looking for an ipod 5.5gen 64MB logic board

[chronomitch]

I normally use the 64MB ipod video version of Rockbox on my ipod. However, I had to replace the battery and, to make a long story short, I ended up breaking one of the connectors on the logic board, rendering it useless. For now, I'm using a replacement logic board with 32MB, but it seems much less responsive than the original 64MB board.

Anyways, I'm trying to find a board with 64MB but am having trouble. It seems like most places (ebay, repair web sites) only offer the 32MB variant. My only option seems to be buying a used, but working ipod (too expensive) or taking my chances on a relatively cheap broken ipod on ebay. Does anyone here happen to know where I can find a 64MB version of the logic board?

Thanks.

[AlexP]

If you are in the States, http://www.ifixit.com has been bandied around as somewhere that sells replacement ipod parts.  They might have what you are looking for.

[chronomitch]

Thanks for the link, but it looks like they only carry the 32MB version on their website. I'm going to email them anyway and see if the have the 64MB version.

[Multiplex]

I normally use the 64MB ipod video version of Rockbox on my ipod.

I remember seeing comments questioning the vale of the extra memory when playing music, indeed it was suggested that for certain usage patterns (not letting the player play through its play list) the extra memory is detrimental. I don't use an iPod of any type so have no personal experience, I just wanted to point out some of the accumulated wisdom like this thread;
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=21550.0

Maybe you don't need the 64MB board.

[chronomitch]

All I know is that when I went from my original 64MB logic board (using the 64MB version of Rockbox) to the 32MB logic board (and 32MB version of Rockbox), I had a number of problems, such as a significantly longer start-up time, slow menu transitions and browsing, and significant delays when skipping/changing songs. When I started up Rockbox, it seems I had to wait 5-10 seconds after it reached the main menu to actually be able to navigate directories and play songs. In some cases, reading/loading from the hard drive seemed to cause the sound to skip/pause (as if it was running out of buffer). I also noticed that the hard drive activity indicator icon seemed to be on much more often. I attributed these problems to the lower amount of memory causing the Rockbox code and song data to be constantly read in from the disc and switched in and out of memory.

Since then, I have been changing some settings. I turned on the directory cache and changed the disc spin-down time from 5 to 10 seconds. Things seem a lot better now. For the time being, I am going to continue tweaking and see what happens. If I can get performance to somewhat the same level I had originally, I will stay with the 32MB logic board.

[Llorean]

Rockbox code stays in memory, so things like menu browsing shouldn't be affected at all. In fact, the only thing it should affect is how long (and how often) the disk spins up during playback.

[chronomitch]

I finally managed to find someone on ebay who was willing to sell me a 64MB logic board (he had to take it out of a working ipod). I just finished putting my iPod back together and installed the 64MB version of Rockbox, and all I can say is that there is a BIG difference. When I skip to the next songs, there are far fewer pauses (where the disk has to spin up and read). On top of that, when directory cache is turned on, I turn on the iPod, and I select "resume playback" from the main menu, it only takes a few seconds to start playing. On the previous 32MB board, it would take at least 10-15 seconds before I heard any sound. It was almost like the iPod was frozen or something.

Anyways, I'm satisfied now. Regardless of the theories behind battery life and memory, the 64MB board and accompanying Rockbox version seem to perform much better for me than the 32MB versions.