Cracking open the Nintendo GameCube

GameCube front

The four controller ports and two memory card slots are located on the GameCube's front panel.

Top

The top of the GameCube contains the optical drive cover, cover release, reset, and power buttons.

Left side

The GameCube's air exhaust is located on the unit's left side.

Back

The GameCube's carrying handle is a prominent fixture on the unit's back side.

Right

The GameCube's air intake is located on the unit's right side.

Game disc lid open

DC power connector and AV outs

The GameCube has one analog audio/video output and one "Digital" video output--this output was removed in later versions of the GameCube.

Bottom

Bottom port covers removed

The GameCube has a highspeed data port and serial port.

Gamecube, power adapter, AV cable, and controller

GameCube Controller

The GameCube controller has two analog sticks, a D-pad and eight buttons.

GameCube Controller back

Two trigger buttons and a shoulder button are located on the front of the controller.

Top cover, front panel, back panel, and chassis

Disassembling the GameCube begins by removing the four tamper resistant screws that hold on the top cover.

These screws use a 6-point, external star head. You can buy specialty screwdrivers and bits online, but I didn't have that much time. I used a drill. this damaged the four cover posts on the GameCube's chassis, but it doesn't really matter. I don't plan on moving this GameCube around much and with the top cover in place, the unit works fine.

With the four screws removed, you can lift off the top cover and the snap off the back and front panels.

Front panel

The front panel snaps to the chassis. It contains the four controller ports and slot for the two memory card ports.

Chassis with optical drive still attached

The GameCube's optical drive sits atop the chassis.

Cooling fan

Before removing the optical drive, I had to removed the GameCube's fan assembly.

Optical drive

With the fan removed, you can access and unscrew the remaining Phillips screws that hold the optical drive to the chassis.

Gamecube motherboard and heatsink - Top

With the optical drive gone, we get our first look at the motherboard. The large heatsink covers most of the GameCubes chips.

Gamecube motherboard and heatsink - Front

Heatsink screws

Six Phillips screws hold the heatsink to the motherboard.

Heatsink without screws

With the screws removed, I can gently remove the heatsink and expose the CPU, GPU and the GameCube's two 1T-SRAM memory chips.

Motherboard without heatsink

After removing the heatsink, we can see the CPU, GPU, and two 1T-SRAM memory chips.

IBM Power PC "Gekko" CPU

ATI "Flipper" GPU

Two MoSys 1T-SRAM memory chips (24MB total memory)

16MB DRAM chip and audio/video outputs

GameCube heatshink - Top

GameCube heatshink - Bottom

Chassis with metal base plate

The metal base plate is secured with two Phillips screws.

Second PCB

With the metal base plate removed, we can see the GameCube second PCB.

Second PCB close-up