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WTB CPSIII for Third Strike but Need Advice

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r27blades

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Hi All,

Thanks for reading. I am considering hurting my bank account and looking to buy a CPSIII for Third Strike. I will probably be the last big purchase I make.

I need some community input though. I have seen full kits selling for 1,000-1,500 but I have also seen some Dark Soft kits pop up. Some are for a single game, others have the 45 minute rewrite setup, and others have the jumpers. All of that seems intriguing but what I was most surprised about is a no CD mod? Eliminating the drive seems like something that will extend the life of the PCB but wasn’t sure if the overall experience.

Dark Soft does amazing work but does anyone have any guidance on SCSI2SD, ULTRA BIOS, and/or ULTRA SIMMs?
 
- ULTRA SIMMs are best options if you like to fast swap the games, with a simple change of dips you can boot into any game right away.
- If you want to play only 3rd strike then Darksoft noCD or original cart is a good option too
- SCSI2SD, more preferbely BlueSCSI are great options if you want to run a traditional CPS3 CD setup with option to load other games (load times upto 50 mins)
 
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From factory there are two styles of kits.
1. A set of SIMMs with the game written on them with a cartridge to run that game (NoCD version)
2. A set of SIMMs with a cartridge to run that game. With a CD Drive and CD to write the SIMMs.

With a full set of SIMMs and a motherboard, you can plug in a BlueSCSI or SCSI2SD to eliminate the need for a drive. Flashing the cartridge with regular UltraBIOS allows you to load the game. This takes about 45mins up to 1hr.

The other option is UltraSIMMs where you program all the games on the included chips and then flash your cart with the NoCD BIOS: that way there’s no loading, no need for CD and games just boot.
 
If you are just planning to play 3s, you don't need Ultra Simms. After the simms are written, the CD is only used for check at start up. The CD carts just give you the ability to rewrite the simms should anything happen.

I would look for a motherboard, grab whatever spare simms are needed (original or repro) and get a DS bios cart or send a dead one in to be reflashed.
 
I would be surprised is CD vs no CD has any impact on longevity of the board. The real issues seem to come from overvolting and components running hot (notably the PPU). I personally put heatsinks on all of the customs, and even on the RAM chips next to the PPU.

I would echo the sentiment around no CD version if you just want to play 3S. Ultra SIMMs are nice but not worth breaking the bank over unless you just have to get your Warzard fix in without having to wait for a reflash.

Good luck!
 
kazuo said:
I would be surprised is CD vs no CD has any impact on longevity of the board. The real issues seem to come from overvolting and components running hot (notably the PPU). I personally put heatsinks on all of the customs, and even on the RAM chips next to the PPU.

I would echo the sentiment around no CD version if you just want to play 3S. Ultra SIMMs are nice but not worth breaking the bank over unless you just have to get your Warzard fix in without having to wait for a reflash.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
I'm looking to put heatsinks on my CPS3 setup - any heatsinks that you can recommend for the various ICs on the mobo?
 
Appreciate you all for the replies and giving me a better understanding of the different modifications to CPS3!
 
tika said:
I'm looking to put heatsinks on my CPS3 setup - any heatsinks that you can recommend for the various ICs on the mobo?
Click to expand...

You can just measure it out and get whatever fits. I think 40x40x10 (or whatever height you can fit, depends if it's in a case or not) works for the PPU, 30x11x5 or so for the RAM.
 
A year ago I was in the same boat as you, only with a lot less knowledge and a lot more questions. A lot of people on this board helped me out and I ended up with exactly what I wanted.
TLDR: I really only wanted to play SF3 but I still picked the ULTRA SIMMs route. No regrets, if I were to start from scratch I'd build the same setup.

Some random tips/observations from my build
  • The ULTRA SIMMs are more expensive than other options, but I was able to find a CPS3 board with no SIMMs at a cheaper (than complete) price. This offset the cost of the ULTRA SIMMs a bit.
  • Generally when you buy something used (as opposed to new), the price is cheaper and when you buy a bundle (as opposed to parts) the price is cheaper. This didn't really seem to be the case with my build. I bought all of my parts new and/or from the original distributor (except for the board) and included a few things that aren't completely necessary to make it work (case, sticker, cart case) and my complete build price with all new parts, purchased individually, wasn't far off from what a similar (or not as nice) used rig sells for. My price list and setup are below, here's the link to the thread that helped me through the process.
  • Space, clutter and fewer moving parts were all factors to me which is why I wanted to avoid the CD version or the SCSI version.
CPS3 pricelist.png

complete build diagram.png
 
djsheep said:
The other option is UltraSIMMs where you program all the games on the included chips and then flash your cart with the NoCD BIOS: that way there’s no loading, no need for CD and games just boot.
Click to expand...
Darksoft Simms & the Reprocart + a CPS3 motherboard would be all I need to run it in a Blast City or NewAstro City?
Could the games then simply be changed with dips?

I've been thinking about it for a long time, but with so many options available, I've lost track and haven't bought anything yet.
 
VJP said:
Darksoft Simms & the Reprocart + a CPS3 motherboard would be all I need to run it in a Blast City or NewAstro City?
Could the games then simply be changed with dips?

I've been thinking about it for a long time, but with so many options available, I've lost track and haven't bought anything yet.
Click to expand...
That’s all you need. Benefit being a Third Strike fan and getting a repro cart is that it will come with a standard SH2 which will allow you to play Palmods like 4th Strike and re:THIRD.

If you don’t know what they are, there’s some good YouTube videos showing them off.

UltraSIMMs are great IMO. People are quick to write off the other games on the platform and act like 3rd Strike is the only thing worth playing. Pffft. The two JoJo games are amazing, Warzard is worth a play to see if you can handle the challenge, and there’s the other two SF3 titles which are each enjoyable in their own right.

Why not open the systems library up when you can honestly. There’s a lot of other multis people bang on about with *actual* horrible line ups bar the main one or two games, not on the CPS-3. Add the Palmods and you got a pretty slick setup changeable by DIPs with no need for a BlueSCSI or crazy load times.
 
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djsheep said:
That’s all you need. Benefit being a Third Strike fan and getting a repro cart is that it will come with a standard SH2 which will allow you to play Palmods like 4th Strike and re:THIRD.

If you don’t know what they are, there’s some good YouTube videos showing them off.

UltraSIMMs are great IMO. People are quick to write off the other games on the platform and act like 3rd Strike is the only thing worth playing. Pffft. The two JoJo games are amazing, Warzard is worth a play to see if you can handle the challenge, and there’s the other two SF3 titles which are each enjoyable in their own right.

Why not open the systems library up when you can honestly. There’s a lot of other multis people bang on about with *actual* horrible line ups bar the main one or two games, not on the CPS-3. Add the Palmods and you got a pretty slick setup changeable by DIPs with no need for a BlueSCSI or crazy load times.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll definitely want to play all the titles, otherwise I'll keep regretting it. So I need to get the UltraSIMMs.
I did put SF3 aside a while back because I liked Garou MotW better (and that's not likely to change), but a little variety and learning something new can't hurt.

The Palmods also look interesting, so thats a +.
 
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