Retro Chip Tester Professional (RCT)

The Swiss Army Knife for Retroist from Germany Proudly Made In USA!

The Retro Chip Tester (RCT) was developed to test „old“ memory chips from the 1970s and 1980s, which are often no longer recognized by today’s programming devices.

It is often recommended to use chips in the same device to test the functionality. It is forgotten that the rest of the hardware is also correspondingly old and frequent switching on and off can provoke further errors.

An ideal memory tester should of course recognize:

Defective memory cells,
Timing errors due to material fatigue (e.g. with DRAMs), and
Incorrect signal levels due to material fatigue.

The Retro Chip Tester Professional is able to identify defective memory cells very reliably. A memory card can even be used to precisely determine the defective memory cells by storing the test results. In addition, the Retro Chip Tester has many other useful functions for repairing retro hardware.

The RCT can save the contents of ROMs, PROMs and EPROMs to a memory card. If the memory chip is known, the name is shown directly on the display. A database with 300,000 entries is available for this purpose.

In the meantime, the firmware has been significantly expanded. Among other things, the possibility of reading out protected PALs and GALs (under certain conditions) has been added. Even some exotic EPROMs can be programmed.

Examples for supported SRAMs and DRAMs

The following (and lots of more) and all pin-compatible SRAMs can be tested:

4×4: 74170, 74670
4×8: TC4036, TC4039
8×2: 74172
16×1: 7481, 7484, K155RU1, …
16×4: D3101, 7489, 74189, 74219, …
16×9: 74F211, 74F311, …
16×12: 74F213, 74F313, …
32×8: 74LS218, 74LS318, …
64×1: 4505
64×4: 74C910, 74LS216, 74LS316, …
64×9: 82S09, 93419, …
128×8: 6810, …
256×1: 8216, 2116, 8217, 2700, 2701, 3106, 3107, 93410, K155RU5, …
256×4: D2101A, D2111, D2112A, 74921, 6561, CY7C123, …
256×8: 81C50, 81C51, 81C52, 82S08, …
256×9: 82S10, 82S12, …
512×4: D2113, …
512×8: 81C54, …
1k x 1: 2102, 8102, 2115, 2511, …
1k x 4: 2114, 2148, 2149, 4045, 5114, 6514, C214, U224, …
1k x 4: 6550
1k x 8: 4118, 4801, 8185, …
2k x 8: 2016, 2416, 4016, 4802, 4812, 6116, 6512, 5516, …
4k x 1: 2147, MK4104, …
4k x 4: 7C168, 6168, 5416, P4C168, P4C169, …
8k x 8: 2064, 2464, 6264, 2465, …
8k x 9: P4C163, IMS1695, …
16k x 1: 8167, 6267, 6167, 2167, P4C167, …
16k x 4: P4C188, P4C198, …
32k x 8: 20256, 61256, 62256, 71256, …
32k x 9: CY7C188, …
64k x 1: P4C187, …
64k x 4: P4C1258, P4C1281, P4C1298, …
64k x 8: 61512, 24512, …
128k x 8: 621024, 431000, …
128k x 9: CY7C1088, …
256k x 1: P4C1257, …
256k x 4: P4C1026, …
256k x 8: AS5C2008, …
512k x 8: BS62LV4006, CYM1464, CYM1465, P4C1048, …
1024k x 1: CY7C107, …

The following (and lots of more) and all pin-compatible DRAMs can be tested:

1k x 1; MK4006, MK4008
4k x 1: 2104A, 4015, 4027, 7027, 2107, …
8k x 1: 4108-x0, 4108-x1, 2108H, 2108L
8k x 4: 4408NLT/NLB
16k x 1: 4116, 2117, 6116, 8116, 416, 2116, 3716, U256, …
16k x 1: 2118, K565RU6, …
16k x 4: 4416, 2620
16k x 1 x 2: 4132, 4332
32k x 1: 3732H (4532-L4) und 3732L (4532-L3), 4532
64k x 1: 4164, 2600, K565RU5, 8264, 3764, …
64k x 1 x 2: 41128
64k x 4: 4464, 41464, 50464, …
256k x 1: 41256, 53256, 81256, MT1259, …
256k x 4: 44256, 514256, …
1024k x 1: 41024, 411000, …
256k x 8: SIMM 30 and SIPP 30
1024k x 8: SIMM 30 and SIPP 30
64k x 4: ZIP 20
256k x 1: ZIP 16
256k x 4: ZIP 20
1024k x 1: ZIP 20
1024k x 4: ZIP 20

these (and pin-compatible) FIFO RAMs:

16 x 4: 40105, 74LS222, 74LS224, 74LS227, 74LS228, 74LS232
16 x 5: 74S225, 74ALS229, 74ALS233
64 x 4: 74ALS234, 74ALS236, 74F413
64 x 5: 74HC7403 und 74ALS235

these (and pin-compatible) NOVRAMs:

64 x 4: X2210
256 x 4: X2212
512 x 8: X20C04, X20C05
2k x 8: X20C16, X20C17

More info about supported ICs you can find on 8bit-museum.de webpage:

RCT: Supported ICs