Obtaining Spare Parts

[jhd]

I have recently been watching some videos of Switch console diagnostics and repair. This is entirely entertainment for me as I do not have the skills to do board-level repairs on electronics.

 

That said, very often the technician fixes the problem by replacing faulty chips. I was under the impression that modern game consoles use almost entirely custom silicon (unlike, say, the ColceoVision which was made entirely of off-the-shelf components). Is it possible to purchase these custom chips at retail, or is it more a matter of salvaging parts from otherwise broken consoles?