I-Architecture
,	O
or	O
RAM	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
its	O
design	O
heritage	O
in	O
SGI	O
supercomputing	O
,	O
the	O
Nintendo	B-Operating_System
64	I-Operating_System
implemented	O
a	O
unified	B-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
architecture	I-Operating_System
(	O
UMA	O
)	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
having	O
separate	O
banks	O
of	O
memory	O
for	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
,	O
audio	O
,	O
and	O
video	O
,	O
as	O
seen	O
on	O
its	O
competitors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RAM	B-Architecture
itself	O
consists	O
of	O
4.5megabytes	O
of	O
Rambus	O
RDRAM	O
,	O
fabricated	O
by	O
NEC	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
only	O
4	O
MB	O
are	O
visible	O
to	O
the	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
;	O
the	O
rest	O
is	O
used	O
exclusively	O
by	O
the	O
RCP	O
for	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
and	O
Z-buffering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System	O
RAM	B-Architecture
is	O
expandable	O
to	O
a	O
total	O
of	O
8MB	O
with	O
the	O
Expansion	O
Pak	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RAM	B-Architecture
has	O
a	O
9-bit	O
data	B-General_Concept
bus	I-General_Concept
at	O
250MHz	O
;	O
as	O
RDRAM	O
transfers	O
data	O
at	O
both	O
the	O
rising	O
and	O
falling	O
edge	O
of	O
the	O
signal	O
(	O
a	O
technique	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
DDR	O
)	O
,	O
it	O
provides	O
the	O
system	O
with	O
562.5MB/s	O
peak	O
bandwidth	O
,	O
shared	O
between	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
and	O
RCP	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
narrow	O
bus	O
makes	O
board	O
design	O
easier	O
and	O
cheaper	O
than	O
the	O
higher	O
width	O
data	B-General_Concept
buses	I-General_Concept
required	O
for	O
high	O
bandwidth	O
out	O
of	O
slower-clocked	O
RAM	B-Architecture
types	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
VRAM	O
or	O
EDO	O
DRAM	O
)	O
;	O
this	O
way	O
,	O
the	O
N64	B-Operating_System
mainboard	O
could	O
be	O
designed	O
with	O
only	O
2	O
layers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
N64	B-Operating_System
revisions	O
use	O
two	O
18Mbit	O
RAM	B-Architecture
chips	I-Architecture
;	O
in	O
ca	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Nintendo	B-Device
64	I-Device
Game	I-Device
Pak	I-Device
solid	O
state	O
ROM	B-Protocol
cartridges	I-Protocol
were	O
much	O
faster	O
than	O
contemporary	O
CD-ROM	B-Device
drives	O
,	O
a	O
strength	O
that	O
allowed	O
developers	O
to	O
stream	O
data	O
from	O
them	O
in	O
real-time	O
as	O
if	O
they	O
were	O
additional	O
RAM	B-Architecture
,	O
thus	O
freeing	O
the	O
system	O
's	O
memory	O
to	O
handle	O
other	O
things	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
a	O
common	O
practice	O
for	O
developers	O
of	O
many	O
games	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Nintendo	O
EAD	O
's	O
Super	B-Application
Mario	I-Application
64	I-Application
or	O
Factor	O
5	O
's	O
Indiana	B-Application
Jones	I-Application
and	I-Application
the	I-Application
Infernal	I-Application
Machine	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
came	O
bundled	O
with	O
a	O
composite	B-Protocol
cable	I-Protocol
(	O
labeled	O
Stereo	O
A/V	O
cable	O
by	O
Nintendo	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Available	O
separately	O
(	O
and	O
included	O
with	O
the	O
system	O
in	O
the	O
UK	O
)	O
were	O
a	O
RF	B-Protocol
modulator	O
and	O
switch	O
set	O
(	O
for	O
connection	O
to	O
older	O
televisions	O
)	O
and	O
an	O
official	O
S-Video	O
cable	O
,	O
although	O
the	O
latter	O
was	O
only	O
sold	O
at	O
retail	O
stores	O
in	O
Japan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
supports	O
standard-definition	B-Device
resolutions	O
up	O
to	O
480i	O
(	O
576i	O
for	O
PAL	O
units	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Few	O
games	O
make	O
use	O
of	O
this	O
mode	O
,	O
and	O
most	O
of	O
those	O
which	O
do	O
also	O
require	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
Expansion	O
Pak	O
RAM	B-Architecture
upgrade	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Games	O
with	O
support	O
for	O
this	O
include	O
Banjo-Tooie	B-Application
,	O
Donkey	B-Application
Kong	I-Application
64	I-Application
,	O
GoldenEye	B-Application
007	I-Application
,	O
007	B-Application
:	I-Application
The	I-Application
World	I-Application
Is	I-Application
Not	I-Application
Enough	I-Application
,	O
Jet	B-Application
Force	I-Application
Gemini	I-Application
,	O
Perfect	B-Application
Dark	I-Application
,	O
Starshot	B-Application
:	I-Application
Space	I-Application
Circus	I-Application
Fever	I-Application
,	O
Turok	B-Application
2	I-Application
:	I-Application
Seeds	I-Application
of	I-Application
Evil	I-Application
,	O
Turok	B-Device
3	I-Device
:	I-Device
Shadow	I-Device
of	I-Device
Oblivion	I-Device
,	O
Mission	B-Device
Impossible	I-Device
,	O
Hybrid	B-Application
Heaven	I-Application
,	O
and	O
South	B-Application
Park	I-Application
.	O
</s>
