I’d be curious to know a bit about the MK1869 XTREME’s onboard memory history. Initially there was 4 MB, which ought to be enough for anybody, but eventually here I read some pads where added so end user could add another 4 MB. Now, though, I see on the website that all cards come with 8 MB soldered.

Can anyone confirm if I’ve got that right? I wouldn’t want to fail my MK1869 XTREME History 101 exam next week !! 😰

Yes this is exactly correct
Initially the plan was to use 4mb - the PCB is crammed
But then we changed the ram type and routing of extra pads on the back side was possible so they were added
Next we had the problem of locating a good source of chips and enough of them .. and since we also succeeded in this all cards are now 8mb

Just do not ask for 16mb - there is no room unless the PCB becomes bigger 😁

ElBrunzy wrote on 2025-10-13, 01:44:

I’d be curious to know a bit about the MK1869 XTREME’s onboard memory history. Initially there was 4 MB, which ought to be enough for anybody, but eventually here I read some pads where added so end user could add another 4 MB. Now, though, I see on the website that all cards come with 8 MB soldered.

Can anyone confirm if I’ve got that right? I wouldn’t want to fail my MK1869 XTREME History 101 exam next week !! 😰

I received my card 1 week ago. It has 4 MB soldered in this case. Anyhow, I hope someone can show the benefit of sample RAM. Because up to now I did not find a game that can make use of the 4MB file. There is also no explanation on how to make use of the fff file. 8 MB are not necessary I would assume or is there a file that makes useage of more than 4 MB?

Awesome, thanks Keropi ! With that insider info, I’m pretty sure I’ve just locked in an A+ on my paper ! 😄

I realized my question might stir situations like yours, moturimi1. I understand how it feels when something you bought just got upgraded, and I’m sorry if my question brought that up.
There’s really not much practical benefit to having 8 MB on a GUS PnP. I’m quite sure no game or demo ever expected one to be maxed out. Very few module tracks rely on hardware mixing at that size either.

Personally, I enjoy listening to my favorite video-game MIDI soundtracks with different soundbanks, and larger Propats with 16-bit stereo samples can make use of the full 8 MB, though even that sometimes introduces playback quirks.
So I agree that 8 MB isn’t necessary, since 4 MB was already what most enthusiasts ran. But since the card supports it, I think it makes sense they bumped it.
As for 16 MB, that was more of a clever technical tweak someone discovered. You’d have to push the limits pretty far to ever really need it.

As my card is delayed due to tariffs that are 30 years too late, I am surprised that there is still no review of the card.

ElBrunzy wrote on 2025-10-14, 02:23:

[...]
I realized my question might stir situations like yours, moturimi1. I understand how it feels when something you bought just got upgraded, and I’m sorry if my question brought that up.[...]

this is not the case, everyone on the pre-order got the option to upgrade the card to 8mb
and ofcourse nothing stops people that have 4mb cards to solder two fpm dram chips on the back side and upgrade the card this way 😀

about reviews, there are 2 great reviewers that have cards but life is on the way - one of them sadly stopped making youtube videos alltogether
the black MK1869 reviews are still applying to the XTREME, just add the gus portion and you are set 😉

I am thinking to create a discord server for more direct comms , it does have weird "boost" stuff but I guess these are optional...
will still be on VOGONS as always but the idea is that if you want to know for example something about shipping you could drop a quick message on discord and not go through emails/contact forms... is this a good idea to do so?

Discord is nice, I'm in !

As a long time enjoyer of your products I'd be happy to hang around a Discord server as well 😀
The boosting bs is all optional indeed, a basic Discord is fine for such a use.

shan2752 wrote on 2025-10-14, 11:29:

As my card is delayed due to tariffs that are 30 years too late, I am surprised that there is still no review of the card.

The issue isn’t actually tariffs, it’s the elimination of the de minimus exemption. That’s why the shipping into the U.S. became difficult for small businesses. Mine will be waiting for me in the UK, I just have to go pick it up.

Perhaps you know someone in Canada or the EU who can forward it to you as a gift? The rules don’t apply if it’s a $0 item…

I wouldn't mind the whole process if it were possible to know what the tariff charge would be prior to purchase. I'm not buying anything overseas from eBay right now because of this mystery.

Ironically, you would think that the tariffs would hurt a Chinese company like AliExpress most of all, but their shipping is so thoroughly integrated that the tariffs are fairly marginalized, being distributed out across an entire into container at the time of import, instead of individual packages.

The main issue is still the same: the US only accept packages with *prepaid* customs/taxes fees - and the whole process is not yet clear enough for national posts to actually provide this - and this is why the EU national postal services have completely stopped shipping to the US (for now). It is my understanding though that documents are still accepted - but anything that is not a piece of paper does not.

I have created a discord server here: https://discord.gg/bNaQZk8b
please check it out and test stuff, maybe I have some permissions wrong or you have some idea about improving stuff - let me know! 😀
Again the whole idea is to have a more direct and easier communication about pcmidi.eu stuff , I think this proves useful somehow!

I was under the impression that tariffs are paid by the recipient at the point of delivery and not the responsibility of the seller (from a logistics standpoint). Am I misunderstanding the process? This seems to be what eBay suggested with it's warning.

If you ship via UPS or Fedex, you get a notification of import fees which after you pay allows the package to be delivered.
The import fee is NOT paid by the sender with these carriers. At least that is my experience.
They seem to have no such inability to function like the national postal systems.

if US national post could/wanted to handle the import of goods (same way as the rest of the world postal services do for decades now) there would be no need to stop the service, packages would just travel as they do now: with a CN22 or CN23 form and US post service would tax them.

Couriers and conglomerates like ebay/ali etc already have their own customs services and were able to react to the new policies almost instantly

If a formula is not found for national posts to work with the new requirements then expect a steep rise in shipping costs on top of the customs fees - something that will ultimately hurt individuals and not previous mentioned conglomerates that will remain unaffected and continue doing business as usual...

Canada is the same right now in that duties have to be demonstrably prepaid before goods will be accepted for shipment to the U.S.:

Due to the U.S. Executive Order 14324, all U.S.-bound postal shipments must have duties collected at origin effective August 29, 2025. This means every package under US$800 going from Canada to the U.S. must have proof that duties were paid before the shipment can be accepted for delivery. This proof comes in the form of a Declaration ID – a 13-character code that confirms duties have been secured.

Starting August 29, 2025, Canada Post can only accept a U.S.-bound label request from a sender if it has proof that duty has been paid or automatic billing enabled. To support small businesses and merchants, Canada Post has partnered with Zonos® to meet the new Executive Order requirements to collect duties and remit them directly to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with ease.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en … ty-updates.page

From what I understand, the sheer volume of duties collections is beyond what Canada Post was normally set up to handle. Hence why the partnered with Zonos for this service.

keropi wrote on 2025-10-14, 12:55:

ElBrunzy wrote on 2025-10-14, 02:23:

[...]

about reviews, there are 2 great reviewers that have cards but life is on the way - one of them sadly stopped making youtube videos alltogether
the black MK1869 reviews are still applying to the XTREME, just add the gus portion and you are set 😉

These reviews serve as great tutorials! That’s why I’m disappointed that there hasn’t been one posted yet.