question about neo-geo cd speed boost

benares

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just curious. the psx2 can play psx1 games but can't speed up the disc access because games are dependent on the cd running at the same speed all the time.

enter the neo-cd

the cd games can be read with either the 1x OR the 2x unit. now suppose for a moment that it were possible to hook up a much quicker cdrom to this unit. will their be problems from a software perspective?
 

Master Terry Bogard

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The Neo Geo cdz is single speed, not double speed. I owned a single speed as well, and I can say that while Neo Geo cdz loads quite a bit faster then cd, it doesn't reduce the loading time by 1/2. It just has more ram to speed up the loading process. That's why they don't have a compatibilty issue w/ the regular cd. Here's something to consider though. I heard that there is a problem (not compatible) w/ some back up games playing in CDZ but not in cd (weird).
 

benares

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So this brings up two more questions:

1.) If you add more RAM, will the system use it and/or take advantage of it? If it doesn't, is that because the CDZ uses a different BIOS?

2.) I've heard a very common complaint that the CDZ is unreliable because the disc spins twice as fast. If the CDZ is still single speed what are these people smoking?
 

Master Terry Bogard

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1) They use the additional RAM (more than single speed) to store more memory, esentially reducing the loadin time-like the single speed. Or atleast that's what I think your refering to.

2) There is a more problem, because it spins twice as fast? It doesn't, to my knowledge. I think it's just that Neo Geo cdz is more fragile than their counterpart, just because they were made cheaply/inferiorly. I thought that it was a double speed as well. Alot of people still believe this. Check ebay auction, for ex.
 

benares

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What I mean is, say the CDZ has 4MB or 8MB of RAM (I don't know what it is) if some how you were to add say ... 32MB of RAM would it take advantage of it? Or did SNK start writing their CD games after the CDZ came out to take advantage of the RAM?
 

Master Terry Bogard

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For your information, Neo Geo cdz has 52 (I think)Megs of RAM not 4 or 8. And even that is not enough, if you have a single speed.
 

benares

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LOL!

YOUR NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTION! :-) :-) :-)

Okay so it has 52 megs in it. Say we were to bump that up to say 256Megabytes. WILL the Neo-CD take advantage of it w/o modifications to the BIOS?
 

nick_th_fury

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I'm no expert, but a long time ago I asked Thao of MAs Systems a question like that. He told me no, that he had tried replacing the drives with say a quad or faster cdrom drive. No improvement is what he told me.
-nick_th_fury

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WILL the Neo-CD take advantage of it w/o modifications to the BIOS?
 

Master Terry Bogard

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Ok. I hope this anwers your question. Nick is right. It shouldn't. If the cd was programed to work on the single speed. It shouldn't work on 2x or 4x...I thought it was fairly obvious
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benares

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Okay, but what if you were to add more RAM to the system. Will the Neo-CD take advantage of it?
 

Master Terry Bogard

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Yeah. As I mentioned before, It will reduce loading time even more (like cdz vs cd). But why? RAM is EXPENSIVE
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benares

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Whoa! STAY WITH ME DOC!

Has anyone developed a kit for the Neo-CD to add a gargantuan amount of memory? I mean, like to bring the Neo-CD up to 192megabytes?

This would be awesome!!!

A tour de-force in neo love!
 

benares

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I'm sure many people would want to do it!

Some of us can't afford $600 for a Pulstar or Blazing Star.

Maybe a new upgrade to add to Jeff Kurtz menu?
 

Master Terry Bogard

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Blazing star was not released for the cd (I am fairly sure about this one
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). Infact, many newer games were not released for the cd. Why not get a MVS converter-it should be cheaper. BTW, I am no means a doc
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benares

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But with a converter I'm not sure if you have access to alot of things like changing the difficulty for instance.
 

Master Terry Bogard

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Huh? I have a converter, and it doesn't matter. You can change the difficult level and everything. Infact, it's like playing on a home system
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HPMAN

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NEO-CDZ isn't double speed ??? are you serious man ???
redface.gif


Assuming the neo-cdz had more memory than the cd system, designed to speed up loading times, games would have to be preogrammed for this...

cdz came a long time after the cd...

How could older games be desined for such a feature ???

As myself I'm stiking with the fact that the cdz is double speed...
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JRock917

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your converter is only compatible with games made up until 98 right? I mean, you would still have to get all you newer games on MVS as opposed to AES, or do you have another way to play MVS carts? The cd system I have had has helped me to enjoy some of the cream de la creme of neo geo games, something I could not afford to do on cart alone. Since you had suggested a converter, I was curious if yours or if there was one which could play the newer games too, effectively saving the user money since he could get games like MOTW on MVS, a game which obviously was not and will not be released on cd.
 

Master Terry Bogard

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I got a home system just to play MOTW. I got the MOTW homecart (paid $450, I believe) right away, when I was told that it will never be released for the cd. As for the MVS...Sorry, you have to wait for Arcade's MVS converter-which can play all the games. Mine as, you metioned, play upto 1998. That's why I am getting the KOF 2000 for the homecart. I don't really mind though.
 

Master Terry Bogard

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As for HPMANN's replay, I still think it's a single speed w/ more ram. Actually, I think I am going to make a post of it
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NeoSneth

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Not all neo geo cd games are even written in 2x. Despite the CDZ only being single speed, it did have more powerful motor. You cannot add more ram to a system and expect it to use it. The programming on the game determines how much and what is cached.
So to conclude:
-CDZ is single speed!!!
-More cache speeds it up by saving images and textures, that is why older software will run faster as well.
-Mods to ram or the cd unit may be possible , but it is a dedicated machine, and those add-ons would not simply boost it's ability.
 
C

Caris Nautilus

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Originally posted by benares:
just curious. the psx2 can play psx1 games but can't speed up the disc access because games are dependent on the cd running at the same speed all the time.

enter the neo-cd

the cd games can be read with either the 1x OR the 2x unit. now suppose for a moment that it were possible to hook up a much quicker cdrom to this unit. will their be problems from a software perspective?


If a ram mod could be done I'd do it. But what type of ram does this use? It could be tricky to figure out how to install it..
 
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