THE RND2 here. Two N64 units on the bench this session — a 1996 NUS-CPU-03 and a later NUS-CPU-09 from around 2000. Both get the full teardown, and unit one gets its complete capacitor recap.
There’s a history I don’t usually bring up. Depression, real depression — the kind where you couldn’t wait for things to be over. Doctors helped. That background matters for why surviving a cardiac event with 17.5% odds landed the way it did. You get different about gratitude.
The CPU-03 board is your more cooperative N64 for an RGB mod. The CPU-09 on the NS301 shell is a later production variant with a single RAM chip — different board layout, harder mod path. But fine. I’ve done hard before.
Both boards went through the same process: pull the surface-mount caps by hand, scrub with 91% IPA, then recap. Unit one’s full capacitor swap is done this session. Chisel tip on the ground planes, 320C, Kester no-clean flux near the vias, continuity and resistance check on every replaced cap.
Live every Tuesday & Saturday at 7pm Eastern — twitch.tv/thernd2
Rob streams live repairs and builds every Tuesday and Saturday at 7pm Eastern on Twitch. The Bonus Life N64 build — a complete custom Nintendo 64 being rebuilt from scratch and given away July 3rd, 2026 — is the current main series. All links | Support on Patreon