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. The NAOMI, however, packs twice as much system and graphics memory, and four times as much sound memory. Although the CPU of the NAOMI and Dreamcast operate at the same clock speed (clock frequency), multiple NAOMI boards can 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".[2] It also uses faster 125 MHz VRAM (HY57V161610DTC-8),[1][3] compared to the Dreamcast's 100 MHz VRAM.

The other 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

Graphics

  • GPU: NEC-VideoLogic PowerVR 2 [10]
    • Revision: Newer revision of PowerVR2 used in NAOMI systems after The House of the Dead 2
    • Clock rate: 133.3 MHz (4× 33.3333 MHz) [11]
    • RAMDAC: 230 MHz
    • Features: Bump mapping, fog, alpha blending, mipmapping, anti-aliasing, environment mapping, specular effects.[4] See Sega Dreamcast Technical Specifications for more details on PowerVR2 graphics system.
  • 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 buffer: 32×32×16‑bit (4 KB) to 32×1024×32‑bit (256 KB) [12]
  • Polygon performance:
    • More than 10 million polygons/sec, with lighting (effective performance, including overdrawn and back-facing polygons) [5]
    • 9.3 million textured polygons/sec, with lighting, shadows and trilinear filtering (on-screen front-facing polygons)
    • 6.6 million textured polygons/sec, with lighting, shadows, trilinear filtering and anti-aliasing (on-screen front-facing polygons)
  • Rendering fillrate:
    • 4.265 billion pixels/sec, for purely opaque "punch through" polygons (32 pixels per clock cycle) [12]
    • 1 billion pixels/sec, for transparent polygons [13]
    • 1-4 billion pixels/sec, depending on opacity/translucency of polygons
  • Texture fillrate:
    • 133.3 million texels/sec, for front-facing textures drawn on screen
    • 266–666 million texels/sec, effective fillrate (including overdrawn and back-facing textures)
  • VRAM allocation:
    • Framebuffer: 4 KB to 7500 KB
    • Polygons: Up to 6511 KB (10 million polygons/sec, 32‑bit precision, 40 bytes per polygon)
    • Textures: Up to 15.996 MB (127 MB with maximum 12.52% compression)
    • Note: Main RAM can also be used to store textures and polygon display lists.[12] Textures can also be streamed directly from high-speed ROM cartridge. [14]

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)
  • Internal processor memory: 65,232–84,016 bytes (63.703–82.047 KB) [12]
    • SH4: 26,178 bytes (24,640 bytes cache,[15] 1538 bytes registers)
    • PowerVR2: 6274 bytes (1.125 KB cache, 509 bytes fog table, 4093 bytes palette RAM, 256 bytes FIFO buffer, 264 bytes registers)
    • AICA: 32,780 bytes (32,776 bytes registers,[16] 4 bytes FIFO buffer)
    • I/O Board MCU: 16.5 KB (512 bytes RAM, 16 KB ROM) [7]
    • Optional cartridge MCU: 793/1888 bytes (25/96 bytes SRAM, 768/1792 bytes EPROM) [8][9]
  • 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,[17] 128 KB Flash PROM)[18]
  • Cartridge RAM: 32–64 KB SRAM

Bandwidth

  • System RAM bandwidth: 2264.8 MB/sec (2.212 GB/sec)
    • Main RAM: 1066.4 MB/sec (64‑bit, 133.3 MHz, 5264165FTT‑A60) [19]
    • VRAM: 1066.4 MB/sec (64‑bit, 133.3 MHz, HY57V161610DTC‑8) [3]
    • Sound RAM: 132 MB/sec (16‑bit, 66 MHz,[12] KM416S4030) [20]
    • SRAM: 44 MB/sec (16‑bit, 22 MHz, HM62256) [21]
  • Internal processor bandwidth: 2.8709 GB/sec
    • SH4: 1.5625 GB/sec (64‑bit, 200 MHz)
    • PowerVR2: 1.0584 GB/sec (64‑bit, 135.4752 MHz)
    • AICA: 256 MB/sec (32‑bit, 67 MHz)
  • System ROM bandwidth: 24 MB/sec
    • EPROM: 20 MB/sec (16‑bit, 10 MHz) [12]
    • EEPROM: 4 MB/sec (16‑bit, 2 MHz) [22]
  • Cartridge ROM bandwidth: 504–900 MB/sec (2× 64‑bit connectors, 1× 16-bit connector)
    • Sega 1998 format: 504 MB/sec (28 MHz)
    • Sega 1999/2005 format: 900 MB/sec (50 MHz) [23]
    • Namco 2000 format: 504 MB/sec (28 MHz) [24][25]
    • Note: High-speed access allows ROM cartridge to effectively be used as RAM. [14]
  • Cartridge RAM bandwidth: 28–100 MB/sec (8/16-bit, 28–50 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 [26]
    • DIMM RAM bandwidth: 1064–2128 MB/sec (1/2× 64-bit, 133 MHz) [27]

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.

  • Board composition: 2–16 NAOMI system boards
  • CPU: 2× to 16× Hitachi SH-4 @ 200 MHz
    • Performance: 720–5760 MIPS, 2.8–22.4 GFLOPS, 20–160 million polygons/sec geometry & lighting calculations
  • MCU: 2× to 16× Sega Custom Z80 @ 21.333 MHz (8-bit & 16-bit instructions @ 6–49 MIPS)
  • Sound engine: 2× to 16× Yamaha AICA Super Intelligent Sound Processor @ 67 MHz
    • Internal CPU: 2× to 16× 32‑bit ARM7 RISC CPU @ 45 MHz
    • CPU performance: 80–640 MIPS
    • PCM/ADPCM: 128–1024 channels
  • GPU: 2× to 16× NEC-VideoLogic PowerVR 2 @ 135.4752 MHz
  • 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
  • Polygon performance:
    • 20–160 million polygons/sec, with lighting (effective performance, including overdrawn and back-facing polygons)
    • 18–149 million textured polygons/sec, with shadows, lighting and trilinear filtering (on-screen front-facing polygons)
    • 13–106 million textured polygons/sec, with shadows, lighting, trilinear filtering and anti-aliasing (on-screen front-facing polygons)
  • Fillrate:
    • Rendering fillrate: 8–68 billion pixels/sec for purely opaque polygons, 2–16 billion pixels/sec for transparent polygons
    • Texture fillrate: 266–2132 million texels/sec for front-facing textures drawn on screen, 533 million to 10 billion texels/sec effective fillrate (including overdrawn and back-facing textures)
  • System RAM: 112–896.5 MB
    • Main RAM: 64–512 MB
    • VRAM: 32–256 MB
    • Sound RAM: 16–128 MB
    • SRAM: 64–512 KB
  • System RAM bandwidth: 3.85–30.8 GB/sec
    • Main RAM: 1.562–12.5 GB/sec
    • VRAM: 1.953–15.625 GB/sec
    • Sound RAM: 264–2112 MB/sec
    • SRAM: 88–704 MB/sec

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)

External links


Sega arcade boards
Originating in arcades








  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/naomi.cpp
  2. ↑ http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sega-selects-powervr-series2-as-3d-graphics-technology-for-new-arcade-system-156105885.html
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 File:HY57V161610D datasheet.pdf
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 File:NAOMI 1998 Press Release JP.pdf
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 htt (Wayback Machine: 2000-08-23 20:47)
  6. ↑ http://www.drolez.com/retro/
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 File:TMP90PH44 datasheet.pdf
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 File:PIC12C508A datasheet.pdf
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 File:PIC16C621A datasheet.pdf
  10. ↑ https://github.com/mamedev/historic-mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/naomi.c
  11. ↑ File:CY2308 datasheet.pdf
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 File:DreamcastDevBoxSystemArchitecture.pdf
  13. ↑ http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sega-selects-powervr-series2-as-3d-graphics-technology-for-new-arcade-system-76624132.html
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/12172411045_18bfc5912f_c.jpg
  15. ↑ File:SH-4 Software Manual.pdf, page 25
  16. ↑ File:Dreamcast Hardware Specification Outline.pdf
  17. ↑ http://www.mamedb.com/game/asndynmt
  18. ↑ File:XCF01S datasheet.pdf
  19. ↑ File:HM5264 datasheet.pdf
  20. ↑ File:KM416S4030C datasheet.pdf
  21. ↑ File:HM62256B datasheet.pdf
  22. ↑ File:AT93C46 datasheet.pdf
  23. ↑ File:S29GL-N datasheet.pdf
  24. ↑ http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1/gurudumps/naomi/index.html
  25. ↑ File:DA28F640J5 datasheet.pdf
  26. ↑ http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Sega_Naomi_DIMM_board_and_GD-ROM
  27. ↑ File:M366S3323CT0 datasheet.pdf


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