Different model of 256?

[typanhk]

Hi everyone,
I just received the SYS2x6 USB Dongle, will test very soon.
I have few units of 256, they have different label, which said
S256(+LH) Assy, S256(+LC) Assy, and S256 Assy,
May I know the different between these models? Thanks!

 

[PascalP]

no idea honestly, are they all the same looking at them?
Or perhaps some have the internal link board with the extra PCB with LAN port and some not?

 

[Darksoft]

Pinging @defor and @brizzo. They may know more about it.

 

[defor]

The (+L*) lettering is related to the peinstalled option kits (USB LAN, EXCARD, etc.) as well as if the board is pre or post lead-free manufacturing. I have found no official documentation on it, but going over a few hundred auctions for 256's some years ago, I found that by and large these were the determining factors.

One thing to note however is that MOST Chassis were reused for multiple games, and as such, this configuration is USUALLY long lost through option upgrades.

Another small note is that you can also tell if a system is lead free by looking at the PCB inside the Card slots, IIRC in white, you will see text for "Pb-free".

 

[MoppelTheWhale]

is there a difference between the lead containing or the lead free version, is there a preferred version?

not looking atm, but down the line the system certainly looks tasty...

 

[defor]

Not really- Just depends how you feel about lead free solder - also there's a few motherboard revisions (you can tell if you look at the pcb's serial number tag inside the chassis on the right hand side - I don't have any photos at the moment) but no apparent major differences.

The only REAL differences that matter that I'm aware of are:

- System 256 Motherboard
- System 256 Motherboard (Asia Region)
- Super System 256 Motherboard

The Asia region motherboard simply has a different set of data in the onboard flash storage, and only a handful of games even look at it.
It's entirely designed to thwart the importing of Japanese Namco published games to the "Asia" region post-Taiko Drum Master Asia release, and vise-versa, to prevent these Asian releases from running on the JPN region systems. I've created patches for the Taiko games in question that check this setting, but otherwise it's 100% identical to the normal 256 motherboard, and likely you won't run across one anyway!

The Super motherboard is simply a higher clocked (and I think more buffer RAM) motherboard, without the mode select jumper soldered in, and a new system bios. It's entire purpose is to support Time Crisis 4, although some other games work fine on it (albeit with speedup in some cases)
Also, don't attempt to switch it to 246+ mode- the PCB really does NOT like this (presumably due to the lack of the relevant BIOS bits necessary.
The Super motherboard is only NORMALLY available in a more compact chassis that can only house a HDD, with a 90° angle adapter for the expansion card, which SHOULD be always populated with a dedicated audio card (used for driving a separate .1 channel subwoofer in TC4, although the card is unnecessary).
All the parts can and do fit fine into a full-size chassis, but the system itself is a bit of a novelty.
Word is that bootleggers HAVE patched the game to work on normal 256 motherboards, but I've found nothing other than vague claims to this extent, and at present this pcb is the only known way to get TC4 up and running, but there's no major shortage of them, just a high price tag usually. This coupled with the incompatibilities with normal 256 games makes it probably LESS interesting to people looking to setup at home.