Hacking Ram expansion, best choice?

[bamse111]

Hi. I have a DS lite with an R4. I want some memory for the opera browser and some other homebrews. Which slot2-card should i get? I dont really need gba support, and the rumble is just a plus. What do you recommend?

I know that the ezflash 3-in-1 has 16mb memory and the ewin 2-in-1(?) has 32mb. But anyone who knows how much memory the "M3 DS Real Rumble RAM Pack" ( http://www.realhotstuff.com/rumble-pack-real-p-272.html ) has? And if it works with the R4DS?

 

[Bri]

EZ 3in1 or eWin 2in1 both work well. Both play GBA games. The EZ 3in1 has a (crappy) rumble built in.

-Bri

 

[Narin]

Hi. I have a DS lite with an R4. I want some memory for the opera browser and some other homebrews. Which slot2-card should i get? I dont really need gba support, and the rumble is just a plus. What do you recommend?

I know that the ezflash 3-in-1 has 16mb memory and the ewin 2-in-1(?) has 32mb. But anyone who knows how much memory the "M3 DS Real Rumble RAM Pack" ( http://www.realhotstuff.com/rumble-pack-real-p-272.html ) has? And if it works with the R4DS?

EZ 3 in 1, its cheap and supports RAM, Rumble and GBA Homebrew and games.

 

[Destructobot]

But anyone who knows how much memory the "M3 DS Real Rumble RAM Pack" ( http://www.realhotstuff.com/rumble-pack-real-p-272.html ) has? And if it works with the R4DS?

32MB, and yes, via GBA ExpLoader.

 

[Rayder]

To me, the M3 perfect seems like the best choice for a slot2 card. It has its OWN memory card, built-in legacy emus and zero reliance on a slot1 card for anything.

3in1's make you waste space on your slot1's memory card for the GBA games.

If you're going to pirate everything anyway, you might as well get the BEST flashcarts....they pay for themselves VERY quickly.

The cards I have (listed in my sig) may be old and more or less obsolete now, but they were top-of-the-line when I bought them.

 

[Bri]

Personally, I prefer to keep both my GBA and NDS games on the same microSD card. But that's just me.

-Bri

 

[Narin]

To me, the M3 perfect seems like the best choice for a slot2 card. It has its OWN memory card, built-in legacy emus and zero reliance on a slot1 card for anything.

Its a good cart but the problem I keep on hearing about it is that you can't update the legacy emus on it as new better versions are released.

 

[Joe88]

and I havnt been able to find them in stock
there really expensive also :/

 

[Bri]

Hi. I have a DS lite with an R4. I want some memory for the opera browser and some other homebrews. Which slot2-card should i get? I dont really need gba support, and the rumble is just a plus. What do you recommend?

I know that the ezflash 3-in-1 has 16mb memory and the ewin 2-in-1(?) has 32mb. But anyone who knows how much memory the "M3 DS Real Rumble RAM Pack" ( http://www.realhotstuff.com/rumble-pack-real-p-272.html ) has? And if it works with the R4DS?

The amount of memory isn't going to matter with the Opera browser. It can only take advantage of 8MB regardless of the amount that the expansion pak has.

For GBA games, the eWin 2in1 has more of the faster memory as you pointed out. But the EZ 3in1 has an additional 32mb of slow NOR memory. For larger GBA games, the EZ 3in1 doesn't have enough of the faster memory so you have to use the NOR memory. The NOR memory can take a couple of minutes to store the game, but once it's stored it will retain the game even when you turn off your NDS, and you can load it in as if it's a normal GBA cartridge.

My personal preference is probably the eWin because you don't have to mess with the NOR memory. The EZ 3in1 is also a little more expensive. But the EZ is easier to find than the eWin.

-Bri

 

[DanTheManMS]

To me, the M3 perfect seems like the best choice for a slot2 card. It has its OWN memory card, built-in legacy emus and zero reliance on a slot1 card for anything.

Its a good cart but the problem I keep on hearing about it is that you can't update the legacy emus on it as new better versions are released.

You can, but you must do it manually. In the Game Manager's folder in Program Files, there are four *.bin files that are the emulator cores. Replace these with newer versions, renaming as appropriate, to upgrade the emulators. The M3 doesn't actually contain built-in emulators. When you add a *.gbc game (for instance) via the Game Manager, it attaches the game to the end of the emulator core and sticks the output file onto your card. In essence, you've got a copy of the emulator for every game you put on the card.

The slot-2 Supercards have the emulators built into the device itself, and thus you cannot upgrade those yourself. For instance with Goomba Color, the built-in version is Alpha 6 which is very outdated, so for Supercard users it's best to manually create a Goomba Color compilation with the frontend tool, adding all your GB/GBC games into a single *.gba file.

 

[bamse111]

Thanks for all the posts. Can i get some more suggestions of if i should buy ezflash 3in1 or the ewin 2in1?

 

[xjuniorx]

just get the ezflash 3in1

 

[Bri]

There's not so much a difference between the two that it will matter much. The eWin 2in1 is a little easier to use because it only has fast volatile memory whereas the EZ 3in1 has two different types of memory.

"Two types of memory?" I hear you ask. Yes, the EZ 3in1 has fast volatile memory and slow NOR memory. Only it has twice the slow memory as the fast memory, so only the slower NOR memory is large enough to hold the largest GBA games. The eWin has the same amount of the faster volatile memory as the EZ 3in1's slower NOR memory, so it can load large games faster than the EZ 3in1 (it would take a few seconds to load a large game on the eWin and 1 to 2 minutes on the EZ 3in1).

"So what is the purpose of the NOR then?" I hear you ask. Well, once a game is loaded into the NOR memory, it acts just like a GBA cartridge and can run that game any number of times after you shut down your NDS (playing a game once loaded is pretty fast).

Other advantages of the EZ 3in1: The EZ 3in1 has a crappy rumble built in. The EZ 3in1 is easier to find and is probably more popular than the eWin.

Other advantages of the eWin 2in1: It usually costs a little less. Since it has twice the volatile memory, certain homebrew that can use the extra memory will have twice the memory available to it.

With the R4, you'll need a copy of GBA ExpLoader (available from the download section) to use the EZ 3in1 or eWin 2in1 to play GBA games or as extra memory for the browser.

-Bri