Console
NEC PC Engine
A HuC6280 console with a tile-and-sprite video chip, built small enough to sit in one hand and loading games from credit-card-sized HuCards.
- Manufacturer
- NEC Home Electronics
- Released
- October 1987
- Region
- Japan
- Record status
- provisional
The Japanese PC Engine, shown with the controller NEC supplied with it.
About this machine
NEC and Hudson Soft divided the work, Hudson designing the processor and video hardware and NEC building and selling the machine. It sits awkwardly between console generations, pairing a processor from the earlier one with graphics that outclassed everything sold beside it.
Configuration
Japanese retail console
| Component | Role | Count | Clock | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hudson Soft HuC6280 | Main CPU | 1 | 7.16 MHz Nominal clock | — |
| Hudson Soft HuC6270 VDC | GPU | 1 | unknown Nominal clock | — |
| PC Engine work RAM | System memory | 1 | — | 8 KiB |
| PC Engine video RAM Attached to the HuC6270; the processor reaches it through the display controller's address and data registers. | Video memory | 1 | — | 64 KiB |
Figures for the whole machine
provisional A figure marked provisional is recorded but not accepted: its evidence is unsettled. It may rely on one source, an unconfirmed announcement, or a digit read from a damaged scan. The reason appears under the figure. The catalog shows the figure but never uses it in a multiplier. How records are judged.
| Metric | Value | Evidence | Basis | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clock frequency cpu provisional | 7.16 MHz | Confirmed | Vendor-rated | Nominal clock Stated by the vendor The HuC6280 can switch speed; this is the cited high-speed PC Engine mode. |
5 documented absences
| Metric | Value | Evidence | Basis | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clock frequency gpu provisional | unknown The reviewed system-outline manual gives no graphics clock. | Not stated | Vendor-rated | Nominal clock Stated by the vendor The system-outline manual describes the VDC and VCE roles but gives no graphics-clock frequency. | |
| Memory bandwidth memory provisional | unknown The reviewed system-outline manual gives no memory bandwidth or bus width. | Not stated | Vendor-rated | Theoretical peak Stated by the vendor The system-outline manual describes VRAM use with the VDC but gives no bus width or transfer rate. | |
| Storage capacity storage provisional | not applicable Game cartridges are removable media and their ROM capacity varies by title; no cartridge capacity is part of the base console. | Not stated | Vendor-rated | Design capacity Stated by the vendor | |
| Memory capacity whole-system provisional | unknown The console's work RAM and video RAM are both known only from tier C material. Adding them would rest a new number on that material, which this catalog does not do. | Not stated | Vendor-rated | Design capacity Stated by the vendor Both terms of the total are rumored. The catalog displays a rumored figure but does not compute with one, so the total waits for a document that states a capacity outright. | |
| Rated power consumption whole-system provisional | unknown The reviewed system-outline manual gives no whole-system power rating. | Not stated | Vendor-rated | Rated power Stated by the vendor The system-outline manual states an IC supply requirement, not a power rating for the retail console. |
Figures for its components
1 documented absence
| Metric | Value | Evidence | Basis | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak FP32 rate cpu provisional | not applicable This console CPU has no integrated floating-point execution unit. | Not stated | Vendor-rated | Theoretical peak Stated by the vendor Provisional record for nec-pc-engine: the cited primary manual is registered, but its page-level transcription and independent review are still pending. |
1 documented absence
| Metric | Value | Evidence | Basis | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak FP32 rate gpu provisional | not applicable This is a tile, sprite or scanline graphics unit, not a floating-point processor; it executes no FP32 operations. | Not stated | Vendor-rated | Theoretical peak Stated by the vendor Provisional record for nec-pc-engine: the cited primary manual is registered, but its page-level transcription and independent review are still pending. |
provisional A figure marked provisional is recorded but not accepted: its evidence is unsettled. It may rely on one source, an unconfirmed announcement, or a digit read from a damaged scan. The reason appears under the figure. The catalog shows the figure but never uses it in a multiplier. How records are judged.
| Metric | Value | Evidence | Basis | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memory capacity memory provisional | 8 KiB | Rumored | Vendor-rated | Design capacity From community documentation NEC's verified system outline states no RAM capacity. Wikipedia gives 8 KiB of work RAM, which is separate from the video RAM the console also carries and which the catalog records separately. |
provisional A figure marked provisional is recorded but not accepted: its evidence is unsettled. It may rely on one source, an unconfirmed announcement, or a digit read from a damaged scan. The reason appears under the figure. The catalog shows the figure but never uses it in a multiplier. How records are judged.
| Metric | Value | Evidence | Basis | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memory capacity memory provisional | 64 KiB | Rumored | Vendor-rated | Design capacity From community documentation NEC's verified system outline states no video-RAM capacity. Wikipedia's infobox and hardware paragraph both give 64 KiB, and the catalog carries it as rumored until an NEC document states it. |
Editorial notes
HuCards are removable program storage and excluded from the memory total.