Atari system 2 question

Reddogg

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I'm curious as to why people say all of the Atari system 2 boards are interchangeable when the 720 video board does NOT look like any of the other system 2 video boards. There are literally different chips in different places, and the board layout of 720 is different. If you were to purchase a system 2 video board, other than 720, how could you use it in a 720 if you're missing chips and the layout is different?

Sorry if that's a "noob" question.

Thanks.
 
Do you have pictures so we can see what you are referring to? Eproms may be in different locations from other games, but I don't see any other differences.
 
Do you have pictures so we can see what you are referring to? Eproms may be in different locations from other games, but I don't see any other differences.

Here's some pics. I finally found a pic of APB's video board (in a post of a restoration, have to scroll down a bit to find it), and it is the same as 720. So, I was wrong about that. But 720 and APB definitely have different video boards than Championship Sprint, Paperboy, and Super Sprint, which all appear to be the same.

http://www.crazykong.com/pcbs/A - F/ChampionshipSprint.pcb.html
http://www.crazykong.com/pcbs/P - S/Paperboy.pcb.html
http://www.crazykong.com/pcbs/P - S/SuperSprint.pcb.html
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=96915.0
http://www.crazykong.com/pcbs/A - F/720.pcb.html
 
The only difference I see is the aspect ratio...

720
attachment.php


APB
attachment.php
 

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Looks like the answer to my question is that only the System 2 CPU boards are interchangeable, and not all of the video boards.

Unfortunately, most people communicate ineffectively, so many have stated that Atari System 2 boards are 100% interchangeable without specifying that they were only speaking about the CPU boards.

Maybe this small thread well help others in the future.
 
I know I've swapped championship sprint and paperboy boards successfully. I'm pretty sure I swapped both CPU and video boards but have never messed with trying apb or 720.
 
All system 2 are interchangeable, you can use any set with any game...

CPU are the same but exist slapstick protection game (position 4M), you must use the correct slapstick for use the pcb:

http://aarongiles.com/slapstic.html

VIDEO pcb, there are 2 version: super sprint, championship sprint, paperboy use the pcb on the left, other game 720 and apb (need more eprom for work) use pcb on the on the right:

lvdX5.jpg


in pcb video not exist protection chip, is required only use the correct eprom for the game that you want put in the pcb, also is possible use the different pcb video of 720/apb games with other games system2 atari (super sprint for example...)
 
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