Wii/Board Revisions

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The Wii, not unlike Nintendo's previous consoles, has had multiple motherboard revisions within it's lifecycle. The Wii (RVL-001/RVL), Wii Family Edition (RVL-101/RVK), and the Wii mini (RVL-201/RVO) all have their own set of board revisions. Currently, not all the dev board revisions are known so they are not documented here yet.

Notably there are two types of boards: 6 layer and 4 layer. They are named after the amount of layers the PCB uses. 4 layer boards use less power and consume less heat, while not having the chance of a vulnerable boot1. 6 layer boards use much more power and consume a lot more heat, and are prone to overheating in standby mode in hot areas.

In total, there are 11 retail Wii motherboard revisions:

Revisions (Retail)

Board Revision Revision Code Layers Changes Notes
RVL-CPU-01 01 6 This is the original revision for the Wii. A 6 layer board is featured, notably this and RVL-CPU-10 are the only revisions compatible with the oldest IOS versions.
RVL-CPU-10 10 6 An extra "WRT" chip was added. This is the rarest Wii revision by far. Seemingly, this can be found on LU305/LU505 USA Wii consoles, and it is confirmed to exist in Japan. No European consoles have been seen with this revision yet however. The weird part is that it seems Nintendo made RVL-CPU-10s for a bit, then ditched it and went back to RVL-CPU-01s??? It seems very confusing, this revision needs by far the most research, close to as much as RVL-CPU-50 does. It just does not seem reasonable they would create a board revision ultimately to abandon it and go back to their previous one.
RVL-CPU-20 20 6 Simpler power circuitry, die shrink. It is unknown if the extra chip from RVL-CPU-10 was kept here. This board revision is also referred to as "LU64+", which is an inaccurate and old name for it, due to it being an estimated USA serial number range, while the actual range starts somewhere in the High LU34s/LU60s for this board. This board can have a vulnerable boot1, but it is EXTREMELY rare, and only 1 console so far has been seen with it. Most notably about this revision, due to the die shrink, older IOS versions are no longer compatible, and every IOS received an update to be compatible with all Wiis, including ones using revision RVL-CPU-20 and above.
RVL-CPU-30 30 6 Comes with the new Broadway-1, which's die was shrunken to 65 nm Uses slightly less heat and power than the other 6 layer boards due to the die shrunken Broadway CPU. This was done to cut production costs, consume less heat, and use less power. Other than that, it is pretty much the same as the RVL-CPU-20.
RVL-CPU-40 40 4 Now a 4 layer PCB, uses the new Hollywood-1 GPU code named Bollywood This is the first 4 layer revision of the Wii. It features a new revision of the Hollywood (Bollywood), SIGNIFICANTLY LESS power usage and heat consumption! Component output is also noticeably cleaner on RVL-CPU-40 and newer due to the new Bollywood GPU, for an unknown reason. It most likely has to do with a change in Bollywood.
RVL-CPU-50 50 4 The 3.3v standby regulator is a switch mode converter rather than a linear regulator Uses about less than 1% less heat than the RVL-CPU-40. The difference is so small it is basically irrelevant. The difference is probably around 0.25-0.50%. It is worth noting but the difference does not matter in practice.
RVL-CPU-60 60 4 No known differences. There no known differences between the RVL-CPU-50 and the RVL-CPU-60.
RVK-CPU-01 K01 4 GameCube ports are no longer soldered onto the motherboard. With the boards restarting at 01 again with the new set and model (RVL-101/RVK), comes the removal of the GameCube ports. The pads are still there, and the ports can be soldered back on the board given you take them from an RVL-001 board. Where the GameCube memory card slots once were, there is a small connector that carried GameCube ports, due to them still being needed during the factory process. Other than that, it's the same as the RVL-CPU-60.
RVK-CPU-02 K02 4 No known differences. There no known differences between the RVK-CPU-01 and the RVK-CPU-02.
RVO-CPU-01 01 4 Complete redesign. No WiFi card, SD card slot, only 1 USB port, no component output The Wii mini is a complete redesign of the Wii, and therefore the boards restart at 01 again with a new set and model (RVL-201/RVO). Just like the RVK boards, there is a small connector that carried GameCube ports, due to them still being needed during the factory process. Seems to have a new Hollywood-2 SoC?
RVO-CPU-10 10 4 Has pre-tinned pads and different kind of plating (copper-like). Not much is known about this revision yet. What is known is that they always have pre-tinned pads and different kind of plating (copper-like). Presumably also has Hollywood-2?