I picked up a pair of kiosk consoles and got one working with a shotgun recap. The other has a blown DAC, so it's going to need a transplant.

I'm really surprised at the quality of the VA0 Dreamcast. Lots of tantalum SMD caps that were replaced with cheaper electrolytics in VA1, and the heatsinks and pipes actually keep it running really cool. There seems to be an urban legend that the VA0 runs hotter than later DCs, but this is the opposite of what I've found. It's cooler and quieter with the thermally controlled fan.


Stock. Factory repair in the upper right.


Simple to recap, but components must be arranged to avoid touching the metal casing. No room for big caps in here, everything needs to be slim. I used all Panasonic and Rubycon 6,000-10,000+ hour 105C rated caps.


Stock GD-ROM controller board


Recapped. Again, caps need to be arranged to avoid touching the metal cover.

Thanks, I was surprised that even the fan surround is cast aluminum. It also has an orange LED instead of white, and a crazy PSU that I still need to photograph. I replaced a few caps on it and added thermal compound to the 6 (!) voltage regulators.

I also did a full recap of my Sega Sports VA1 model but I still need to grab some pictures.

Nice, I PMed you about the drive.It might bring one of my parts DCs back from the dead.

The Sports model is the best looking for sure and always wows people who haven't seen one in person. I doubt there are many Dreamcasts that truly need recaps. Sega seemed to used nice SMD caps that have held up really well overall.

I just posted a writeup of the Sports recap here: Sega Sports Dreamcast VA1 - Recap