The increasing demand for streaming services led to a surge in network traffic, prompting hardware advancements such as faster bandwidth and more powerful processors. It’s now common to find multicore CPUs tailored for network equipment, notably in routers, expanding their capabilities into media servers, robust firewalls, Quality of Service, or future-proofing for evolving needs.
Released in 2013, the TP-Link WDR4900 featured a PowerPC e500v2 32-bit processor. The WDR4xxx series, including this model, is widely favored for modifications and compatibility with open-source network software such as OpenWrt, DD-WRT, and Tomato. Remarkably, some of these software options continue to receive updates, ensuring ongoing support for these aging routers.
While the router board offers various connectivity choices, it notably lacks a PCIe slot. However, hackers identified as “Manawyrm” and “tSYS” successfully manually added this slot, enabling them to connect an external GPU, specifically the Radeon HD 7470, as reported by Tom’s Hardware. With this setup, they managed to run one of the all-time popular games, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Achieving this configuration, though, is no simple task.
Adding the Mini PCIe slot requires manual soldering onto the board. The extension cable links to the external GPU, which then outputs data to the screen. Initially, the intention was to employ a more modern Radeon RX 570 graphics card, but due to driver complications, a shift to legacy drivers became necessary. These drivers support the HD 7470, featuring an AMD Caicos GPU with 160 shading units and 1GB of GDDR5 memory—sufficient for running GTA Vice City.
It’s important to mention that the processor’s architecture required a special version of the game. A public reverse-engineered edition of GTA Vice City had to be compiled specifically for the PowerPC processor. This endeavor proved successful, involving the integration of Mesa 3D drivers and extensive software adjustments.
Undoubtedly, it’s a fascinating accomplishment, but attempting it independently is not advisable. The realm of modern hardware hacking has made significant strides; one can only speculate about the hardware GTA 6 might run on in the next decade.
Source: KittenLabs