Hardware

The Wii's hardware is one of the most well-understood of any home console. Due to extensive research in the homebrew community, the Wii's inner workings have been reverse-engineered and have been exploited heavily in the usage of homebrew.

Processors

The Wii has three processors. The main processor of the Wii's system, codenamed Broadway, which is a PowerPC processor that does the job of running executable code, and interfacing with legacy hardware, which includes every aspect of the Gamecube's system, with a few exceptions, which are handled by the PowerPC. The Broadway is also called the PPC, because that is its architecture.

The second processor is a custom macronix 16-bit dsp that does side task jobs for boot, audio, memory card unlocking, gba decryption, etc.

The third processor is nicknamed the Starlet chip, due to the fact that it lives inside the Hollywood graphics processor. The Starlet is an ARM processor that communicates with hardware, as well as the DVD drive. The program that handles communication between the PPC and the hardware is known as IOS, and exists for security.

NAND is the term for the Wii's internal flash memory, which is based on a NAND flash.

Nintendo Wii Hardware Summary

• CPU: IBM PowerPC 729 MHz
• DSP: Macronix DSP 121.5 MHz
• GPU: ATI graphics 243 MHz
  • 3 MB embedded memory
• NEC ARM9 243 MHz
• 512 MB Internal Flash Memory (NAND)
• 88 MB Main Memory*
  • 24 MB "internal" 1T-SRAM
  • 64 MB "external" GDDR3 SDRAM*
• 12 cm optical drive*
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Mitsumi DWM-W004
• Bluetooth
• 2x USB 2.0*
• SD/SDHC*

Board scans

Wii hardware diagram

Some hi-resolution board scans by bushing:

• Top side of main board: 600dpi 1200dpi
• Bottom side of main board: 1200dpi
• Overlays: Top over bottom Bottom over top

Notes

1 & 2. Certain devkits such as the NDEV have higher memory than retail Wii systems.

3. Not seen on certain devkits such as NDEV and RVT-H.

4 & 5. Not seen on Wii mini units.

6. MXIC DSP hardware can be seen here Macronix DSP.

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Wii hardware

Starlet	Broadway	Common	Controllers	Other
Hollywood Registers OTP ROM Starlet Timer Memory Controller NAND Interface AES Engine SHA-1 Engine USB Host Controller SD Host Controller 802.11 Wireless	GX GPU Video Interface Processor Interface Memory Interface Audio DSP	Main Memory Hollywood Registers Inter-processor Communication Hollywood GPIOs Hollywood IRQs Drive Interface Serial Interface External Interface Audio Interface	Wiimote Nunchuck Classic Controller (Pro) Drawsome Graphics Tablet Guitar Hero (Wii) Guitars Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii) Drums DJ Hero (Wii) Turntable Taiko no Tatsujin (Wii) TaTaCon (Drum controller) Wii Motion Plus	Bluetooth Card Serial EEPROM NAND Flash MX23L4005 RTC/SRAM/Font ROM Disc Drive A/V Encoder