Nintendo 64 technical specifications

The Nintendo 64 technical specifications describe the console's processor, memory, and other components.

The Nintendo 64's central processing unit (CPU) is the NEC VR4300, a less expensive derivative of the 64-bit MIPS Technologies R4300i. Built by NEC on a 0.35 µm process, the VR4300 is a RISC 5-stage scalar in-order execution processor, with integrated floating-point unit, internal 24 KB direct-mappedL1 cache (16 KB for instructions, 8 KB for data). The 4.6 million transistor CPU is cooled passively by an aluminum heatspreader that makes contact with a steel heat sink above.

With a clock rate of 93.75 MHz, the N64's VR4300 is said to be the most powerful console CPU of the fifth generation of video game consoles. Except for its narrower 32-bit system bus, the VR4300 retains the computational abilities of the more powerful 64-bit MIPS R4300i, though few titles take advantage of 64-bit data precision operations. N64 game titles generally use faster and more compact 32-bit data-operations, as these are sufficient to generate 3D scene data for the console's RSP (Reality Signal Processor) unit. In addition, 32-bit code executes faster and requires less storage space, which is at a premium on the N64's vintage cartridges. The CPU is challenged by a 250 MB/s bus to the system RAM, and in order to access the RAM, the CPU must go through the Reality Coprocessor (RCP), and can not use DMA to do so as the RCP can. This challenge is further compounded by the RDRAM's high access latency.

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