Namco System ES3 Teardown and some basic info

[Franco23444]

Hello everyone,just to kill off some boredom and give my system a clean,I just wanted to show you guys the insides of a Namco System ES3. There are some different revisions of the ES3 hardware so I’m going to be showing you guys the Namco System ES3(X) hardware which is commonly used with Tekken 7, Time Crisis 5, Mario Kart DX, as well as some others. As you guys can clearly see, it’s just another PC based arcade system. The system uses “standard” off the shelf parts however, the hardware itself has TPM (Trusted Platform Module) or “locked hardware”, meaning none of the parts can really be replaced/upgraded with off the shelf equivalents as the hardware is locked to the software on the HDD. You can, however, replace parts around with parts from other ES3 hardware as long as the components match. The Graphics cards have a custom BIOS meaning an all black 760 can’t be swapped out with a green text 760 or an off the shelf version.
But a green text ES3 760 can be swapped out with another green text ES3 card.

Luckily, “any” bootable drive is able to work on the system. So that means you can install Windows 10 on an SSD, download the appropriate drivers for audio and the graphics card and you’re good to use the system as a normal PC. Anyway, I’m not going to be talking about software here, I’ll be talking about the hardware instead

As you can see here, this is the ES3 before disassembly…

Here’s the system with the top lid off…

And here’s all the parts out of the metal enclosure. I’ll be taking a closer look at each part here.

The empty metal chassis…

Here is the 2.5” 250GB HGST 5400rpm HDD the USB dongle for Tekken 7 FR. I use a different SSD “solution” instead.

the motherboard used in the ES3, it’s a SuperMicro C7B75 workstation motherboard. It’s a standard uATX 9.6”X 9.6” motherboard. I already did a post about replacing the motherboard with a new one/a different version.

More pics of the rear ports in the next post…

 

[Franco23444]

More pictures of the motherboard and the rear I/O shield

The CPU used in the system: Intel Core i5-3550s 3.00Ghz

The RAM, 8GB in total (2x4GB sticks clocked at 1600mhz)

The only custom part used in the system, the ESIF2 JVS communication pcb, this pcb connects to the motherboard and tells you the voltage and the HDD activity using LEDS. Behind it is all the circuitry that controls the JVS stuff. I also have the ES1 variant, ESIF, which is basically the same thing but smaller. There are three connectors in the back of the pcb, CN1 connects to the motherboard’s JF1 port, the area where you would plug the reset button and HDD and power led indicator,also, another cable plugs into ther COM 3 port. CN2 is where a USB extension cable plugs into for the JVS I/O. And CN3 is where the power indicator leds as well as the “OUTPUT” power plugs into.

 

[Franco23444]

Here are some more pics of where those cables plug into. COM 4 is for the card reader connector to plug into and COM 3 is for the JVS ESIF2 PCB. Also, the SATA cable plugs into the first (SATA0) white colored port. I believe it’s SATA III

The PSU this system (as well as the ES1) uses is a Nipron Model PC1U-300P Modular power supply. It’s a 300w switching ATX PSU.

 

[Franco23444]

Now, the graphics card, my unit, as well as others came stock with an Nvidia GTX 760. Other units can have a different version, such as an ASUS version or a completely different graphics card like a GTX 1050 or GTX 960.

 

[Rom1]

You have 2 versions of the "blower" GTX760. They're easy to distinguish as the "GEFORCE GTX" marking is either black or green.

 

[jermz1]

I had to take apart and repaste the gpu a few months ago. I figured it should fit into this thread.

 

[Franco23444]

I had to take apart and repaste the gpu a few months ago. I figured it should fit into this thread.

Awesome! If you have more pics or information to share, please feel free to do so!

 

[Toyxf]

I had to take apart and repaste the gpu a few months ago. I figured it should fit into this thread.

GTX 760 so hot，the air outlet is about 100°C (212°F)

 

[Franco23444]

Well, I got a completely stock ES3 as I have been searching for one to examine it. Luckily @EYEDOL came to the rescue and hooked me up with one for a deal. It’s ver. 4.10 of Tekken 7 Round 2.

Since there is little to no information on how the audio and video ports work, I’ll write down what I have noticed so far. I will show the inside of this unit later today as it does have a slightly different GTX760 graphics card, everything else remains the same.

Here is what I have learned: not all the audio and video ports work at the same time. Kinda interesting as the 357/369 audio/video ports all worked simultaneously and are completely hot-swappable. On the ES3 however, the video ports are NOT hot-swappable, switching from one video source to another will cause the system to freak out and exit the game, showing a black screen and audio cuts out. (I now realize this happens because the game is running in fullscreen mode.)
For audio, I thought it was using some Realtek audio drivers and all the audio ports worked at the same time, turns out that wasn’t the case. The system uses the Microsoft HD audio drivers and only one audio source works, if you plug in headphones, the green 3.5mm jack will output audio but hdmi and optical won’t, unplug the 3.5mm jack, hdmi audio will work, and if you’re using DVI/VGA, optical audio will work if the 3.5mm jack isn’t connected. Also HDMI is set to limited RGB instead of FULL RGB like DVI,I haven’t tried using the Display Port but I will later and update this post. That all that I found out for now.

Edit: display port works fine, even with a DP to VGA and DP to HDMI adapter (audio works as well though DP)

Looking closely at some “files”, looks like the system uses a Video resolution (or EDID) checking/setting tool to set the video resolution for the display you’re using, maxing out to 1080p60.

Edit again: turns out the software is indeed using Realtek HD audio drivers instead of the regular Microsoft HD audio drivers. They almost sound near identical anyway.

 

[Mrhide]

so ... where can we get one ?

 

[Franco23444]

so ... where can we get one ?

In my experience, Japanese auctions are the easiest way but be careful and do a bit of research as some units are online versions with the credits bomb stuff. I got my new unit from a friend as I couldn’t find one with the revision I wanted.

Luckily @jermz1 made a great post and spreadsheet with almost all Tekken 7 ES3 revisions:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1JheZag662us_6OraVHo3LPX0k2596ZYA/htmlview

 

[Mrhide]

Damn. nice spreadsheet. what a version mess!

Might wait for ... finger crossed... tekken 8: My fighting buddy loves Tekken enough to want to buy a cab when it comes out, if it ever does.

 

[Franco23444]

Damn. nice spreadsheet. what a version mess!

Might wait for ... finger crossed... tekken 8: My fighting buddy loves Tekken enough to want to buy a cab when it comes out, if it ever does.

Is tekken 8 going to be released in arcades? I’m extremely curious to know what hardware Namco is going to use.

 

[Mrhide]

Is tekken 8 going to be released in arcades? I’m extremely curious to know what hardware Namco is going to use.

I don't know ... one can only hope! Hardware would have to be a PC right?

 

[Franco23444]

I don't know ... one can only hope! Hardware would have to be a PC right?

Maybe, it could be PC, the Namco System BNA hardware perhaps? Or maybe PS5 hardware? Anything is possible at this point. Or Namco could pull a Soul Calibur 3 and release the game first on consoles then port it to arcades? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

 

[Toyxf]

First of all, thanks to @EYEDOL for providing Iron fist version 4.10 upgrade USB, I hope to be able to release this version of the upgrade method or crxxx version as soon as possible.

According to current arcade hardware standards, I predict Tekken 8 hardware, CPU will be 6 or 8 cores, memory 16GB, graphics 3060ti or 2080 Super, the game will be based on 2K resolution, with a 4K resolution cap, but will not provide native material because of the 150GB+ capacity.

Personally, I'd hope Namco to come up with a remade Tekken 6 Br resolution of 1080P.

 

[Mrhide]

Well… looks like its a console and pc affair for now:

View: https://youtu.be/07FdDRbdurg


Stay tuned indeed!

 

[Franco23444]

Oh right, forgot to mention that the more recent ES3s I got have the different blower type GTX760 in them, the all black version. Looks like the Round 2 units more commonly have them. It also has a different BIOS.

 

[Franco23444]

Uploaded this video today captured from my 4.10 T7 unit. Tbh, the graphics look identical to the arcade dumps ( with the correct .ini configuration settings). So cool!

View: https://youtu.be/FinkR1RLJj4

 

[IZANAGI]

Oh right, forgot to mention that the more recent ES3s I got have the different blower type GTX760 in them, the all black version. Looks like the Round 2 units more commonly have them. It also has a different BIOS.

Hello Franco!

I have a Time Crisis 5 ES3 system with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 760. The GPU died and am looking for a replacement. Do you know if it is possible to replace the GPU with any GTX 760? I found many options on new egg.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=Nvidia+Gtx+760

Thank you!