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6/25/2025, 1:30:04 AM
>>11823058
>Are there any pitfalls you know of in terms of hardware?
Beware of some scammy Chinese sites and sellers. You don't know the condition of the hardware they sell. They could be selling worn out units that ran for years non-stop, and they repackage them as "new or refurbished" and use fake shrink wrap to make you think it's still factory sealed. So you buy it, but some random chip on the board fails a few months later. And now you are screwed and have to repair it yourself
Other times when they do repairs some of them use the absolute most cheapest bottom of the barrel hardware on the market. Like the cheapest caps that won't last long and other sketchy repairs. It's not ALL Chinese sellers, but enough of them do it that it makes me wary and avoid them all entirely.
If you buy from someone, get recommendations from within the community and make sure other people have given good reviews.
If you want to save some cash, try a consolized board first. These are Neo Geo boards that were originally in arcade cabinets and converted into home consoles by modders.
>I'm planning to buy a recapped unit (or just do it myself),
If you want to learn how to recap then don't practice on a working unit. Buy a broken arcade board on ebay and practice with that. Never do it on working hardware.
Alternatively you could practice on older non-functional electronics like broken Sega game gears or broken Sega 32x units, etc. Sega was notorious for using very cheap caps that fail after 10 to 15 years.
>Are there any pitfalls you know of in terms of hardware?
Beware of some scammy Chinese sites and sellers. You don't know the condition of the hardware they sell. They could be selling worn out units that ran for years non-stop, and they repackage them as "new or refurbished" and use fake shrink wrap to make you think it's still factory sealed. So you buy it, but some random chip on the board fails a few months later. And now you are screwed and have to repair it yourself
Other times when they do repairs some of them use the absolute most cheapest bottom of the barrel hardware on the market. Like the cheapest caps that won't last long and other sketchy repairs. It's not ALL Chinese sellers, but enough of them do it that it makes me wary and avoid them all entirely.
If you buy from someone, get recommendations from within the community and make sure other people have given good reviews.
If you want to save some cash, try a consolized board first. These are Neo Geo boards that were originally in arcade cabinets and converted into home consoles by modders.
>I'm planning to buy a recapped unit (or just do it myself),
If you want to learn how to recap then don't practice on a working unit. Buy a broken arcade board on ebay and practice with that. Never do it on working hardware.
Alternatively you could practice on older non-functional electronics like broken Sega game gears or broken Sega 32x units, etc. Sega was notorious for using very cheap caps that fail after 10 to 15 years.
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