It depends on the internals - there are "Model 1" Saturns that have internals that are pretty much identical to the "Model 2" ones. With the Japanese models, you can tell which generation is it based on the model number: HST-3200: The original "Model 1" with the PSU in the top HST-3210: Later "Model 1" units with the PSU on the lower chassis HST-3220: Model 2 (I.E. "White Saturn") So if you have a US machine that has the PSU in the top section of the shell, you should be able to swap it with the case for a HST-3200. Any other combination has to be worked out on a case-by-case (sorry) basis.
hey thanks for clearing that up for me. did a few searches but couldnt find anything relevent. should have just looked first here thanks again
We are generally pretty helpful people here - and I don't blame you for being confused, since the whole "Model 1" and "Model 2" thing is a perpetual source of confusion anyway. You can also work out what hardware is inside the case from the serial number (well, as long as it hasn't been swapped over) - it's the character 7 positions from the end. So, to take one of the Japanese units I have here: P64 057583 | | | | Actual serial number | | | Hardware revision (I.E. "VA4") | | Manufacturing year (I.E. 1996) | Factory identifier (I.E. "Seiyo D.") If you get two units with the same VA number, then you should be able to swap them. If they are different, then you need to check.
Note that the VA number does not need to be a perfect match. There have been many variants of certain boards (with SD RAM, with SG RAM, with separate SH1, with ASIC SH1, etc), which got different VA numbers but the form factor was the same. The major form factors are: - VA0 launch models, they use completely different EMI shield, different cd drive pegs, top mounted PSU, CD-block is on a secondary board. - VA1-5: "longer" bottom mounted power supply, separate controller sub-board. - VA6-15: "shorter" bottom mounted power supply, combined single board design. HST-3200 were all VA0, HST-3210 were VA1-3, HST-3220 were VA2-15. Model 1s in general were VA0-3, Model 2s were VA2-15. So as long as both your model 1s are VA0, or both of them are either VA1, 2, or 3, then they can be swapped.
