Had another order placed by a longstanding customer of mine to add an RGB Mod to his 1-CHIP-01 Super Nintendo! On a SNES Jr this actually restores the missing RGB output (and s-video) but the original SNES already outputs RGB so I often get asked – “What is the point of this mod?”. Well, even though 1 Chip systems are renowned for having sharper stock output than the blurry 2-chips, they still have some slight ghosting/blurring that can be completely fixed up by installing one of these. Basically if you want to improve even further on the 1 Chip’s output this kit is the way to go! I also have installed RetroFixes RGB mod in similar systems and have seen great results there as well!
As you can see above, its a nice easy install as you do not have to restore S-video like on a Jr, just solder the board to the Multi-Out pins and run 4 wires. Sync is technically also optional but it offers properly attenuated 75ohm sync and is minimal extra effort so I always route sync through the SNESRGB board as there is no reason not to!
Like all consoles coming in for the cleaning services, complete teardown actually occurs first, shell is soaked and scrubbed and then left to dry overnight. This SNES didn’t have bad yellowing compared to many but there was some slight discoloration across the various top shell parts so I did put in the retrobright chamber overnight for an 18 hour session to try and get the entire shell looking more uniform. You can be the judge but if you look at the finish shot of it in action, that’s about as close to stock gray as you are going to get these days!
While cleaning was occurring I removed the leaded and SMD caps and deep scrubbed both top and bottom side of the board then installed brand new caps from Console5! Also this system showed no signs of leaking caps which is becoming a common occurrence on these so luckily any damage was avoided here!
Not essential by any means (original tested fine) but on pretty much any console where the regulator needs to get pulled to access or its attached heatsink does… I always like to install a brand new 7805 regulator. For me its more a question of how many running hours/heat these 30+ year old regulators have been exposed to and with it being so easy to do, and the cost of parts so cheap I dont even pass them on to customers (seriously, a 7805 costs me like 50 cents) I just consider good practice as part of a refurbishment so above is the new 7805 installed as well as a fresh dab of Arctic MX-4 thermal paste.
You also see the JRG Order sticker, signifying the console has been bench tested and is working as one should expect as well as the installed mods!
Any console I work on that gets any kind of video mod like RGB, HDMI etc I always get captures. These are really difficult to show here on this blog because of the supported image size, but proper non-compressed PNG’s of all captures will be shared on social media once I get to sharing this post, I am always happy to provide large 4K uncompressed copies to the customer upon request. In general this serves 2 purposes… It shows the owner the expected image quality (on an upscaler with a quality cable) and also gives me time to run various games and test for any graphic or audio issues that sitting at a static screen might not show. This is on top of running the SNES Burn-In Test Cartridge which in this case passed with flying colors!
Another order in the books, now on to a PS2 (from the same customer!)