Gaming New or Used Wii?

[Coto]

Any Wii, be it old or new, may have issue with WiiConnect24 as fan will not spin on standby. Therefore if you plan to use WiiConnect24 on standby then buy a USB fan. Nintendo never acknowledged this defect and I've seen people with later model suffered the same problem.

I have a launched model Wii, I put it in flat position and in well ventilated area. Never overheat besides WiiConnect24 being on. Still works like a charm (blutooth module is still working).

And are you sure about artifact with components cable? Other than fried GPU, it is possible those artifacts are in fact noise.

Well, now that you mention it, the noise in image became everyday worse. You´ll notice it when you see it. Also, you should disable Wii connect 24, or your Wii´ll be dying soon.

And no, newer wiis have cooler/better chipset design. Let´s say earlier 2008+ models, so there´s no overheat in those. I´d like you to do the test using both wiis. You´ll see.

 

[trumpet-205]

Well, now that you mention it, the noise in image became everyday worse. You´ll notice it when you see it. Also, you should disable Wii connect 24, or your Wii´ll be dying soon.

And no, newer wiis have cooler/better chipset design. Let´s say earlier 2008+ models, so there´s no overheat in those. I´d like you to do the test using both wiis. You´ll see.

While I don't have newer model, my friend has a black Wii. He told me that his Wii gets hotter when WiiConnect24 is on and Wii is off (orange light).

WiiConnect24 will only fry GPU when Wii is orange light (WiiConnect24 in standby mode). When Wii is fully on (green light), fan on the back is spinning so no overheat damage occurs (other than putting a Wii in an area where ventilation is poor). Since Wii supplies USB power even if Wii is on orange light, you use USB fan instead for standby mode.

As far as I know there has been no chipset/cooling revision among all the Wiis besides different optical drives.

 

[Coto]

Well, now that you mention it, the noise in image became everyday worse. You´ll notice it when you see it. Also, you should disable Wii connect 24, or your Wii´ll be dying soon.

And no, newer wiis have cooler/better chipset design. Let´s say earlier 2008+ models, so there´s no overheat in those. I´d like you to do the test using both wiis. You´ll see.

While I don't have newer model, my friend has a black Wii. He told me that his Wii gets hotter when WiiConnect24 is on and Wii is off (orange light).

WiiConnect24 will only fry GPU when Wii is orange light (WiiConnect24 in standby mode). When Wii is fully on (green light), fan on the back is spinning so no overheat damage occurs (other than putting a Wii in an area where ventilation is poor). Since Wii supplies USB power even if Wii is on orange light, you use USB fan instead for standby mode.

As far as I know there has been no chipset/cooling revision among all the Wiis besides different optical drives.

Then you need to research more than posting you even don´t know about... go read a little then post back what you´ve found.

Since i´ve open up 5 wiis by the time, the gpu and cpu (incluiding other circuitry) have suffered minor hardware changes. Incluiding smaller gpu (which allows better heat dissipation) because of less silicons (and less voltage usage) and if I recall correclty, a smaller cpu chip. Just a bit.

Also, 2006 wiis tend to heat up a lot if you don´t place them properly, while a newer you could have it over your bed 24 hours and nothing would happen.

I´d gladly take snapshots now, but sadly I do not own anymore an old model.

Besides, Wiiconnect24 will not heat THAT much on newer wiis, just for olders.

 

[Donkey Plonk]

Well, now that you mention it, the noise in image became everyday worse. You´ll notice it when you see it. Also, you should disable Wii connect 24, or your Wii´ll be dying soon.

And no, newer wiis have cooler/better chipset design. Let´s say earlier 2008+ models, so there´s no overheat in those. I´d like you to do the test using both wiis. You´ll see.

While I don't have newer model, my friend has a black Wii. He told me that his Wii gets hotter when WiiConnect24 is on and Wii is off (orange light).

WiiConnect24 will only fry GPU when Wii is orange light (WiiConnect24 in standby mode). When Wii is fully on (green light), fan on the back is spinning so no overheat damage occurs (other than putting a Wii in an area where ventilation is poor). Since Wii supplies USB power even if Wii is on orange light, you use USB fan instead for standby mode.

As far as I know there has been no chipset/cooling revision among all the Wiis besides different optical drives.

Then you need to research more than posting you even don´t know about... go read a little then post back what you´ve found.

Since i´ve open up 5 wiis by the time, the gpu and cpu (incluiding other circuitry) have suffered minor hardware changes. Incluiding smaller gpu (which allows better heat dissipation) because of less silicons (and less voltage usage) and if I recall correclty, a smaller cpu chip. Just a bit.

Also, 2006 wiis tend to heat up a lot if you don´t place them properly, while a newer you could have it over your bed 24 hours and nothing would happen.

I´d gladly take snapshots now, but sadly I do not own anymore an old model.

Besides, Wiiconnect24 will not heat THAT much on newer wiis, just for olders.

Sorry to say it mate, but you are plainly talking out of your ass.

Older wiis do suffer from the artifact problem, as has been said by WiiPower, but this is due to Wiiconnect24. If you have had 3 go, chances are, your room where your wii is is just too damn hot and dusty. I've had 2 personal wii's, my first one which was a d2c i only got rid of due to money constraints, no problems since day one and I know who has it now, its still fine.

Now, You've opened 5 wiis? Well done, I've opened in excess of 100 wiis and I can tell you first hand, you are talking bollocks. They have not changed the motherboard design EVER. The CPU/GPU are the same size now that they have always been. Black wiis are just as likely to suffer this problem, it has NOT been ironed out, they just havent started showing their faces yet.
The only thing that has ever changed design inside a wii is the dvd drive.

You've had bad luck mate, plain and simple. Not all wiis go, its not like xbox's. Few will suffer the problem and if you suffer it with more than one console, look at how you have your wii setup, think of airflow.
You do not need an external cooling solution with a wii unless you turn on wiiconnect24 which is highly not recommended

 

[Coto]

Now, You've opened 5 wiis? Well done, I've opened in excess of 100 wiis and I can tell you first hand, you are talking bollocks. They have not changed the motherboard design EVER. The CPU/GPU are the same size now that they have always been. Black wiis are just as likely to suffer this problem, it has NOT been ironed out, they just havent started showing their faces yet.
The only thing that has ever changed design inside a wii is the dvd drive.

You've had bad luck mate, plain and simple. Not all wiis go, its not like xbox's. Few will suffer the problem and if you suffer it with more than one console, look at how you have your wii setup, think of airflow.
You do not need an external cooling solution with a wii unless you turn on wiiconnect24 which is highly not recommended

Then the Arm chip, hollywood keep being the same inch? No. I´m completely sure of it. No need for insulting also, or I´d say you´re a sissy bastard because you´re too sure of yourself, but no.

-

While Wii mobo´s have not changed at all in their design, hell they do look almost the same, A FEW MODIFICATIONS HAVE BEEN DONE. Mainly in their GPU hollywood´s lower power consumption, besides ARM chip being smaller in newer models. Less heat, frantically sure of it.


-

So i´ll be on topic again, to finally say:

If you don´t mess too much with homebrew, stick with a newer model. If you love to modify stuff, install themes, or doing more dangerous things, go for a older model (boot2 bug enabled) but I´m warning you, get a external usb fan for better airflow.

 

[Donkey Plonk]

Now, You've opened 5 wiis? Well done, I've opened in excess of 100 wiis and I can tell you first hand, you are talking bollocks. They have not changed the motherboard design EVER. The CPU/GPU are the same size now that they have always been. Black wiis are just as likely to suffer this problem, it has NOT been ironed out, they just havent started showing their faces yet.
The only thing that has ever changed design inside a wii is the dvd drive.

You've had bad luck mate, plain and simple. Not all wiis go, its not like xbox's. Few will suffer the problem and if you suffer it with more than one console, look at how you have your wii setup, think of airflow.
You do not need an external cooling solution with a wii unless you turn on wiiconnect24 which is highly not recommended

Then the Arm chip, hollywood keep being the same inch? No. I´m completely sure of it. No need for insulting also, or I´d say you´re a sissy bastard because you´re too sure of yourself, but no.

-

While Wii mobo´s have not changed at all in their design, hell they do look almost the same, A FEW MODIFICATIONS HAVE BEEN DONE. Mainly in their GPU hollywood´s lower power consumption, besides ARM chip being smaller in newer models. Less heat, frantically sure of it.


-

So i´ll be on topic again, to finally say:

If you don´t mess too much with homebrew, stick with a newer model. If you love to modify stuff, install themes, or more dangerous things, go for a older one (boot2 bug enabled) but I´m warning you, get a external usb fan for better airflow.

Right, so you're the only person on the entire internet that knows this.
It certainly makes no mention of it on wiibrew.
They have never blogged about design changes.

Google it, can you find absoloutly anything? No


Sorry mate, but you are simply talking rubbish. If anybody else can attest to this or possibly you can provide some further info then you may get believed but as is, you are the only person on the internet that has noticed this so I will assume you simply don't know what you're on about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_(graphics_chip)

Theres the wiki for the Hollywood for you, no mention of it

 

[Coto]

Now, You've opened 5 wiis? Well done, I've opened in excess of 100 wiis and I can tell you first hand, you are talking bollocks. They have not changed the motherboard design EVER. The CPU/GPU are the same size now that they have always been. Black wiis are just as likely to suffer this problem, it has NOT been ironed out, they just havent started showing their faces yet.
The only thing that has ever changed design inside a wii is the dvd drive.

You've had bad luck mate, plain and simple. Not all wiis go, its not like xbox's. Few will suffer the problem and if you suffer it with more than one console, look at how you have your wii setup, think of airflow.
You do not need an external cooling solution with a wii unless you turn on wiiconnect24 which is highly not recommended

Then the Arm chip, hollywood keep being the same inch? No. I´m completely sure of it. No need for insulting also, or I´d say you´re a sissy bastard because you´re too sure of yourself, but no.

-

While Wii mobo´s have not changed at all in their design, hell they do look almost the same, A FEW MODIFICATIONS HAVE BEEN DONE. Mainly in their GPU hollywood´s lower power consumption, besides ARM chip being smaller in newer models. Less heat, frantically sure of it.


-

So i´ll be on topic again, to finally say:

If you don´t mess too much with homebrew, stick with a newer model. If you love to modify stuff, install themes, or more dangerous things, go for a older one (boot2 bug enabled) but I´m warning you, get a external usb fan for better airflow.

Right, so you're the only person on the entire internet that knows this.
It certainly makes no mention of it on wiibrew.
They have never blogged about design changes.

Google it, can you find absoloutly anything? No


Sorry mate, but you are simply talking rubbish. If anybody else can attest to this or possibly you can provide some further info then you may get believed but as is, you are the only person on the internet that has noticed this so I will assume you simply don't know what you're on about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_(graphics_chip)

Theres the wiki for the Hollywood for you, no mention of it

http://wiire.org/Wii/console/motherboard

Well, the one who took the pictures told there were differences between just "2" Wii motherboards.

I did one mistake, GPU keeps being the same inches. But broadway (ARM) is the one smaller on newer chipsets.(2008+)

Why do i´m being so persistent? Because those 3 boot 2 bug wiis I´ve own before, (while doing these kind of tests) generated a considerably amount of heat, I mean, A LOT, while standing horizontally on my bed. I replaced the fan, thermal paste on 3 chips (incluiding the bluethoot & wifi module). And was particularly hot, at the point to be aware of. It needed an external fan.

My newer wii (2009 model) can be Wiiconnect24 enabled the whole day, lay down in my bed, play Wii, without even external fan required, and was QUITE cooler.

(In both cases both wiis, older and newer threw out constantly hot airflows)


So prepared by these kind of posts by people, yesterday I dismantled my newer wii and did the same testings I did before with my older (damaged) wii.


You can see a post I did back then when I had my older wii, describing the symptoms better:


Here

and

Here

------

------

Findings:


Broadway chip generated considerably more heat by pressing down with my finger on the older wii faceplate, I couldnt lay my finger there for more than 3 seconds using the stock thermal paste/fan.

While the newer wii´s faceplate (plus newer BROADWAY ARM chip) did a nice job after an hour of gameplay. My fingers weren´t burned at all. Again, using stock thermal paste/fan.

 

[Donkey Plonk]

http://wiire.org/Wii/console/motherboard

Well, the one who took the pictures told there were differences between just "2" Wii motherboards.
You have read this incorrectly, what that person is saying is, there are alternate FLASH chips in them, nintendo don't use just one type of nand flash chip, they use a few alternate ones that can be swapped as they have the same sort of functions.
This link mentions nothing at all about reduced die sizes. In fact it even lists the 2 chips: -
Broadway = 21mmx21mm
Hollywood = 31mmx31mm

QUOTEWhy do i´m being so persistent? Because those 3 boot 2 bug wiis I´ve own before, (while doing these kind of tests) generated a considerably amount of heat, I mean, A LOT, while standing horizontally on my bed. I replaced the fan, thermal paste on 3 chips (incluiding the bluethoot & wifi module). And was particularly hot, at the point to be aware of. It needed an external fan.

My newer wii (2009 model) can be Wiiconnect24 enabled the whole day, lay down in my bed, play Wii, without even external fan required, and was QUITE cooler.

(In both cases both wiis, older and newer threw out constantly hot airflows)


So prepared by these kind of posts by people, yesterday I dismantled my newer wii and did the same testings I did before with my older (damaged) wii.


You can see a post I did back then when I had my older wii, describing the symptoms better:


Here

and

Here

------

------

Findings:


Broadway chip generated considerably more heat by pressing down with my finger on the older wii faceplate, I couldnt lay my finger there for more than 3 seconds using the stock thermal paste/fan.

While the newer wii´s faceplate (plus newer BROADWAY ARM chip) did a nice job after an hour of gameplay. My fingers weren´t burned at all. Again, using stock thermal paste/fan.

The rest of this post is just your subjective opinion, it is not fact.
Sounds like the reason your wiis keep dying is you don't learn from your mistakes. Wiiconnect24, stop enabling it, its shit, provides no good function, just fucks wiis up

 

[WiiPower]

If the arm CPU is produced with another x nanometer size, you have no chance to see a difference on a picture, only model numbers will be different. And For the overheating in WiiBrick24 mode, only the heat from the arm is relevant as the ppc and gpu are offline or idle at this time. If the GPU was changed, then overheating by actually playing would be reduced.

Anyways, to sum up for newbies:
Whoever is correct, all agree that WiiConnect24 is bad and damages your Wii, so turn it off on the 1st chance you get. (red led when wii is on standby, orange means WiiBrick24 is on)

 

[Coto]

If the arm CPU is produced with another x nanometer size, you have no chance to see a difference on a picture, only model numbers will be different. And For the overheating in WiiBrick24 mode, only the heat from the arm is relevant as the ppc and gpu are offline or idle at this time. If the GPU was changed, then overheating by actually playing would be reduced.

Anyways, to sum up for newbies:
Whoever is correct, all agree that WiiConnect24 is bad and damages your Wii, so turn it off on the 1st chance you get. (red led when wii is on standby, orange means WiiBrick24 is on)

I´ll take it from a developer. So thanks for clarifying this up, Wiipower. ARM is smaller in newer chipsets.

 

[Donkey Plonk]

If the arm CPU is produced with another x nanometer size, you have no chance to see a difference on a picture, only model numbers will be different. And For the overheating in WiiBrick24 mode, only the heat from the arm is relevant as the ppc and gpu are offline or idle at this time. If the GPU was changed, then overheating by actually playing would be reduced.

Anyways, to sum up for newbies:
Whoever is correct, all agree that WiiConnect24 is bad and damages your Wii, so turn it off on the 1st chance you get. (red led when wii is on standby, orange means WiiBrick24 is on)

I´ll take it from a developer. So thanks for clarifying this up, Wiipower. ARM is smaller in newer chipsets.

You seriously just read what you want don't you, lol.
Wiipower did not say they are smaller. He said he didn't know

 

[Coto]

And also OP, don´t know if this have been mentioned before, but newer wiis (black ones) will have D3-2+ DVD units, being unable to read backups, by hardware.

edit: ARM chips are smaller not due to wiipower´s response, but because i´ve seen it with my both eyes, fyi.

 

[trumpet-205]

edit: ARM chips are smaller not due to wiipower´s response, but because i´ve seen it with my both eyes, fyi.

ARM926 core is inside of Hollywood. There is no way you can see it.

 

[Coto]

I fucking found it:

http://hackmii.com/2009/08/wii-hardware-a-history/

There´s EVERYTHING i mentioned before.

Broadway´s starlet inside wii is smaller than older PCB motherboard versions.



And, broadway(ARM) =! hollywood chip

edit: to all those who didn´t search enough, well, bushing clearly describes main Wii PCB improvements which lead me to find newer Wii´s being cooler than previous. (Yes, my finger told me that. xD)

 

[trumpet-205]

I fucking found it:

http://hackmii.com/2009/08/wii-hardware-a-history/

There´s EVERYTHING i mentioned before.
If you fully read the article you just posted,

The -30 PCB is what has me stumped. This photo came from someone on IRC who bought a new (“unsoftmoddable”) Wii in Australia; he sent it to me as part of our efforts to debug the HackMii Installer. The only difference between those two is … the Broadway chip package is much, much smaller. I’m told that it’s not likely that they actually shrunk the die; rather, they probably just shrunk the metal package, and placed the balls of the BGA package closer together.

QUOTE

The chip differences aren’t really very meaningful to us. All of the chips have to run the same code. It’s likely that the revisions were done to fix minor glitches; for example, there are a few places in IOS where it checks to see if the Hollywood chip is older than some version, and if so, executes some additional code (redundant memory writes, presumably to work around a bug in the silicon).

Bushing pretty much said the revision is for software level (correcting minor glitches), not hardware level. Since the die size and the fabrication process did not change, power consumption is about the same, meaning thermal output is about the same as well.

 

[Coto]

I fucking found it:

http://hackmii.com/2009/08/wii-hardware-a-history/

There´s EVERYTHING i mentioned before.
If you fully read the article you just posted,

The -30 PCB is what has me stumped. This photo came from someone on IRC who bought a new (“unsoftmoddable”) Wii in Australia; he sent it to me as part of our efforts to debug the HackMii Installer. The only difference between those two is … the Broadway chip package is much, much smaller. I’m told that it’s not likely that they actually shrunk the die; rather, they probably just shrunk the metal package, and placed the balls of the BGA package closer together.

QUOTE

The chip differences aren’t really very meaningful to us. All of the chips have to run the same code. It’s likely that the revisions were done to fix minor glitches; for example, there are a few places in IOS where it checks to see if the Hollywood chip is older than some version, and if so, executes some additional code (redundant memory writes, presumably to work around a bug in the silicon).

Bushing pretty much said the revision is for software level (correcting minor glitches), not hardware level. Since the die size and the fabrication process did not change, power consumption is about the same, meaning thermal output is about the same as well.

Stupidity is sure stupid.

When you improve/redesign PCB it´s not regarding just for software issues, but rather system stability/cheaper production cost, and heat issues, which, sorrily they´ve been known for ages on Wii. Besides, I´m 100% sure of this because I opened both an older/newer wii JUST to make sure about what i´m speaking now.

Just look for:


"artifacts / wii overheat GPU" and stuff in Google.

Besides, why do you think Nintendo have redesigned their Wiis? Because of?


SEVERAL OVERHEAT PROBLEMS

edit: And the Wii was re-designed no matter what, which most here stated wrong. =p

 

[trumpet-205]

Stupidity is sure stupid.

Besides, why do you think Nintendo have redesigned their Wiis? Because of?
Wireless module (ARM926/Starlet) that controls WiiConnect24 is not in Broadway, but in Hollywood.

We know the die size and fabrication process is not changed for Broadway chip, as bushing said it was simply done to reduce size. No power consumption changes correlates to no changes in thermal output. We know besides Broadway there were few minor changes in parts, but bushing told us those were done to simplify circuitry.

Why do i´m being so persistent? Because those 3 boot 2 bug wiis I´ve own before, (while doing these kind of tests) generated a considerably amount of heat, I mean, A LOT, while standing horizontally on my bed. I replaced the fan, thermal paste on 3 chips (incluiding the bluethoot & wifi module). And was particularly hot, at the point to be aware of. It needed an external fan.

You should know that by putting a Wii on the bed it radiates heat back to the Wii (bed absorbs the heat and send it back to Wii). Try it on vertical position with a surface that is not bed.

QUOTE

But broadway (ARM) is the one smaller on newer chipsets.(2008+)

Broadway is PowerPC, ARM926 is inside of Hollywood. Overheating wireless module is in Hollywood, not smaller Broadway.

Oh! Calling people stupid is offensive.

 

[Donkey Plonk]

Many thanks trumpet, this is why I even started getting into this because he started calling someone else stupid above when he clearly has no clue.
As said, reduced casing, NOT reduced die size.
But besides that, as said, component that overheats IS NOT IN the component that has got smaller, the broadway, its in the hollywood which is still 31mmx31mm.

And very very good point about the bed. Have you any idea the number of laptops I've had to fix for people because they run them on their bed? I can tell you, its a lot. But that was back when I was a hardware repairer, the time when I was opening HUNDREDS of wiis. But that was a long time ago now, got too busy and gave it up so I could focus on my family.

 

[Coto]

Many thanks trumpet, this is why I even started getting into this because he started calling someone else stupid above when he clearly has no clue.
As said, reduced casing, NOT reduced die size.
But besides that, as said, component that overheats IS NOT IN the component that has got smaller, the broadway, its in the hollywood which is still 31mmx31mm.

And very very good point about the bed. Have you any idea the number of laptops I've had to fix for people because they run them on their bed? I can tell you, its a lot. But that was back when I was a hardware repairer, the time when I was opening HUNDREDS of wiis. But that was a long time ago now, got too busy and gave it up so I could focus on my family.

Errr... the bed test, was ahardware test. See the word test ? And, yes, Wii was redesigned, and those pics bushing took (and thanks to him for his findings) lead me to find minor improvements reenforcing overheat issues on newer PCB´s .

And, hell yeah. I see no more point here, rather than to share some interesting findings, even if I do some mistakes.

And, to clarify stuff and all, I´m also a computer engineer so I know the basics of running you know, computer things getting hot while on bed.

And, interestingly this lead me to discover more stuff , thank you =p

Coto.

 

[Coto]

edit: please delete this post!