Atari VCS Teardown 32GB RAM Upgrade & M.2 SSD Install

[@Madlittlepixel]

Items used: Samsung USB Drive For Windows 10: amzn.to/3sulxmO M.2 SATA SSD: amzn.to/3igPJ02 32gb DDR4 SO-DIMM Ram: amzn.to/35KPFk2 Wireless Media Keyboard With Touch Pad: amzn.to/3iilMg2 8Bitdo Arcade Stick: amzn.to/2XNDmPE Novus Plastic Polish & Cleaning kit: amzn.to/39xAqw6 Torx screwdriver - need T10: amzn.to/3qi9oQa Buy Atari VCS on ebay: ebay.to/38OwtnK Install Windows 10 information: Atari guide: bit.ly/39yX8UM WinToUSB guide: bit.ly/2LZgaLy Download Windows 10 ISO: bit.ly/3sxbfCH Recommended Amazon Products: amzn.to/2yUs8MX Shop Play-Asia: bit.ly/2m4xq5c Shop Castle Mania Games: bit.ly/2MsQuFG Shop Stone Age Gamer: bit.ly/33dGaY6 As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases from links posted in my description & comments section.

[@MisterKaroi]

I wonder how XBOX Game Pass runs on this thing. Something fun to test @madlittlepixel?

[@martinaurik2189]

Nice one,does “Steam” also work on this?

[@Madlittlepixel]

@@martinaurik2189 yep

[@martinaurik2189]

@@Madlittlepixel Nice 😃

[@VmanTheBarbarian]

Hey, thank you for the review! Deciding to buy or not to buy - by chance are you able to test Doom 2016 or Doom Eternal gameplay now that you've updated ram? All I would want this little baby to do, is Doom 2016 at 25 or more FPS at 1080, do you think it would be able to do low spec 1080 Doom 2016 at 25 or more FPS? ( or Doom Eternal, or Fallout 4 ) Nobody seems to have tested the 1080 performance of this machine for Windows games and that's essentially the money making decision there

[@almostliterally593]

Cant wait to get a 32GB ram upgrade for my VCS too. VCS crew! I think this thing is a really cool and very charming little PC. I love seeing that Atari logo on the PCB. It’s a beautifully designed system. Elegant AF. Just knowing the current incarnation atari has a real system makes me happy. Overkill ram is the point of it! Having more than you need is the perfect amount. I want to see what the full capabilities of this machine are, with the 32GB ram inside..

[@sohatyi]

Novus is amazing for polishing up scratched motorcycle helmet visors too.

[@Deltax5]

For the form factor it's pretty good for the living room. Some people don't want a big thing in the living room. Put retroarch and some steam games and your all set. I bet it can do alot of retro systems with those specs. maybe some accuracy nes or even snes, (maybe).

[@Richie016]

interesting video, on taking a detailed look at the components installed on Atari's new console.

[@jonespcnrepair]

I use the keyboard for my HTPC in the living room, its great.

[@quigon6349]

I have a few for various systems I do not type on alot

[@omegaxi]

The K400 will slowly become one of your handiest and most used keyboards. It's amazingly handy for it's price, I've got like 3 of them lol

[@jonespcnrepair]

Agreed, and it might feel cheap but it's durable i have sat on it and stepped on it, and its still kicking after many years.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

The Atari VCS has only been out there for 2 seconds and people are already figuring out how to hack it. NICE

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

Atari said from the get go that the system will be user customization capable.

[@SuperNicktendo]

Looks like you got an older KS400 - I picked mine up from Target and it has a lot more media features. Glad you mentioned the initial price - $200 with 8gigs of ram (it originally had 4) - it can do a lot with just 8 gigs of ram.

[@trooper427ss]

I use the keyboard in my patrol unit and it has held up great.

[@deathstrike]

There should be a black screw near the rear of the M.2 module insert. You remove that, put your M.2 in, then put the screw back. The screw head should push down on the M.2 "half moon" and keep it in place. That's how it worked on my WD Black 500GB I installed.

[@ExtraZero]

Think you could do a tutorial on scratch removal? I’d love to see the proper way to use Novus

[@justinthomas2458]

If you've ever waxed a car you already know how. Novus is good stuff, I use it on all my pinball machines

[@rDanny]

Cool information, I want one.

[@TheHobbsTV]

Appreciate your videos buddy!

[@Madlittlepixel]

Thanks man!

[@Stevel_]

Can you do a video in great detail on how to install Windows 10 to an internal M.2 SSD. That's the fastest place to run it from and many of us are getting hit with "installation cancelled" error when trying to install to the M.2 from a win 10 boot USB. Thanks!

[@sadeness]

Good video man i was wondering if we could change the ram in this

[@koztech]

Maybe I'm seeing things, but it seemed like the fan wasn't plugged in. Maybe the connector is at an angle and it just looks like it? 4:12 and 4:37 show this the best... Just making sure it doesn't overheat and fail. For as long as you waited to get this, that would suck! Otherwise, thanks for looking at upgrade options. Should help those who got one or end up getting one and want to test its limits.

[@Madlittlepixel]

Fan was never unplugged. The fan is pretty loud while running games on Windows, I can still hear it lol. Thinks it's all good, but I'll double check it later.

[@balliswild]

Great video! Thank you for doing this. On my VCS, the fan is very loud. Does the fan on yours loudly turn on a lot when using Windows and playing games on it? I was wondering if the fan could be replaced with a nicer, quieter one.

[@garrettkazuma207]

try changing the thermal paste? maybe kryonaut or conductonaut

[@Josh-ce9sv]

Atari has mentioned that the set the fan programming on the aggressive side for now to start and may back it down in a future update.

[@vogonp4287]

I know this is late, but Linux seems to be way quieter.

[@user-pf3gf3mp3f]

Nice Vid. i use it today for upgrading my VCS :)

[@ronm6585]

Thank you. 👍

[@snakeeagle6930]

Dope setup

[@CrashnetCooper]

Lot of screen tearing from 12.46 onwards.. in game or camera issue?

[@inwedavid6919]

It could be nice to have geekbench 4 and 5 CPU and compute 3D results for this device. it give an rough idea of whay it is worth as PC.

[@Madlittlepixel]

Ive never used geekbench before, so i apologize if this is not what you were asking for, but here is the page with results i got browser.geekbench.com/v5/compute/2253969

[@inwedavid6919]

@@Madlittlepixel No worries, it is easy to use, an Intel 520 on a basic I5 dual core I5-3600U (Lenovo base laptop) gives you 3536. It is a but better than it, not really exciting and basicaly it is quite the same as some RYZEN vega integrated GPU. I found 4500 for a AMD Ryzen 5 3500X 3600 MHz (6 cores). It makes it a bit in the botom of computer to use windows 10 sadly, at least it can. They should just add a ryzen 5 series on it to make it powerfull.

[@virtualdavey1527]

Can you use that internal SSD for Windows and Atari VCS games at the same time?

[@leoBrodhead]

Yes! I did. I did partition it and I thought I could use half of it for windows 10 and the other half for the Atari operating system but I Atari doesn’t see it but in windows 10 I can see the windows main drive and then the other partition

[@stefhannington2218]

Defiantly would put emulation Station onto it, put some Roms of games I own onto it and it would be awesome. 😉

[@cyclonus8135]

Cool video man can you try launch box on it?

[@joshuamcdonell5490]

Atari vs. Microsoft: who has the better emulation machine? Think this would make a great next video for you.

[@AguFungus]

I’m curious how well the Surface Pro 7 will do.

[@joshuamcdonell5490]

@@ReptilianRichardRamirez Ahh, but compute power doesn't matter when it comes to emulation. Storage space and ease of use matter more to the average Joe/ Jane. The Atari IS a computer, even if it's a joke. The Series S/X isn't and needs a computer to download from.

[@joshuamcdonell5490]

Madlittlepixel, you going to weigh in on this?

[@joshuamcdonell5490]

@@ReptilianRichardRamirez It doesn't seem like they are making them anymore anyway. EBay prices are going up. Storage and ease of use are still issues with the Series S/X however.

[@HeadlockedGaming]

There's some ultra high quality Mortal Kombat mugen games that run on Windows I really wonder how they'd perform on this. Like MK: Defender's of the Earth takes a shocking bit of power for a Mugen game.

[@VOAN]

It's nice that it works and can play Ultra Street Fighter IV at full speed but the screen tearings at 12:28 just isn't for me.

[@Madlittlepixel]

Screen tearing is a Ultra SF IV issue they never fixed on PC. I looked up the issue and it's widely reported, happens on my main PC as well that's way over spec'd for the game. I've never found a way to eliminate it, but the previous version of SFIV runs fine.

[@carlosnettoportugal]

When installing the SSD m2, is it necessary to install a spacer between it and the motherboard to avoid overheating? or even a heatsink on the SSD? Thanks

[@georgebrown3789]

So if you could hook an external gpu to this would that make it even better also why not socket the cpu so you can upgrade that as well

[@terryjenkins615]

Hi. If I had a M2 drive internally can I install windows on that and use that?

[@Madlittlepixel]

Yes you can. You would then need to change boot priority to the ssd, and back to the internal memory to boot into the Atari OS if you wanted use that. Using a Windows Boot USB makes it to where you can simply remove the USB drive to go back into Atari OS on power on if you wanted without having to change the bootable drive is why I chose to do it this way.

[@ramsesribb2997]

@@Madlittlepixel where is that documented? Atari has stated that you must use an external drive to boot into PC Mode. Can you demonstrate this?

[@Madlittlepixel]

@RamsesRibb Im not sure where they stated you HAVE to use an external drive because you simply do not, its just recommended to make it easier to select which OS to use to have it externally loaded. It is just a Ryzen PC, so of course you can boot the OS from internally via the M.2 drive. Atari themselves even mention doing so and what the pros and cons are via the link I provided in the description. support.atari.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/580/153/using-your-vcs-in-pc-mode-installing-an-operating-system There is not much reason to demonstrate this in an entire new video as it is exactly like booting from USB, just the OS would be on the M.2 drive, this just makes it where you would have to change boot priority to get back into Atari OS, versus using USB and simply just removing the drive puts it back into Atari OS.

[@ramsesribb2997]

@@Madlittlepixel I never read the documentation you linked. I saw something a few months ago where Atari said it was required to boot from external. I’m guessing it depends on their bios. I also saw a video where someone was unable to unlock the bios or reset the password. This is a feature I would really appreciate so I hope it works like you say.

[@winstonsmith478]

What wallpaper is that?

[@RichRetr0]

Crazy that you have to tear it down that much to ge to the RAM

[@ike-2357]

wonder what kinda performance you can get outta this, especially with that 32gb ram upgrade. Hmmm....

[@marcelosoares7148]

The same you get with only 8gb, the motherboard limits the RAM Frequency to 2400mhz so no matter what RAM you put, it will operate at 2400mhz

[@Josh-ce9sv]

@@marcelosoares7148 Ummm... more RAM will absolutely perform better, especially with running Windows or demanding apps.

[@marcelosoares7148]

@@Josh-ce9sv Yep, you will be able to run more apps on the background but the performance of the APU on games will not change that much

[@timmyburden5701]

The problem is the CPU is only 2 cores and its got a built in graphics card. This will never be a power house pc. Even with a fast hard drive and more ram.

[@marcelosoares7148]

@@timmyburden5701 Yeah, basically it's a Notebook APU inside a Mini PC shell.

[@TheDerpyDolphin]

Does this still work in 2024? I saw some comments in other places that firmware updates from Atari have messed with the BIOS a bit

[@ricardoramirezvelez841]

Great Video!!!, Do you happen to know how well it runs Killer Instinct 1 & 2 with MAME?

[@Kall_Mii_Kemo]

Can it run current gen games comfortably? PS5?XBSX?

[@maxmustermann9304]

It's Atari for you a good product?

[@Hammersmith4602]

so i added a SSD to my VCS and installed windows 10 how do i boot into my SSD with windows on it tho?

[@nobuyukinyuu]

A year or so ago i got a vivobook (Asus laptop) for around $300 that had specs very similar to this machine and thought it was a fantastic deal. If you look at it like a computer it doesn't seem too expensive, but for a console, we're kinda judging it by the big boy standards and that's rough. Maybe they can get it back to $200 in volume with a deal with Walmart or something, but they're in a bit of a catch-22 situation while they recover r&d and tooling costs. As an indie developer, i do like the idea of the store, but it looks like the games being featured are not the type of games you'd pay "console" prices for, or even PC prices for indies. Again, they're going to have to really find some good software partners to work with that can give this thing some brand appeal beyond boomers.

[@mr1000Cent]

I'm thinking about getting an Atari VCS and performing the upgrades to it, but I'm on the fence, if I own an at least, 5 year old MSI laptop with a nVidia 960m graphics card, and 16 GB of ram, is it better to just make the upgrades to the laptop, or will PC games (and to an extent emulated retro games) run better on the Atari VCS? Grew up with Atari, would be fun to own a VCS, but I feel like a chump if I'm spending close to $800 just to play Fire Pro Wrestling or an already scaled down, previous gen version of NBA 2K21 (besides owning over 400 other games I don't play on a Steam library. I'm not expecting the VCS to run Cyberpunk 2077), when I could just save the money and buy a new gaming laptop in the next couple of years.

[@Madlittlepixel]

Im unsure of the laptop you have but yeah the 960m is quite old and cannot handle much in the way of newer stuff. Considering the VCS, it has to be known you can buy a comparable mini pc for less, or a more powerful pc for the same. The VCS is underwhelming when it comes to the Atari OS and what they offer with that. So essentially its most usefulness will be as a windows pc, at that point does it matter that it has the Atari name and logo? If that means something to you then screw it, but then keep in mind the only worthwhile upgrades you can do are harddrive and ram, and the ram only takes ya so far. Nothing else can be upgraded, so you will have a lowend mini pc that will benefit in a very minor way to any upgrades you can do. Emulating retro games should not be an issue with either machines.

[@jessejones1783]

Hi where did you get that Logitech keyboard from please

[@reinhartbrett]

Did you install Windows 10 internally and wiped off the Atari OS?

[@Madlittlepixel]

No, wintoUSB portable windows. Installed on a usb drive and if attached it will boot into Win 10 if not attached boots to Atari OS

[@danielesala9970]

you think of it as you want for me atari to did talk about himself in his little 2021......Atari for ever !

[@Madlittlepixel]

Huh? If ya post a comment here even if it's in disagreement with something I said, at least make sure it makes sense. Unless this is a different language that is kind of like English but isn't, I have no frikkin clue what you just said.

[@danielesala9970]

i don't speak english sorry@@Madlittlepixel

[@danielesala9970]

i'm using google translator

[@jasonwho9992]

How did you get windows 10 to install on a internal SSD m.2 drive. Please help

[@Trusteft]

I never understood the flexing complain for keyboards. I use computer keyboards since the early 80s, it was never an issue. I first saw it as a complain several years ago from Linus and it didn't make much sense then, it still doesn't make any sense. Who flexes their keyboards in real life? Otherwise, great video, thank you for sharing.

[@JohnyTheWizKid]

What if I install 2 terra bytes? Will that be too much for it to handle?

[@kevinvanneste2500]

Great video

[@Bo_Knows_Tecmo]

This device is gonna be a beast

[@RetroGamerBB]

250gigabits isn't the same as 250 gigabytes. Just saying. It's why blank DVDs are listed as 4.7gb when you really only get 4.34gb to play with. But why? Marketing.

[@havicap5489]

It almost sounds like this console could be a good desktop pc.

[@timmyburden5701]

@Talion Ranger This isn't cheap. Someone could easily buy a laptop for the same money.

[@bryanobrien2726]

@Talion Ranger For the cost of the Atari + Win 10 + keyboard + mouse , you could easily get a better PC fully equipped from Best Buy . Best Buy also offer financing . Real PCs are also going to be more upgradeable , not just RAM and M.2 .

[@bryanobrien2726]

@Talion Ranger It's not cheap when you consider that the VCS comes with almost nothing , not even a HDD just 32GB flash .

[@bryanobrien2726]

​@Talion Ranger Nobody told you to buy anything . Keep using your phone or a VCS or whatever you use , I don't care . I'm just saying that there are better deals than the VCS if a person needs a PC . You brought up the money issue as if it was a bonus to the VCS when it's not .

[@gregbryen7090]

What screw size for ssd?

[@nobuyukinyuu]

M.2 drives use an m.2 screw , aka "cm2x3-3.3". Many hardware stores sell metric screws but if you want the standoff so the drive lies parallel to the socket, an m.2 screw kit would be your best bet

[@talesofsmalltrails]

32 gigs of ram kind of seems like overkill for this soc. Don't think you'll ever take advantage of it.

[@Madlittlepixel]

That's why I said it was overkill in the video lol, 16gb max is all you'd possibly get use out of unless you are setting up virtual machines.

[@talesofsmalltrails]

@@Madlittlepixel my bad, still a great video! Thanks for posting.

[@misterwin2393]

I was already getting one to move all my emulated games off of my main computer-and for the record, the Onyx system by itself is only 50-100 dollars more, but it comes without the controllers, which are about 60 dollars each. But guess what? I'm not GETTING the Official Atari Controllers! Nope, I'm pretty sure my PS4 controller will work perfectly before I even install Windows, so I'm just gonna roll with that, the exact same keyboard you have in this video and a trackball mouse because my wrist is and always has been garbage for gaming. Remember when you used to flip the mouse over and work the wheel with your thumb? Pepperidge Farm remembers, and so do my high scores in Black Squad! What I want to know is, how does it do with AAA games after you fully upgrade the RAM? I'm talking about the likes of Call of Duty: Warzone, Grand Theft Auto 5 and such, the games that would usually just tax your graphics card but give an underpowered APU fits. Can I use a fully upgraded VCS 800 for modern AAA gaming, or will it give THIS fits? I say this because I've been meaning to upgrade my decent-but-dated gaming rig, and if I can just replace it with this I may have some parts for sale...

[@misterwin2393]

That keyboard is the best you can get for the money, by the way. I use it on all my computers, I had to buy another usb plugin(the word dongle is gross, you might as well call it a Moist) because I was carrying it around from room to room! It's a full-size remote for your computer, and the keys are better than my laptop in my opinion. The lightness does throw you off, but it's tough enough to handle a lot of actual abuse and the batteries have yet to falter, even though I've had it about a YEAR now and I sometimes leave it on for days without use! The touchpad is a little small and a little too sensitive, but it works and the left-thumb mouse button is a stroke of genius for quick navigation, although a right trigger would have been better... That's all I got, I'm not a reviewer!

[@littergamer]

Atari is God of emulator

[@asm_canucks]

i wish i could get one for 200!!!

[@topherd1011]

If this is essentially a PC, what is the advantage of the Atari system seeing as how the cooling will be rather poor in comparison to a mini itx pc??

[@xenoblade6965]

Poor red straw it tried its best but it flew away .

[@Madlittlepixel]

😂

[@jakesmith5278]

Can it even emulates PS2 games?

[@ZaberfangX]

There so much hate around the system why is not cheaper then a xbox or ps5, I can understand if you pay for it didn't get it yet. Making a new console like pc is not cheap this days from the ground up, and selling it at cost with some profit then other system out that lose money each time they sell one.

[@scottythompson940]

Cool video tech talk lol yes ok yep oh

[@splugereport]

Dude get to bed ;)

[@EM-ks5my]

Too overpriced for 43 GB/s bandwidth. Note a laptop with a 1650 makes 128 GB/s on par with a PS4.

[@hex1915]

I préfère my 30 dollars laptop with his removed screen, More powerfull, and the lights are greats 😂😅

[@unrealdevon]

But why?

[@lancepelissier5510]

Windows 10 forget it; Windows 10 is one of the reasons why I gone MAC. Download something like Puppy Arcade Linux to make an mame box out of them. This is do hackintasks being in-legal.

[@rd400d]

400 is a rip off.

[@timmyburden5701]

@Talion Ranger Dude look up laptops on Amazon. You can easily find a good laptop for that amount of money. That comes with a screen a keyboard and is more powerful.

[@timmyburden5701]

@Talion Ranger It is not a console. Its a computer. That's why it can run windows 10. A console would be a closed system. You can't run windows 10 on a Xbox, PS or Nintendo switch. I am no pc elite. I own a very middle of the road desktop.