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The TMS9918 video display processor was designed in the 70s to have its own memory connected directly to it, and provides an interface that allows the CPU to read or write the memory during cycles in which it isn't using it itself. Unfortunately, in some modes the VDP uses the memory in 15 memory cycles out of every 16, which can limit throughput somewhat -- especially if connected to faster than average processors: a 3.5MHz Z80 (e.g. as used in the MSX) might need a small delay between each access in a tight loop [1], but the VDP was still used into the mid-80s, by which time 8MHz Z80s were commonly available, and such a delay would be very limiting for such a processor.

The VDP is designed to use typical low-cost DRAM available in the mid-70s, and therefore has timing constraints that could be easily satisfied by that kind of chip: specifically, it needs RAM with an access time of at most 160ns (if I'm reading the timing diagrams on the datasheet correctly), and a cycle time of 372ns or less. By the end of the time period when they were commonly in use, fast RAM was available at much lower cost -- by mid 1985, for example, 150ns 8KiB SRAMs were available for around $10 each, meaning that for $20 (plus a handful of extra logic chips) you could provide memory for the VDP that was only used for half the time, allowing you to also connect it to your CPU bus for nearly immediate access (your CPU may need to have a wait state added when it tries to access it sometimes). As the 9918 itself cost $40 at the time, this wouldn't have been a significant increase in the cost of a system using one.

Were there any systems that did this, or if not is there a reason I'm not seeing why they either couldn't do it or it would have been too difficult to do?

[1]: the common recommendation for a 3.5MHz processor (as in the MSX, among others) is to attempt a video access no more than once every 29 cycles, while the LDIR / OTIR instructions provided by the Z80 both use 21 cycles per byte transferred, meaning that a direct dump from system memory to video memory would be too fast.

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    Are you just asking about the original TMS9918, or do you include its derivatives? The Yamaha engineers went another way to increase performance...
    – Brian H
    Sep 22, 2018 at 1:02
  • @BrianH - primarily about the original; as you point out, for the V9938 and successors the performance improved enough that it would be unlikely to be an issue with contemporary processors.
    – Jules
    Sep 22, 2018 at 7:24

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The closest example I can think of relates to Sega's TMS9918 variant that used two pseudo-SRAMs instead of DRAM. It was intended as a low-cost chip for consoles but was later used in an arcade platform (System E) where high performance was needed. To get around the slow access to video memory they added all the extra logic necessary to share the PSRAMs with the CPU. However those parts accounted for about 1/4th of the PCB space used. This is from the late 80s so it was all DIP packages with no gate arrays or PLDs/CPLDs to integrate the design more tightly.

In this case the shared memory required a lot more components which increased the PCB size and routing complexity. I think the home computers/consoles that used the TMS9918 probably could have done the same thing but it would have been hard to justify the cost, whereas for an arcade game it's understood that performance is critical to the success of the product so it's an easier argument for the design team to make.

You could also consider home computer/console games were more primitive back then and the performance may have seen as good enough without adding a shared memory system. Of course a MSX with shared memory on the TMS9918 would have been really great. :)

As an aside there seem to have been many successful efforts to use SRAMs instead of DRAM with the TMS9918 and Yamaha V99x8 parts with minimal extra components by hobbyists nowadays, so back then they could have moved to SRAMs easily. But that still requires more PCB space and more components. So total cost and saving money wherever you can probably drove a lot of the decision making to go with the stock TMS9918 setup instead of something better.

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  • "But that still requires more PCB space and more components" -- not really, as SRAMs are typically byte-wide, but byte-wide DRAMs didn't become common until much later, and even today are unusual for small sizes. Reducing board space is the usual argument I hear today for wanting to use SRAM with a 9918.
    – Jules
    Sep 22, 2018 at 7:25
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    @Jules For one, using SRAM with a 9918 already needs per se more chips, as the muxed VRAM address needs to demultiplexed - which is at least 2 additional chips. And to have another CPU access the VRAM another mux of at least 6 chips is needed to switch these two address and data busses (14+8+4 mux ports with 3 pins each). That's 8 TTL plus whatever needed to control them - so make the whole logic 10+ chips tax payed to enable that feature. I'd considere that a hefty part of a design.
    – Raffzahn
    Sep 22, 2018 at 9:36
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    @Jules While, byte-wide DRAM weren't a thing back than, nibble-wide were. 4416 16Kix4 cut the RAM count down to two. Entually offering a smaller package than the SRAM with their unmultiplexed address bus and 8 bit data bus.
    – Raffzahn
    Sep 22, 2018 at 9:41
  • @Raffzahn - my understanding is that the TMS9918 can't be used directly with a 4416 type chip because it expects unidirectional data buses, but the 4416 data pins are bidirectional. An additional MUX would be required for this solution, making it no better than the SRAM option.
    – Jules
    Sep 22, 2018 at 12:36
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    That's right, it needs one additional chip, for example a 74245 tristate buffer (With DIR grounded and RW on Enable), as the mux is already internally - the Dout lines are combined with the Address lines. And even with using a full two chip solution (buffer plus latch), it'll be only 4 chips (300 mil ones), compared to 8 when using 4116. And both are less than the mux+SRAM solution with more than 12 chips, two of them 600 mil (the RAMs). I can't realy see where your argument is going.
    – Raffzahn
    Sep 22, 2018 at 13:04
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The TMS9918 video display processor was designed in the 70s

To start with, the 9918 was not being designed as a general purpose chip, especially not with Z80 systems in mind. It was a special design, made to fit for the TI 99/4. Before the 9918, there was the 9917 VTC (Video Timers/Controlers). A device comperable to the 6845 VDC or similar, capable of reading character codes just in time from a screen RAM, filter them thru a character ROM and build a screen frame.

To change content of the screen RAM from a CPU, that RAM needed to have a second port. And if that RAM should be a dynamic one, a third access path is needed for refresh. All much like with other contemporary VDC.

For the TI99/4 its designer didn't want to add a complicated mux logic for dual port access as well as they shunned the idea of building/adding a DRAM controller. Also some graphics abilities would be nice - after all, a homecomputer would look better with then without.

So the 9918 was born, integrating all of these components. Graphics, DRAM refresh and a second access port to make the RAM reachable by the CPU - plus some other components to reduce the 99/4s chip count. At it's core it's a special chip to fit the 99/4 design, not targeted at other designs. Having it also generating the CRU clock for the GROMs is not the least hint (*1,2).

Bottom line: The 9918 isn't your of the shelf general purpose beefed up VDC, but a special to type design for the 99/4A. Much like the VIC is made to fit the C64 - except that computer was a less advanced design. Imagine if Commodore hat used the VIC (or TED) not only in their machines, but also offered for sale like TI did.

in 15 memory cycles out of every 16, which can limit throughput somewhat

Keep in mind, these are VDP memory cycles, not CPU which in average were way slower.

especially if connected to faster than average processors: a 3.5MHz Z80 (e.g. as used in the MSX) might need a small delay between each access in a tight loop 1, but the VDP was still used into the mid-80s, by which time 8MHz Z80s were commonly available, and such a delay would be very limiting for such a processor.

Not really, this is a somewhat screwed assumption, as the 9918 memory is its own address space, not main memory. Of the 5 memory cycles of an ODIR (String output) of a Z80, which would be the appropriate use to shovel large amounts of data from or to VDP memory only one. that means only i one of 5 cases it has to wait. While that LDIR example may during some time break down effective speed to act more like a 3.5 MHz one, it even doesn't do so always (only in graphics mode and during line display).

In a real setup a CPU doen't usually just shovel big amounts of data in a continuous stream. For example to move some (non sprite) block, it will read one (or two) bytes, do some bitblitting then write them back and continue the next line until the block is done. This includes many non video memory operations, where the VDP RAM access time is not involved. Even more so, for everything else like sprite moves or such only single access cycles are needed - inbetween many many other. So in a real word application an 8 MHz Z80 is virtually not slowed down at all.

Bottom line: There is no essential performance gain in having a full dual port memory design, but a lot of additional cost.

The VDP is designed to use typical low-cost DRAM available in the mid-70s,

At that time not low cost, but the only available ones.

[... Argument about using a different RAM architecture and hidden access ...]

Sure, one could, but that would have made the 9918 a different chip with a different architecture. Plus needing to redo all software using the existing architecture - which is eventually way more expensive than 'just' a few chips.

It also would have opened a whole snake bin about addressing. A 9918 can be used by any CPU that could handle a single port plus a single Mode (address). No matter if it's a microcontroller or a 16 Bit CPU. And for classic 8 bit machines with their 64 Ki address space it offered the great advantage of having a separate video memory not cluttering the main address space - in case of MSX allowing the machines to have a full 64KiB RAM and all of it available to OS and application. Video was essential just an I/O device like a terminal ... except faster.

In case of MSX, that concept even enabled to soon reach 64 KiB of video memory and finally 192 with much improved capabilities and not taking away a single bit of main memory. Doing so in a shared memory with an 16 bit address space would have required rather complex and unsatisfying bank switching, adding slow software layers to make it available to anything but brute force assembly.

Bottom Line: Switching the interface and access strategy would have increased cost, reduced usability and brought no real world performance gain.

Were there any systems that did this, or if not is there a reason I'm not seeing why they either couldn't do it or it would have been too difficult to do?

No, the true question is why should they? The dual port logic was already provided by the 9918, so access was possible, there is no real life penalty by using it, but a huge gain in upward compatibility and extension, not to mention preserving the full 64 KiB address for the main CPU.

On a wider perspective than just the memory access issue, the TMS9918 can be seen as the genuine ancestor to all of today's video systems. While others like Apple, Atari, Commodore and Amiga extended a main memory concept (who needs 64 KiB anyway, lets use some for graphics), did the 9918 leapfrog all of this and offered a complete separated graphics subsystem. Much like IBM did with VGA (*2) and every of today's graphics cards provide a clear API and no display memory wrangling.

Using a separate and well defined hardware interface not only enabled easy and independent upgrade for larger memory size, but also adding high level screen manipulation functions like window related coordinates and regional memory handling but also line drawing and alike. All without changing much in the interface or main CPU memory.

*1 - The 9918 was also tasked with generating the CPU clock (hence the CPUCLK pin) for the planned single phase 9985 CPU, which should run at 3.58 MHz. Using the 9900 with it's 4 phase clock required a 9904, so the 'CPU'-clock was only used for the 9919 sound generator.

*2 - Another great hint is the missing of a wait signal (or READY in case of the 9900 interface). With the CPU speed intended for the 99/4 it would have been impossible to overrun the access time anyway. If it would have been intended as a general purpose chip, outputing a wait signal would have been way more useful as CPU or GROM clock. Adapting other CPUs would have been made transparent due hardware toggling (wait cycles) instead of cycle counting.

*3 Well, they did add a banked shared memory access, but here again the CPU was slowed down when video access was done - exactly the same way as with any other dual port design since 9918 :)

Primary intention of the designers was for user s access graphics only thru their high level interface. Offering that banked access mode was shooting themself in the knee.

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    They definitely started trying to sell it separately from their own machine early on, but that probably speaks only to corporate structure — if the chip producers were nominally independent then of course they'd go and look for additional sales channels. Here's a memo from 1981 lamenting the poor support that had been offered to potential customers, causing many to walk away: spatula-city.org/~im14u2c/vdp-99xx/e2/…
    – Tommy
    Sep 22, 2018 at 16:07
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    Jup, @Tommy, still it was sold for quite a lot of machines. There were'T so many designs, and most have been proprietary. But you're right. With just a little change, like adding a wait line (by droping one of the useless clocks), This woudl have benn a true megaseller. Then agin, it did sell good desprite the great support. Perfect from a management perspective.
    – Raffzahn
    Sep 22, 2018 at 16:23
  • On many platforms, a dedicated pin for readiness wouldn't be all that useful in and of itself. More useful would be a FIFO with a "nearly empty" indicator so code could poll the status until the FIFO is nearly empty, blindly read or write up to e.g. four bytes, and repeat. If checking status takes twice as long as writing a byte, having to check once every four bytes rather than once every byte will double throughput.
    – supercat
    Oct 15, 2018 at 20:13
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    The VIC was designed for general purpose kiosks at the time. Then used for the VIC-20. The VIC-II was designed for the C64.
    – cbmeeks
    Dec 19, 2018 at 19:32
  • Commander X16 is a good example of the principle the TMS9918 pioneered applied to new retro design. The VERA chip built from a modern FPGA contains all that is necessary for a "home computer"/"retro console" videochip (tiles, character generator, bitmaps, scroll register, sprites, etc..).
    – Patrick Schlüter
    Jan 4, 2021 at 18:28
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Were there any systems that did this, or if not is there a reason I'm not seeing why they either couldn't do it or it would have been too difficult to do?

There was no business case for it. No real applications which may bring revenue comparable to the investments into further R&D, testing and warranty.

The device performance, at that time of its usage in new designs, was enough not to lead to improvement of the circuitry around VDP. Later designs used chips like V99x8.

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