Sega NAOMI

From Sega Retro

Naomi case.jpg
Sega NAOMI
Manufacturer: Sega
Variants: Sega NAOMI GD-ROM, Sega NAOMI Multiboard, Sega Dreamcast, Atomiswave, Sega Aurora
Add-ons: GD-ROM
Release Date RRP Code

The NAOMI (New Arcade Operation Machine Idea) is an arcade system released by Sega in 1998. It was designed as a successor to Sega Model 3 hardware, using a similar architecture to the Sega Dreamcast.

The NAOMI was succeeded by the Sega Hikaru and Sega NAOMI 2 boards, though having out-lasted the NAOMI 2, Hikaru and Sega Aurora. The Sega Chihiro, or possibly even the Sega Lindbergh, could also be seen as successors.

History

The NAOMI debuted at a time when traditional arcades were on a decline, and so was engineered to be a mass-produced, cost-effective machine reliant on large game ROM cartridges which could be interchanged by the arcade operator. This is contrary to systems such as the Model 3, in which each board, despite sharing largely the same specifications, would be bespoke, with the built-in ROMs being flashed with games during the manufacturing process. This is not the first time such an idea was utilised by Sega, but never before had technology been used for a cutting-edge Sega arcade specification.

Unlike most hardware platforms in the arcade industry, NAOMI was widely licensed for use by other manufacturers, many of which were former rivals to Sega, such as Taito, Capcom and Namco. It is also one of the longest-serving arcade boards, being supported from 1998 to 2009. It is a platform where many top-rated Sega franchises were born, including Virtua Tennis, Samba de Amigo, Crazy Taxi and Monkey Ball.

Hardware

The NAOMI shares the same basic system architecture as the Dreamcast, with both systems using the same Hitachi SH-4 CPU, PowerVR Series 2 GPU (PVR2DC), and Yamaha AICA based sound system. While the CPU of the NAOMI and Dreamcast operate at the same clock speed (clock frequency), the NAOMI packs twice as much system and graphics memory, four times as much sound memory, a higher PowerVR2 clock rate, faster VRAM bandwidth (125 MHz,[1][2] compared to the Dreamcast's 100 MHz), and FPGA providing additional processing. Multiple NAOMI boards can also be 'stacked' together to achieve better graphics performance or for a multi-monitor setup.

After The House of the Dead 2, a newer revision of the PowerVR2 graphics chip was used in subsequent NAOMI systems.[1] According to VideoLogic's president and CEO, Hossein Yassaie, in September 1998: "With Dreamcast, PowerVR set out to create a new standard in 3D graphics for console gaming; now with Sega’s Naomi, we will deliver unprecedented levels of 3D performance to arcade systems".[3]

Another key difference between NAOMI and Dreamcast lies in the game-media - the NAOMI primarily uses ROM PC (printed circuit) boards (i.e. large game cartridges) with up to 168 MB of usable data (more expensive but with faster loading), while the Dreamcast uses GD-ROM optical-storage with up to 1GB of storage (at the expense of load times). The NAOMI was extended in 1999 so that it could interface with GD-ROM-based arcade games. This system uses standard PC SDR-DIMM modules which are battery backed-up for storing game data. The game data is read from the GD-ROM at bootup, stored onto the SDR RAM to which the NAOMI reads from during game. This leaves less wear on the GD-ROM drive as it's only used when the memory is empty or corrupted, else it will use the SDR RAM for boot-up every subsequent power on after checking the data integrity. If the battery fails, the system is left turned off for several days or the game GD-ROM is changed, the game will be reloaded from the GD-ROM drive.

Along with the standard version, three more variants also exist:

  • First Edition — The initial release of NAOMI hardware was housed in an aluminium shell, similar in design to some versions of the earlier Model 2 and Model 3 system hardware. This version is known to be used in House of the Dead 2 arcade machines, with the game ROM board pre-installed inside the case. It is unknown whether this is a unique hardware variant specifically for House of the Dead 2, or whether it is compatible with later NAOMI releases. This prototype uses an earlier revision of the PowerVR2 graphics chip.[1]
  • Multiboard — Several NAOMI motherboards joined onto a single board which connects the multiple boards together to created a more powerful parallel processing system.
  • Satellite Terminal — independent NAOMI cabinets connected to a master one

NAOMI boards can be used in special game cabinets (NAOMI Universal Cabinet) where a theoretical maximum of sixteen boards can be used in a parallel processing format.

The NAOMI multiboard setup uses a different BIOS chip than a regular NAOMI to handle all the boards but the whole system only uses one copy of the game cartridge, of which only four games were released.

Technical Specifications

NAOMI Specifications

See Sega Dreamcast Technical Specifications for more details on the capabilities of the general Dreamcast/Naomi hardware, though the specifications for the Naomi differ from the Dreamcast in various ways, as listed below.[1]

CPU

  • Main CPU: Hitachi SH-4 @ 200 MHz[4][5]
    • Units: 128‑bit SIMD vector unit with graphic functions, 64‑bit floating‑point unit, 32‑bit fixed‑point unit
    • Bus width: 128‑bit internal, 64‑bit external
    • Bandwidth: 3.2 GB/s internal, 1.6 GB/s external
    • Fixed‑point performance: 360 MIPS
    • Floating‑point performance: 1.4 GFLOPS (7 MFLOPS per 16 MB/s)
    • Geometry performance: More than 10 million polygons/sec, with lighting calculations (140 FLOPS per polygon)[6]
  • MCU:
    • Main MCU: Sega Custom Z80 @ 21.333 MHz (8/16‑bit instructions @ 3.093 MIPS)[7]
    • I/O Board MCU: Toshiba TMP90PH44 @ 14.745 MHz (8‑bit instructions @ 3.68625 MIPS)[8]
    • Optional cartridge MCU: Microchip PIC12C508A/PIC16C621A @ 4/40 MHz (8‑bit RISC instructions @ 1/5 MIPS)[9][10]
  • FPGA: 2× FPGA, 43 units, 344‑bit internal, 128‑bit external, 125 MHz, 5.31 GB/s[1]
    • Altera FLEX EPF8452AQC160‑3 FPGA @ 125 MHz: 42 units, 336‑bit (42× 8‑bit) internal, 120‑bit external,[11] 5.3 GB/s
    • Sega 315‑6188 (Altera EPC1064PC8) FPGA Configuration Device @ 6 MHz: 8‑bit,[12] 6 MB/s

Graphics

  • GPU: 2 core processors (SH‑4 SIMD, PowerVR2)
    • Core units: 6 units (SH‑4 SIMD, 5 PowerVR2 cores)
  • GPU geometry processor: Hitachi SH-4 SIMD @ 200 MHz
  • GPU rasterizer: NEC-VideoLogic PowerVR 2 @ 133.3 MHz[13]
  • DAC: Sega 315‑6145 (Rohm BU1426KS) @ 35.4695 MHz[15]
    • Bus width: 24‑bit
  • Display resolution: 320×240 to 800×608 pixels, progressive scan, JAMMA/VGA
    • Internal resolution: 320×240 to 1600×1200 pixels
  • Color depth: 32‑bit ARGB, 16,777,216 colors (24‑bit color) with 8‑bit (256 levels) alpha blending, YUV and RGB color space, color key overlay
  • Framebuffer:
    • Full framebuffer: 320×240×16‑bit (150 KB) to 1600×1200×32‑bit (7500 KB)
    • Strip/Tile buffer: 32×32×16‑bit (4 KB) to 32×32×32‑bit (8 KB)[16]
  • Geometry pipeline:
    • Geometry bandwidth: 3.2 GB/s (SH‑4 SIMD)
    • Floating‑point performance: 1.4 GFLOPS (SH‑4 SIMD)
  • Rasterization pipeline:
    • Render/Shader units: 45 units (3 PowerVR2 cores, 42 FPGA units)
    • Rendering bandwidth: 6.4 GB/s (1.1 GB/s PowerVR2, 5.3 GB/s FPGA units)
    • Raster operations: 1.6 billion 32‑bit operations/sec, 3.2 billion 16‑bit operations/sec, 6.4 billion 8‑bit operations/sec
  • Rendering fillrate:
  • Texture fillrate: Over 1 GTexel/s
  • Geometry performance: 23 million vertices/sec (60 FLOPS per polygon)[17]
  • Polygon performance:[18]
    • 11 million polygons/sec: Overdraw (130 FLOPS per polygon)
    • More than 10 million polygons/sec: Lighting, overdraw (140 FLOPS per polygon)[6]
    • 9.3 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, shadows
    • 9.3 million polygons/sec: Textures, trilinear filtering
    • 6 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, trilinear filtering, Gouraud shading (243 FLOPS per polygon)
    • 5.6 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, anisotropic filtering
    • 3.3 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, trilinear filtering, Gouraud shading, bump mapping (430 FLOPS per polygon)[19]
  • VRAM: 16 MB (unified framebuffer and texture memory, effectively 42–127 MB with texture compression)
    • Framebuffer: 300–5625 KB (optional), average 1800 KB (640×480, 24-bit color, double-buffered)
    • Polygons: 22 bytes per triangle (flat/Gouraud shading, 43 bytes double-buffered), 31 bytes per textured triangle (Gouraud shading, 62 bytes double-buffered), 52 bytes per textured triangle (Gouraud shading, modifier volumes, 104 bytes double-buffered), 96 bytes per textured quad (sprite, flat shading, 192 bytes double-buffered)
    • Textures: 32 KB (8×8 texture, 16 colors) to 16 MB (effectively 42–127 MB with texture compression), average 10 MB (effectively 40–60 MB with texture compression)
    • Note: Main RAM also used to store polygon display lists. Textures transferred directly to VRAM. Textures can be streamed directly from high-speed ROM cartridge.[20] Main RAM can also optionally be used to store textures.
  • VRAM bandwidth: 1.2 GB/s (effectively up to 3.2–9.5 GB/s with texture compression)
    • Framebuffer: 18 MB/s (320×240, 16-bit color) to 400 MB/s (133–3200 MPixels/s, 24-bit color)
    • Polygons: 4 KB/s (150 polys/s, Gouraud shading, 22/44 bytes per poly) to 971 MB/s (9.3 MPolys/s, texturing, Gouraud shading, modifier volumes, 52/104 bytes per poly), average 307 MB/s (5 MPolys/s, texturing, Gouraud shading, 31/62 bytes per poly)
    • Textures: Up to 1.2 GB/s (effectively 3.2–9.5 GB/s with texture compression), average 500 MB/s (effectively 2–4 GB/s with texture compression)

Sound

Memory

  • Overall memory: 92–506 MB
  • System RAM: 57,408 KB (56.0625 MB)
    • Main RAM: 32 MB SDRAM
    • VRAM: 16 MB SDRAM (unified framebuffer/polygon/texture memory)
    • Sound RAM: 8 MB SDRAM
    • SRAM: 64 KB
  • System ROM: 2048.125 KB (2 MB BIOS EPROM, 128 bytes EEPROM)
  • Cartridge ROM: 34–448 MB
    • Sega 1998/1999 format: 34–184 MB (32–176 MB FlashROM/MROM, 0–4 MB EPROM)
    • Namco 2000 format: 136–400 MB (136–256 MB FlashROM, 0–144 MB MROM)
    • Sega 2005 format: 128–448 MB (128–448 MB FlashROM, 0–40 MB EPROM,[21] 128 KB Flash PROM)[22]
  • Cartridge RAM: 32–64 KB SRAM
  • Internal processor memory: 167,112 bytes (163.195 KB)[16]
    • SH4: 26,178 bytes
    • PowerVR2: 91,258 bytes
    • AICA: 32,780 bytes
    • I/O Board MCU: 16.5 KB (512 bytes RAM, 16 KB ROM)[8]
  • Optional cartridge MCU memory: 793/1888 bytes (25/96 bytes SRAM, 768/1792 bytes EPROM)[9][10]

Bandwidth

  • RAM/ROM memory bandwidth: 2.612–3.2 GB/s
  • System RAM bandwidth: 2 GB/s (160‑bit)
    • Main RAM: 800 MB/sec (64‑bit, 100 MHz, 5264165FTT‑A60)[23]
    • VRAM: 1 GB/s (64‑bit, 125 MHz, HY57V161610DTC‑8)[2]
    • Sound RAM: 132 MB/sec (16‑bit, 66 MHz,[16] KM416S4030)[24]
    • SRAM: 44 MB/sec (16‑bit, 22 MHz, HM62256)[25]
  • System ROM bandwidth: 24 MB/sec (32‑bit)
    • EPROM: 20 MB/sec (16‑bit, 10 MHz)[16]
    • EEPROM: 4 MB/sec (16‑bit, 2 MHz)[26]
  • Cartridge ROM bandwidth: 612 MB/sec to 1.2 GB/s (2× 64‑bit connectors, 1× 16‑bit connector)
    • Sega 1998 format: 612 MB/sec (34 MHz)
    • Sega 1999/2005 format: 900 MB/sec (50 MHz)[27]
    • Namco 2000 format: 1.2 GB/s (66.666667 MHz)[28][29]
    • Note: High-speed access allows ROM cartridge to effectively be used as RAM.[20]
  • Cartridge RAM bandwidth: 28–100 MB/sec (8/16‑bit, 28–50 MHz)
  • Internal processor bandwidth: 8.3 GB/s (504‑bit)
    • SH4: 1.6 GB/s (64‑bit, 200 MHz)
    • PowerVR2: 1.1 GB/s (64‑bit, 133.3 MHz)
    • FPGA: 5.31 GB/s (344‑bit, 125 MHz)
    • AICA: 256 MB/sec (32‑bit, 67 MHz)

NAOMI GD-ROM Specifications

The NAOMI GD-ROM, released in 1999, is identical to the standard NAOMI, but uses GD-ROM discs for storage instead of ROM cartridges. It comes with a DIMM Board, which is very similar to a ROM cartridge, but with RAM instead of ROM. When a game is installed, the GD ROM content is loaded onto the DIMM Board RAM, so that the game data runs from the DIMM Board rather than the GD-ROM disc.

  • Board composition: Motherboard, Internal ROM Board, Filter Board, I/O Board, DIMM Board
  • Storage: GD-ROM disc drive @ 12× speed, 1 GB per GD-ROM disc
    • GD-ROM transfer rate: 1800 KB/sec

Memory

  • Overall memory: 66–570 MB
  • System RAM: 57,408 KB (56.0625 MB)
  • System ROM: 2048.125 KB (2.0001 MB)
  • Internal processor memory: 82,128 bytes (80.203 KB)
    • SH4: 26,178 bytes
    • PowerVR2: 6274 bytes
    • AICA: 32,780 bytes
    • I/O Board MCU: 16.5 KB
  • DIMM Board RAM: 8–512 MB DIMM SDRAM[30]

Bandwidth

  • RAM bandwidth: 3 GB/s
    • Main RAM: 800 MB/sec
    • VRAM: 1 GB/s
    • Sound RAM: 132 MB/sec
    • SRAM: 44 MB/sec
    • DIMM RAM: 1.064–2.128 GB/s (1/2× 64‑bit, 133 MHz)[30][31]

NAOMI Multiboard Specifications

The NAOMI Multiboard, released in 1999, stacks together multiple NAOMI system boards for parallel processing in a single arcade system, ranging from 2 to 16 system boards. Since the 16‑board variant is not known to have been used by any games, the following specifications are for the 2‑board and 4‑board variants:

  • Board composition: 2–4 NAOMI system boards
  • CPU: 2–4× Hitachi SH-4 @ 200 MHz
    • Performance: 720–1440 MIPS, 2.8–5.6 GFLOPS, 20–40 million polygons/sec geometry & lighting calculations
  • MCU: 2–4× Sega Custom Z80 @ 21.333 MHz (8‑bit & 16‑bit instructions @ 6–12 MIPS)
  • Sound engine: 2–4× Yamaha AICA Super Intelligent Sound Processor @ 67 MHz
    • Internal CPU: 2–4× 32‑bit ARM7 RISC CPU @ 45 MHz
    • CPU performance: 80–160 MIPS
    • PCM/ADPCM: 128–512 channels
  • GPU: 8–16 core processors (2–4 SH‑4 SIMD, 2–4 PowerVR2, 4–8 FPGA, 2–4 DAC)
    • Core units: 98–196 units (2–4 SH‑4 SIMD, 8–16 PowerVR2 cores, 86–172 FPGA units, 2–4 DAC)
  • Display resolution: 2–3 monitors, 640×240 to 2400×608, progressive scan, widescreen JAMMA/VGA
    • Internal resolution: 640×240 to 1600×1200 pixels per board
  • Geometry pipeline:
    • Geometry bandwidth: 6–12 GB/s (SH‑4 SIMD)
    • Floating‑point performance: 2.8–5.6 GFLOPS (SH‑4 SIMD)
  • Rasterization pipeline:
    • Render/Shader units: 90–180 units (6–12 PowerVR2 cores, 84–168 FPGA units)
    • Rendering bandwidth: 12–20 GB/s (2–4 GB/s PowerVR2, 10–20 GB/s FPGA units)
    • Raster operations: 3–6 billion 32‑bit operations/sec, 6–12 billion 16‑bit operations/sec, 12–24 billion 8‑bit operations/sec
  • Rendering fillrate:
    • 8–16 GPixels/s: Opaque polygons
    • 2–4 GPixels/s: Translucent polygons
  • Texture fillrate: 2–4 GTexels/s
  • Geometry performance: 46–92 million vertices/sec
  • Polygon performance:
    • 22–44 million polygons/sec
    • 18–36 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, trilinear filtering
    • 14–28 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, shadows, trilinear filtering
    • 12–24 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, trilinear filtering, Gouraud shading
    • 6–12 million polygons/sec: Lighting, textures, trilinear filtering, Gouraud shading, bump mapping
  • System RAM: 112–224 MB
    • Main RAM: 64–128 MB
    • VRAM: 32–64 MB
    • Sound RAM: 16–32 MB
    • SRAM: 64–128 KB
  • RAM/ROM memory bandwidth: 5–12 GB/s
  • Internal processor bandwidth: 16–33 GB/s

Gallery

First Edition

  • Sockets, with open lid

  • Inside, internal ROM board removed

  • Model number

  • Outer case, back

  • Outer case, right

  • Outer case, left

  • Motherboard, top

  • Motherboard, bottom

  • Motherboard, side

Main version

  • Top of the motherboard

  • Bottom of the motherboard

  • Sockets

  • Full System

  • NAOMI Case

  • GD-ROM slot

  • DIMM Module + Key

List of Games

NAOMI

Distributed by Capcom

Distributed by Namco

NAOMI GD-ROM

Distributed by Capcom

Distributed by Taito

NAOMI Multiboard

NAOMI Satellite Terminal

Promotional material

  • Press Kit (1998)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Sega NAOMI (MAME)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:HY57V161610D datasheet.pdf
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sega Selects PowerVR Series2 as 3D Graphics Technology for New Arcade System (September 17, 1998)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 File:NAOMI 1998 Press Release JP.pdf
  5. ↑ File:SH-4 Software Manual.pdf
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Sega Dreamcast: Implementation (IEEE) (Wayback Machine: 2000-08-23 20:47)
  7. ↑ Obsolete Microprocessors
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 File:TMP90PH44 datasheet.pdf
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 File:PIC12C508A datasheet.pdf
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 File:PIC16C621A datasheet.pdf
  11. ↑ File:EPF8452A datasheet.pdf
  12. ↑ File:EPC1064 datasheet.pdf
  13. ↑ Sega NAOMI (Historic MAME)
  14. ↑ File:CY2308 datasheet.pdf
  15. ↑ File:BU142 datasheet.pdf
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 File:DreamcastDevBoxSystemArchitecture.pdf
  17. ↑ Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice (Page 868)
  18. ↑ Floating-Point Calculations
  19. ↑ File:PowerVR2DCFeaturesUnderWindowsCE.pdf, page 11
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Hideki Sato Sega Interview (Edge)
  21. ↑ Asian Dynamite (MAME)
  22. ↑ File:XCF01S datasheet.pdf
  23. ↑ File:HM5264 datasheet.pdf
  24. ↑ File:KM416S4030C datasheet.pdf
  25. ↑ File:HM62256B datasheet.pdf
  26. ↑ File:AT93C46 datasheet.pdf
  27. ↑ File:S29GL-N datasheet.pdf
  28. ↑ Sega NAOMI (ROM Dumping)
  29. ↑ File:DA28F640J5 datasheet.pdf
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Sega NAOMI DIMM board and GD-ROM
  31. ↑ File:M366S3323CT0 datasheet.pdf


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