Trying out Dreamcast again...

[fallenangle]

I tend to agree, the laser drive has a uniquely rough sound and many games seem to work it pretty hard. I wear headphones for gaming so it's not so bad but compared to even my second noisiest machine, a grey slab PS, it is far more noticeable.

I've had the over-heating/reset problem literally on just a couple of occasions (very hot days/4+ hrs use). After I put the DC on additional rubber half inch 'legs' it has never recurred. No problems with the controller ports ever but I did have a repeated problem with the laser drive with one machine. It would go to the centre start position and then stick, you could hear the drive spindle trying to turn and making a distinctly nasty sound. I'd have to take the disc out and gently push the carriage to free it up. Once done and the machine warmed up it worked fine.

I eventually realised it was catching on the underside of its own housing, preventing it from tripping the micro switch which controls the spindle. I cured the problem simply by slightly loosening the top cover retaining screws. It's my oldest most heavily used DC (2001 UK PAL) and it's given me hundreds of hours of fault free service since.

[Phar]

I'm pretty sure the early models were cooled with heat pipes, not liquid cooling as used in high end PCs.

Thats water cooled no?, according to the gamesx site here the early models had pipes that contained a liquid so I've always assumed you'd refer to it as being liquid cooled.

[SUMIRE]

Yeah it is pretty bad, but my Jap one seems not as bad as my UK one. I suppose it depends on what game you are playing, but I do remember is been pretty bad when I used to do all nighters in the good ole days of Phantasy Star.

[Leon Retro]

I'd love a quiet Dreamcast. That would be a dream come true.

[gIzzE]

I remember modding the Dreamcast for RGB on the Jap release.

My NTSC TV was knackered the night I brought it home so I took it apart and managed to get RGB from it.

Then spoke to some guy on irc called ryu I think and gave him all the pinouts and he wrote a how to on it.

Forgot all about that till I saw this thread, must be 10 years ago??

[Team Andromeda]

Thats water cooled no?, according to the gamesx site here the early models had pipes that contained a liquid so I've always assumed you'd refer to it as being liquid cooled.

I sure it liquid cooled too. The best model of Dreamcast to get , was the NTSC-USA Sport pack DC, its by far the quietest Dreamcst I've owned

[monel]

The DC is probably my fave console ever because I feel the games actually were 'arcade perfect' although that phrase has been used since the 8 bit days.

I'd say try Jet Set Radio, I really need to hook my DC up and play that again some day as well as all the other classics. When Sega announced they were no longer supporting the console I was gutted .

It is a noisy bugger though.

[EJG1980]

I had a VGA cable and a few old PAL games in a CD briefcase sat in a cupboard doing nothing so I've grabbed a Dreamcast from eBay to relive some Sega goodness I've been meaning to do it for ages but seeing this thread finally prompted me into actually doing it!

Possibly my favourite time in gaming, late 1999 and early 2000. Mainly as I'd just started working so I finally had money of my own to spend and import Dreamcast items sucked up a load of it

[charlesr]

I'd love a quiet Dreamcast. That would be a dream come true.

Some crazy guys have figured out how to load games off SD cards straight on to the DC with a custom cable.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/29/dreamcast-sd-adapter-could-make-for-homebrew-magic/

1) Silent
2) No worries about GD ROM drive giving up.

Ace.

I don't know what the speed is like but a gui command shell has been created for it and stuff.