u/rapscal

I opened my SS1 to install a 40mm Noctua fan (45mm hole layout but I made it work.. odd size??).

I found one loose silver mb screw bouncing around, and one of the heat sink fasteners had come loose, causing the heat sink to tilt up at a 30ish degree angle.

Easy fixes, but I wanted to drop this as a heads up for anyone who hasn't opened their SS1. It's worth checking to see if anything came loose in shipping or was overlooked during manufacturing.

On a positive note, the board layout is beautiful and I've had zero performance issues. I have an OG PS1 but the SS1 has become my preferred way to play. Totally converted me.

I received my SuperStationᵒⁿᵉ yesterday and wanted to share my experience as someone who's never touched FPGA until now. I had a few misconceptions coming in.

My TLDR comparing the SS1 to my original 7501 PS1:
The experience is not quite identical to the OG hardware. It feels like a PS1 with upgraded internals, producing fewer graphical slowdowns and loading hitches. I wanted to start with this because, based on the hype surrounding FPGA, I was expecting more of a 1-1 performance experience (for better or worse). I could see some folks missing those nostalgic 10fps moments.

The two games I've tested in depth so far (CHDs, I didn't opt for the disc drive yet):

Silent Hill 1: so crisp. I love it. This is one of my all time favorites and it runs so clean on the SS1. No hitches when monsters/audio load in compared to OG hardware. The game looks incredible upscaled on my 4K TV. I haven't bothered with CRT filters, as I don't mind the pixelation, and the SS1 keeps those foggy pixels and dithering crisp without smoothing.

Destruction Derby 2: same performance benefits, but I have mixed feelings on this one. I actually miss the slowdown when 20 NPC cars crush me in arena mode. I had time to assess my next move as I flew through the air with a dozen cars at bullet-time speeds. With the SS1, the lag is gone entirely. It looks amazing, but it's a totally different experience.

I don't plan to delve much deeper into comparisons, but I've decided I like my SS1. I've mostly seen the contrasting "FPGA is just emulation" and "FPGA is identical to OG hardware" takes. In my experience, the SS1 can be better than software emulation or OG hardware for different reasons, but there's still a solid case for keeping an OG PS1 around for that authentic jank flavor.

(edit: spelling)