Sega Dimensions
As competition against Nintendo inte
nsified, the dimensions of Sega gaming consoles changed. Below are the technical specs for Sega’s Dreamcast and Genesis gaming consoles.
Size of Sega Dreamcast
The Dreamcast measured 7 7/16" X 7 11/16" X 3" or 190 x 195 x 78 mm (W X H X D). The gaming console possessed a 200 MHz SH-4 processor. The graphics engine was 128-bit vector and the chipset was the PowerVR2 CLX2.
This technology permitted the console to render 7.0 million polygons every second. Among its other features were anti-aliasing, trilinear filtering, z-buffering and per-pixel translucency sorting. The Dreamcast also had gouraud shading and bump mapping capabilities.
The Dreamcast could display up to 16.7 million colors (24 bit). The Dreamcast had a Yamaha AICA sound processor and 16 MB 64 bit at 100 MHz of main RAM. The video memory specs were 8 MB 4×16-bit 100 MHz. The console also had support for VQ texture compression.
Size of Sega Genesis
The Genesis had a Motorola 68000 CPU running at 7.61 MHz. It also had another processor, the Z80 (4 MHz). The graphics were capable of displaying 64 colors using a 32 bit color palette. The screen resolution was 320 x 224 pixels. The system also had 64 kb of video memory and 64 x 9-bits of CRAM.
The graphics’ video display processor had 3 planes, 1 sprite plane and a couple of scrolling playfields. The sound specifications included the FM chip (Yamaha YM 2612) and had 6-channel stereos. The signal was 14dB. The model number was MK-1601.
Size of Sega Mega CD
The Mega CD measured 301 mm x 212.5 mm x 112.5 mm (W x H x D). The CPU for the Mega CD was the Motorola 68000 working at 12.5MHz. The memory included the 6Mbit for the program, sound and images. Other memory compounds were the 512Kbit (PCM), the 128Kbit (for the CD ROM data cache), the 64Kbit (backup memory) and the 1Mbit (the Boot ROM).
The Mega CD’s sound had eight channels, with a sampling wavelength of 32MHz. The D/A convertor specs included an 8x Internal over-sampling digital filter, PCM and CD sound mixing and 16 bit D/A.
Size of Sega 32x
The processors were the dual Hitachi SH-2 RISC running at 23 MHz. Additional processors included the Genesis 32X VDP and the Genesis 68000. The graphics display was good for up to 32,768 colors with 50,000 texture-mapped polygons. Texture mapping was also utilized on the device.
The PCM chip was used for the sound and there was audio mixing. The 32x had 8 channels. The device used a cartridge so compatibility with Genesis games was assured.
The 32x came out in 1994 but the lack of available games limited sales. Although the console featured high end graphics, few titles emerged. Part of the problem was the mergence of the Sony Playstation.
Although the size of Sega gaming consoles were comparable to other systems the company could not keep up with Nintendo or Sony. Today Sega is concentrating on making software.
