This page details the hardware specifications of the Sega Saturn video game console.
Technical Specifications[]
Processors[]
- Main CPU: 2x Hitachi SH-2 @ 28.63636 MHz
- Configuration: Master/Slave
- 2x CPU cores: 32‑bit RISC instructions/registers, 74.454536 MIPS (37.227268 MIPS each, 1.3 MIPS per MHz), up to 4 instructions/cycle (2 instructions/cycle per SH-2)
- 2x DMA units: 2x DMAC (Direct Memory Access Controller), parallel processing
- 4x internal fixed‑point math processors: 2x MULT multiplier DSP, 2x DIVU division units, parallel processing
- 2x MULT multiplier DSP: 57.27272 MOPS fixed-point math (28.63636 MOPS per SH-2)
- 2x DIVU division units: 16/32/64-bit division, 1,468,531 divides/sec
- Bus width: 64‑bit (2× 32‑bit) internal, 32‑bit external
- Word length: 32-bit
- System coprocesor: Custom Saturn Control Unit (SCU), with DSP for geometry processing and DMA controller for system control
- System control processor: 32‑bit fixed‑point registers/instructions, interrupt controller, DMA controller, 3 DMA channels
- Math coprocessor: Geometry DSP @ 14.31818 MHz, 32‑bit fixed‑point instructions, 6 parallel instructions per cycle, 85.90908 MIPS (6 MIPS per MHz)
- CD‑ROM CPU: Hitachi SH-1 32‑bit RISC processor @ 20 MHz (20 MIPS) (controlling the CD‑ROM)
- Contains internal DAC and internal math processor
- Bus width: 32‑bit internal, 16‑bit external
- Microcontroller: Hitachi HD404920 (4‑bit MCU) "System Manager & Peripheral Control" (SMPC) @ 4 MHz
- RTC: 1 MHz (real‑time clock)
- Instruction set: 4‑bit instructions, 890 ns per instruction, 1.123595 MIPS
- Bus width: 10‑bit internal, 8‑bit external
- Optional MPEG Video CD Card:
- MPEG Video decoder: Sega P/N 315-5765 (Hitachi HD814101FE)
- MPEG Audio decoder: Hitachi HD814102F
- Sound processor: Yamaha SCSP (Saturn Custom Sound Processor) YMF292
- Sound DSP: Yamaha FH1 DSP (Digital Signal Processor) @ 22.58 MHz (24‑bit, 128‑step, 4 parallel instructions)
- Bus width: 24‑bit internal, 16‑bit external
- Sound CPU: Motorola 68EC000 (16/32‑bit CISC) sound processor @ 11.29 MHz (1.97575 MIPS)
- Bus width: 16‑bit internal, 16‑bit external
Video Processors:
- Sega/Hitachi VDP1 @ 28.63636 MHz: Handles sprite/texture and polygon drawing
- Bus width: 48‑bit (3x 16‑bit)
- Word length: 16-bit
- Sega/Yamaha VDP2 @ 28.63636 MHz: Backgrounds, scrolling, handles background, scroll and 3D rotation planes
- Bus width: 32‑bit
- Word length: 32-bit
- Sony CXA1645M RGB‑Composite Video Encoder
Graphics[]
- Graphics pipeline:
- 3 DSP geometry processors: 2× SH-2 DSP, SCU DSP
- 2 VDP rendering processors: VDP1 for sprites/textures/polygons, VDP2 for planes/backgrounds/textures
- Video clock rate: 28.63636 MHz MHz (NTSC), 28.4375 MHz (PAL)
- NTSC dot clock: 7.15909 MHz (lo-res), 14.31818 MHz (hi-res)
- PAL dot clock: 7.109375 MHz (lo-res), 14.21875 MHz (hi-res)
- Display resolutions: 320×224 to 704×480
- NTSC overscan resolution: 453×263 (lo-res), 907×263 (hi-res)
- PAL overscan resolution: 454×313 (lo-res), 908×313 (hi-res)
- Refresh rate: 30–60 Hz (NTSC), 25–50 Hz (PAL)
- Maximum frame rate: 60 FPS (NTSC), 50 FPS (PAL)
- Color depth: 15-bit RGB to 32‑bit RGBA (24‑bit color with 8‑bit alpha transparency)
- Color palette: 16,777,216 (VDP2), 32,768 (VDP1)
- Colors on screen: 256 to 16,777,216 (VDP2), 256 to 32,768 (VDP1)
- VDP2 colors per background: 16 colors (4-bit) to 16,777,216 colors (24-bit)
- VDP1 colors per sprite/polygon: 16 colors (4-bit) to 32,768 colors (15-bit)
- CLUT: Virtually unlimited number of CLUTs
- DSP geometry processing: 188 MIPS (million instructions per second)
- Fixed-point operations: 114 MOPS (million operations per second)
- Additions: 85 million adds/sec
- Multiplications: 85 million multiplies/sec
- 16-bit divisions: 5 million divides/sec
- Geometry calculations: 114 MOPS fixed-point calculations
- Vertex transformations: 2,400,000 vertices/sec
- Polygon transformations: 1,800,000 polygons/sec
- T&L flat lighting: 800,000 polygons/sec
- T&L Gouraud lighting: 700,000 polygons/sec
- Transmission bus bandwidth: 143 MB/s
- DSP–VDP transmission bus: 114.54544 MB/s
- VDP1–VDP2 transmission bus: 28.63636 MB/s
- Fillrate:
- Bitmap/Framebuffer fillrate: 26–28 MPixels/s (24-bit color), 82–85 MPixels/s (15-bit color), 143–150 MPixels/s (8-bit color), 250–264 MPixels/s (4-bit color)
- Tile fillrate: 280–570 MPixels/s
- Optional MPEG Video CD Card: 704×480 resolution, 30 frames/sec, 16‑bit audio with 44.1 kHz sampling, up to 72 minutes on one CD
SCU DSP
- SCU math coprocessor: Geometry DSP @ 14.31818 MHz, 32‑bit fixed‑point instructions
- Parallel units: 32/48-bit ALU (arithmetic logic unit), 48/64‑bit Multiplier, 32-bit instruction decoder
- Buses:
- Internal: 4 parallel buses, 32-bit per bus, 128-bit overall bus width, 3 buses at 14.31818 MHz, 1 bus at 28.63636 MHz
- External: 32-bit, 28.63636 MHz
- Cache RAM: 2 KB (1 KB data, 1 KB program)
- Instructions: 6 parallel instructions/cycle (one instruction per unit/bus), 85.90908 MIPS (6 MIPS/MHz)
- Fixed-point operations: 28.63636 MOPS (million operations per second), 2 MOPS/MHz (2 parallel operations/cycle)
- Capabilities: Matrix and vector calculations, 3D point transformations, lighting calculations, fixed-point calculations, faster than SH-2, can use DMA to directly fetch and store vertex data, floating-point operations, geometry transformations, voxel rendering acceleration, fast coordinate transformations, lighting computations, transparency calculations
- Notes: Can only be programmed with assembly language, more difficult to program than SH-2
VDP1
- VDP1 @ 28.63636 MHz: Handles sprite/texture and polygon drawing, color calculation and shading, geometry
- Versions: Sega 315‑5883 (Hitachi HD64440) Video Display Processor 1 (VDP1), Sega 315‑5689 VDP1
- Adjustable video clock rate: 28.63636 MHz or 26.8465875 MHz (NTSC), 28.4375 MHz or 26.8426 MHz (PAL)
- Parallel data bus structure: 3 parallel data buses (dual framebuffers, texture cache), 48-bit data bus width (16-bit per bus), 171.8184 MB/s bandwidth
- Parallel data bus cycles: 85.90908 million bus cycles/sec
- Color palette: 32,768 colors (15-bit RGB) to 16,777,216 (24-bit VDP2 CRAM palette, accessible by VDP1)
- Colors on screen: 32,768 colors (15-bit RGB) to 1,048,576 colors (15-bit RGB, 32 transparency levels using VDP2 palette)
- Colors per pixel: 32,768 colors (16bpp, 15-bit RGB), 256 colors (8bpp, 8-bit palette)
- Features: Alpha blending, clipping, luminance, shadows, transparency (3 alpha levels, or 32 alpha levels using VDP2 palette), per-pixel transparency
- Polygon capabilities: Texture mapping, lighting, shading, wire‑frame, flat shading, Gouraud shading, 15-bit color Gouraud shading, 15-bit colored lighting, quad polygons, edge anti‑aliasing, forward texture mapping (form of perspective correction), bilinear approximation (reduces texture warping), medium polygon accuracy (seamless polygons)
- Framebuffer capabilities: Double buffering, dual 256 KB framebuffers, rotation & scaling, VDP1 framebuffer can be rotated as bitmap layer by VDP2
- Framebuffer resolution: 512×256, 512×512, 1024×256
- Overscan resolution: 1708×263 (NTSC), 1820×313 (PAL), 852×525 (31KC), 848×562 (HDTV)
- Sprite/Texture capabilities: Rotation & scaling, flipping, distortion, warping, vertical and horizontal line scrolling, virtually unlimited color lookup tables, System 24/32 sprite rendering system
- Sprite/Texture size: 8×1 to 504×255 texels
- Colors per sprite/texture in Lo-Res: 16, 64, 128, 256, and 32,768
- Colors per sprite/texture in Hi-Res: 16, 64, 128, and 256
- Maximum texels per scanline: 1812 (NTSC), 1820 (PAL)
- Maximum sprites/textures per scanline: 226 (NTSC), 227 (PAL)
- Texture cache VRAM: 512 KB
- Sprite/Polygon size: 32 bytes (flat shading), 40 bytes (Gouraud shading), 64–96 bytes (shadows), 72–104 bytes (shadows, Gouraud shading)
- Texture size: 4 bytes (8×1 texels, 16 colors) to 251.02 KB (504×255 texels, 32,758 colors)
- Maximum sprites per frame: 16,383 (virtually unlimited), 13,106 (Gouraud shading), 5461–8191 (shadows)
- Maximum polygons per frame: 16,384 (flat shading), 16,383 (texture mapping), 13,107 (Gouraud shading), 13,106 (texture mapping, Gouraud shading), 8192 (shadows), 8191 (texture mapping, shadows), 7281 (texture mapping, shadows, Gouraud shading)
- Framebuffer fillrate: 28.63636 MPixels/s (16bpp), 35.6465 MPixels/s (8bpp)
- Gouraud shading: 28 MPixels/s (512×512 polygons), 16 MPixels/s (10×10 polygons)
- Shadows/Translucency: 28 MPixels/s (VDP2 palette), 5 MPixels/s (RGB)
- Texture fillrate: 19 MTexels/s (504×255 textures), 14 MTexels/s (10×10 textures), 12 MTexels/s (8×8 textures)
- Gouraud shading: 19 MTexels/s (504×255 textures), 9 MTexels/s (10×10 textures)
- Polygon rendering performance: Lighting
- 800,000 polygons/s: Flat shading, 32-pixel polygons
- 500,000 polygons/s: Flat shading, 50-pixel polygons
- 200,000 polygons/s: Gouraud shading, 32-pixel polygons
- Texture mapping performance: Lighting
- 300,000 polygons/s: 32-texel textures
- 200,000 polygons/s: 70-texel textures
- 140,000 polygons/s: Gouraud shading, 32-texel textures
VDP2
- VDP2 @ 57.27272 MHz: Handles background, scroll and 3D rotation planes
- Versions: Sega 315‑5890 (Yamaha) Video Display Processor 2 (VDP2), Yamaha 315‑5690 VDP2
- Video clock rate: 26.8426–28.63636 MHz (NTSC), 26.6564–28.4375 MHz (PAL)
- Memory clock rate: 53.6852–57.27272 MHz (NTSC), 53.3128–56.875 MHz (PAL)
- VDP2 cores: 4 parallel cores (17 units), 28.63636 MHz per core
- Bus control
- H/V counter & timing generator
- Scroll picture block: 8 units (Normal picture coordinate calculation, Rotation picture coordinate calculation, Pattern name control, Window control, Character control, Line picture control, VRAM control, Dot data control)
- Video process: 7 units (Color offset & shadow, Output data control, Color computing control, Color RAM, Priority control, Color RAM control, Sprite control)
- Features: Transparency (32 levels of transparency, can also be applied to VDP1 polygons/sprites), shadowing, 2 windows for special calculations, matrix calculations, multi-texturing, bump mapping, color gradients
- 3D infinite planes: Can be manipulated as large polygon objects, with perspective transformation and rotation. Can have curved surface and bumps, and be used for grounds, walls, ceilings, seas, skies, etc.
- Visual effects: Water, fire, fog, heat haze, misting, reflective water surfaces
- Rotation picture coordinate calculation: Geometry processing unit within Scroll picture block, rotation and transformation of 3D planes, manipulates 3D planes as very large polygons, 24-bit fixed-point operations, 28.63636 MOPS (million operations per second)
- Planes: 7 layers, 2–6 simultaneous layers (1–4 scrolling 2D backgrounds, 1–2 rotating 3D playfields, 1 back screen)
- 2D scrolling backgrounds: Scrolling, parallax scrolling, single-axis 2D rotation
- NBG0: 16–16,777,216 colors, tilemap (1024×1024 to 2048×2048) or bitmap (512×256 to 1024×512), column/row/line scrolling, scaling
- NBG1: 16–32,768 colors, tilemap (1024×1024 to 2048×2048) or bitmap (512×256 to 1024×512), column/row/line scrolling, scaling
- NBG2/NBG3: 16–256 colors, tilemap (1024×1024 to 2048×2048)
- 3D rotating playfields: Scrolling, scaling, dual-axis 3D rotation, three-axis 3D rotation, 3D infinite ground planes, perspective correct 3D rotation, can be manipulated as large polygon objects, perspective transformation, can have curved surface and bumps
- RBG0: 16–16,777,216 colors, tilemap (2048×2048 to 4096×4096) or bitmap (512×256 to 512×512)
- RBG1: 16–16,777,216 colors, tilemap (2048×2048 to 4096×4096)
- Back screen: 1 plain background, 1 to 240 colors (1 color/scanline)
- 2D scrolling backgrounds: Scrolling, parallax scrolling, single-axis 2D rotation
- Tile capabilities: 8×8 and 16×16 tile sizes, scroll plane up to 8192×8192 pixels, rotating 3D infinite planes up to 4096×4096 pixels each, tile compression, tile-based texture compression, tiled rendering, virtually unlimited draw distance
- Bitmap capabilities: Bitmap layers can be used as additional framebuffer (with full transparency), displays VDP1 framebuffer as additional bitmap layer, can rotate VDP1 framebuffer
- Color palette: 16,777,216 colors (24-bit), 32,768 colors (15-bit), 65,536 colors (15-bit with transparency)
- Colors per plane: 16,777,216 colors (3 planes, Lo-Res), 32,768 colors (4 planes), 16–256 colors (6 planes)
- Bitmap fillrate:
- 2D scrolling planes: 26.8426–229.09088 MPixels/s
- 16,777,216 colors on screen: 26.8426–28.63636 MPixels/s
- 32,768 colors per plane: 53.6852–57.27272 MPixels/s
- 256 colors per plane: 107.3704–114.54544 MPixels/s
- 16 colors per plane: 214.7408–229.09088 MPixels/s
- 3D rotation planes: 26.8426–28.63636 MPixels/s
- 2D scrolling planes: 26.8426–229.09088 MPixels/s
- Tile fillrate: 251.65824–534.77376 MPixels/s
- 2D scrolling planes: 251.65824–503.31648 MPixels/s
- Tile fillrate: 3,932,160 tiles/sec, 65,536 tiles per frame
- 3D rotating playfields: 251.65824–503.31648 MPixels/s
- Effective polygon fillrate: 1 million texture-mapped polygons/sec (500-texel polygons)
- 2D scrolling planes: 251.65824–503.31648 MPixels/s
Resolutions[]
Progressive
- 320×224 (Lo‑Res)
- 320×240 (Lo‑Res)
- 320×256 (Lo-Res, PAL)
- 352×224 (Lo‑Res)
- 352×240 (Lo‑Res)
- 352×256 (PAL)
- 640×224
- 640×240
- 640×256 (PAL)
- 704×224
- 704×240
- 704×256 (PAL)
Interlaced
- 320×448
- 320×512 (PAL)
- 320×480
- 352×448
- 320×480
- 352×512 (PAL)
- 640×448 (Hi‑Res)
- 640×480 (Hi‑Res)
- 640×512 (Hi‑Res, PAL)
- 704×448 (Hi‑Res)
- 704×480 (Hi‑Res)
- 704×512 (Hi‑Res, PAL)
Sound[]
- SCSP @ 22.58 MHz:
- Audio channels: 32
- Sound formats: PCM, FM, MIDI, LFO
- PCM sampling: 16‑bit and 8‑bit audio depth, 44.1 kHz sampling sate (CD quality), up to 32 PCM channels
- FM synthesis: 1–4 operators per FM channel, up to 32 FM channels (1‑operator) or 8 FM channels (4‑operator)
- LFO waveforms: 4 waveform types (Sawtooth, rectangular, triangular, white noise), up to 32 LFO channels
- CD‑DA: 1 streaming CD‑DA channel (16‑bit PCM, 44.1 kHz) from CD
- Stereo audio output
Memory[]
- Total memory: 5–11 MB (5152 KB system, 39,408 bytes cache, 512–5120 KB cartridge, 1 MB card)
- RAM: 4.549–10.049 MB (4640 KB system, 18,928 bytes cache, 512–5120 KB optional cartridge, 512 KB optional card)
- ROM: 532–3092 KB (512 KB system, 20 KB cache, 2 MB optional cartridge, 512 KB optional card)
- System RAM: 4.53125 MB (4640 KB)
- 2 MB Work RAM
- 1 MB High Work SDRAM
- 1 MB Low Work FPM DRAM
- 1.5 MB VRAM
- 512 KB VDP1 texture cache VRAM
- 512 KB (2× 256 KB) VDP1 dual framebuffers
- 512 KB (512 KB) VDP2 background cache VRAM (tiled texture compression up to 17 MB)
- 512 KB Sound RAM
- 512 KB CD‑ROM sub‑system buffer data cache
- 32 KB battery backup SRAM
- 2 MB Work RAM
- System ROM: 512 KB BIOS
- Internal processor cache: 39,408 bytes (38.484375 KB)
- SH2: 8 KB cache (4 KB per SH2)
- SH1: 4 KB cache
- SCU DSP: 2 KB RAM cache (1 KB program, 1 KB data)
- SMPC: 20,976 bytes (496 bytes 4‑bit RAM, 20 KB 10‑bit ROM)
- VDP2: 4 KB on‑chip color RAM
- Optional cartridge: 512 KB to 4.5 MB
- RAM cartridge: 512 KB to 4.5 MB
- Extended RAM Cartridge: 1 MB or 4 MB Work RAM
- Saturn Backup Memory: 512 KB battery backup
- Pro Action Replay: 512 KB battery backup
- Action Replay Plus: 4.5 MB
- 4 MB Work RAM
- 512 KB battery backup
- Saturn ROM Cartridge: 2 MB (The King of Fighters '95)
- RAM cartridge: 512 KB to 4.5 MB
- Optional MPEG Video CD Card: 1 MB (512 KB FPM RAM buffer, 512 KB MROM program)
Configuration
System RAM buses, all connected through the SCU:
- System bus
- SH2 (×2), SCU, SMPC <–> Work RAM, battery backup SRAM
- Video sub‑system buses
- SCU <–> VDP1, VDP2
- VDP1 <–> Texture cache VRAM
- VDP1 <–> Framebuffer 0 VRAM
- VDP1 <–> Framebuffer 1 VRAM
- VDP2 <–> Background cache VRAM
- Sound sub‑system bus — SCU, 68EC000, SCSP <‑> Sound RAM
- CD‑ROM sub‑system bus — SCU, SH1 <‑> CD‑ROM cache/buffer RAM
Bandwidth
- System RAM bandwidth: 480 MB/s
- System bus RAM: 114.54544 MB/s
- Work RAM: 114.54544 MB/s
- Battery backup SRAM: 10 MB/s
- VRAM: 286.3636 MB/s
- VDP1: 171.81816 MB/s
- VDP2: 114.54544 MB/s (tiled texture compression up to 534 MB/s)
- Sound RAM: 40 MB/s
- CD‑ROM cache/buffer: 40 MB/s
- System bus RAM: 114.54544 MB/s
- Internal processor bandwidth:
- SH2 cache: 229 MB/s
- SH1 cache: 80 MB/s
- SCU DSP RAM cache: 286 MB/s
- SMPC: 7 MB/s
- 68EC000: 22 MB/s
- SCSP: 67 MB/s
- VDP: 286.3636 MB/s
- System ROM bandwidth: 20 MB/s
- Optional cartridge RAM bandwidth: 44 MB/s to 50 MB/s
Storage[]
- Saturn double-speed CD-ROM drive
- Storage capacity: 680 MB
- Data transfer rate: 320 KB/s
- Access time: Under 360 ms
- Compatibiity: CD‑ROM, Audio CD, CD+G, CD+EG, CD Single (8cm)
- Optional: Video CD, Photo CD, Digital Karaoke, E-book
- Cartridge slot: Extended RAM Cartridge, Saturn ROM Cartridge
Input/Output[]
- Two 16‑bit bidirectional parallel I/O ports
- High-speed serial communications port (Both SH2 SCI channels and SCSP MIDI)
- Cartridge connector
- Internal expansion port for video decoder card
- Composite video/stereo (JP Part No: HSS-0106)
- NTSC/PAL RF (US Part No.: MK-80116, JP Part No.: HSS-0110)
- S-Video compatible (JP Part No.: HSS-0105)
- RGB compatible (JP Part No.: HSS-0109)
- EDTV compatible (optional)
Power Source[]
- AC110 volts; 60 Hz (US)
- AC240 volts; 50 Hz (EU)
- AC100 volts; 60 Hz (JP)
- AC240 volts; 60 Hz (AS)
- AC220 volts; 60 Hz (KR)
- 4 volt lithium battery to power non-volatile RAM and SMPC internal real-time clock
- Power Consumption: 25 W