Atari VCS Essential Upgrades

In this video I'm upgrading Atari VCS with additional RAM and SSD. I'm also replacing thermal pad with proper thermal compound. I'm also tweaking the BIOS to take advantage of the upgrades.
Atari VCS BIOS passwords (make sure to use US layout keyboard!)
Try this one first: Atar!C3l3br8te$50Ye4r$
Note: that's lower case 'L' between C3 and 3B
Try this one as well: Piano18482
If none of the two passwords work please downgrade the BIOS.
- Atari VCS BIOS downgrade (if needed)
Download from here: docs.google.com/document/d/1k...
Tools used in the video:
- Logitech keyboard: amzn.to/43qkt5F (UK / Europe)
- Logitech keyboard: amzn.to/3WYmmEm (US)
- RAM Upgrade kit: amzn.to/43LB5V5 (UK / Europe)
- RAM Upgrade kit: amzn.to/3MYjW41 (US)
- SSD Drive: amzn.to/3NhqlZn (UK / Europe)
- SSD Drive: amzn.to/3J2HwLL (US)
- Samsung Flash Drive: amzn.to/3IYHHaE (UK / Europe)
- Samsung Flash Drive: amzn.to/3oUPK1q (US)
- Arctic Silver MX-6: amzn.to/464x7Jt (UK / Europe)
- Arctic Silver MX-6: amzn.to/3WYqTq7 (US)
- M.2 Screw Set: amzn.to/43HyrQV (UK / Europe)
- M.2 Screw Set: amzn.to/43Nlgxf (US)
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[@Steve_be]

Very informative njoyed the content thank you

[@hustlintom794]

Excellent setup video! Wish I had seen this when I got mine in the mail 5 days ago, as this had everything I needed with one exception. To any VCS 800 owners who get annoyed by the seemingly random bursts of fan activity when running something intensive, it's because Core Boost is enabled by default, and the CPU is trying to boost past 2.6 GHz for a few seconds. If you disable it in BIOS, you'll stay locked at 2.6 GHz: you'll lose a negligible amount of performance, but your unit will be whisper quiet and not get nearly as hot.

[@RetroTechCorner]

Thanks! Wish I knew that before doing the video :)

[@hustlintom794]

It's my pleasure to help! This hardware is honestly the most fun tinkering experience I've had in a while, just trying to squeeze out as much performance as possible.

[@carywise6291]

​@@RetroTechCornercan you put a atari vcs cpu in a pc and the pc still work? And can you put a pc cpu in the atari vcs and the atari vcs still work?

[@KevInBuffalo]

Great vid, thanks for sharing! Neither of the BIOS passwords work for me so I need to downgrade, but the link to the Atari OS image in the Google Doc you linked to isn't valid -- is there somewhere else to download the image?

[@jonnyfive5000]

For some reason my vcs won’t make it to boot after adjusting the ram settings. 🤔 I placed the old ram in to get it working again then swapped it for the new ram and while the Bios says 1600mhz, Windows is still showing 2400mhz. Any ideas how to remedy this?

[@sprrwhwk1]

Have you have any issues since installing the upgrades?

[@RetroTechCorner]

No, no issues at all. Just make sure to use the right components (eg. SATA SSD and not nvme, correct memory modules etc.)

[@allenturnage]

The BIOS downgrade download is no longer available. Is there an updated link?

[@angelmesa9530]

Hi , Greetings.
I have tried the 2 passwords but they did not work, I was going to download the file ( AtariVCS BIOS downgrade) but the file was already removed. Do you know if you can get that file somewhere else.
Thanks in advance.

[@marssmarss1752]

thanks for the video ;)

[@Steve_be]

Thank you for your support

[@carywise6291]

​@@Steve_becan you swap out the cpu of the atari vcs cpu and put in a pc cpu and the atari vcs work? And can you swap out a pc cpu with a atari vcs cpu and the pc work?