Creality v1 1.3

If you have opened up an early Ender 3 or an older CR-series printer and found a green board marked Creality V1.1.3, you are looking at the mainboard — the single circuit board that runs the whole machine. It is not a printer model of its own, and it has no build volume, nozzle or print speed. Those belong to the printer it is installed in.

The V1.1.3 is an 8-bit controller board from the first generation of Creality’s budget printers. Understanding what it can and cannot do explains most of the quirks early Ender and CR owners run into: the loud stepper motors, the fiddly firmware updates, and the features that simply will not fit. This guide covers what the board is, which printers shipped with it, how it is laid out, its real limits, how to check which board you have, and the upgrade path to a modern silent board.

What the Creality V1.1.3 board is

The V1.1.3 is built around an ATmega1284P microcontroller — the same family of chip used in the open-source Melzi and Sanguino boards that many early desktop 3D printers were based on. Like those designs, it puts everything on one board: the processor, the stepper motor drivers, the heater outputs and all the connectors for the printer’s wiring.

Key facts about the board:

• 8-bit architecture with 128 KB of flash memory for firmware — enough for the basic Marlin firmware of its era, tight for modern feature-heavy builds.
• Soldered A4988-class stepper drivers for the X, Y, Z and extruder motors. These are fixed to the board and cannot be swapped or upgraded individually.
• Marlin-based firmware, configured by Creality for whichever printer the board was fitted into.
• Designed for the single-extruder, Cartesian printers Creality was selling at the time.

Which printers shipped with the V1.1.3?

The V1.1.3 appeared in Creality’s early production runs, most notably:

• Ender 3 — the first generations of the original Ender 3 (from its 2018 launch period) shipped with 8-bit boards in the V1.1.x family, including the V1.1.3.
• Ender 3 Pro — early Pro production used the same 8-bit board family before Creality moved the line to newer boards.
• CR-10 family — early CR-10-era machines also used V1.1.x boards, though the exact revision varied by model and production batch (some units carry closely related revisions such as V1.1.2 or V1.1.4).

A caution worth stating plainly: Creality changed board revisions during production runs without changing the printer’s model name, so two printers with the same name bought months apart can have different boards. Treat the list above as “commonly found in”, not a guarantee — the reliable way to know what you have is to read the board itself, covered below.

Board anatomy: what is on a V1.1.3

Everything on the printer plugs into this one board. The main elements are:

• ATmega1284P processor — runs the firmware, reads the G-code and coordinates motion, heating and the display.
• Four soldered stepper drivers (A4988-class) — one each for X, Y, Z and the extruder motor. Because they are soldered down, a failed driver means replacing the whole board.
• Stepper motor connectors — labelled sockets for the X, Y, Z and extruder (E) motors.
• Endstop connectors — inputs for the X, Y and Z minimum limit switches that the printer uses to home each axis.
• Thermistor inputs — one for the hotend and one for the heated bed, so the firmware can read and regulate both temperatures.
• Heater outputs — a high-current output for the hotend heater cartridge and one for the heated bed, switched by MOSFETs on the board.
• Fan outputs — connections for the part-cooling fan and the electronics/hotend fans. Fan control on these early boards is basic; not every fan is speed-controlled by firmware.
• Display connector — a ribbon-cable connection for the printer’s LCD screen and click-wheel controller.
• USB port — for printing from a computer or updating firmware — with an important catch, explained in the limits section below.
• Power input — takes the printer’s DC supply (24 V on the Ender 3 line, 12 V on the original CR-10 line).

The real limits of the V1.1.3

The board was adequate for a basic printer in 2018. Its limits show up as soon as you ask more of it:

Loud stepper motors

The A4988-class drivers run the motors in a basic stepping mode that produces the characteristic whine and “singing” noises early Ender and CR printers are known for. There is no silent mode and no way to add one — the drivers are soldered and their mode is fixed. If your printer is loud, this board is the reason.

Limited firmware space

Modern Marlin offers features such as linear advance, input shaping support, detailed LCD menus and multiple probe options — but a full-featured build will not fit comfortably in 128 KB of flash. Owners who compile firmware for this board routinely have to disable features to make room, and some current Marlin configurations simply target newer boards instead.

The bootloader problem

Many V1.1.x boards shipped without a USB bootloader. In plain terms: on those units you cannot just plug in a USB cable and flash new firmware. The first update requires burning a bootloader using a separate programmer — historically an Arduino board wired up as an ISP programmer, or a cheap USBasp device — connected to the board’s programming header. Once a bootloader is burned, later updates over USB become possible. This is the single most common stumbling block for owners of these boards, and it surprises people because nothing about the printer warns you about it.

Thermal and ageing considerations

The board sits in a small enclosure with modest airflow, and its bed-heater MOSFET works hard on long prints. Keeping the electronics fan working and the vents clear matters more on these early boards than on later designs. After years of service, heat cycling is also a normal reason for an old board to start behaving erratically.

How to identify your board version

You do not need to guess. Creality prints the board version directly on the PCB:

1. Power the printer off and unplug it.
2. Remove the electronics cover (on the Ender 3 line, the cover under the front of the base frame).
3. Look for the white silkscreen printing on the board near the Creality logo — it reads in the format “Creality V1.1.3” (or V1.1.2 / V1.1.4 / V2.x on other revisions, and V4.2.x on the later 32-bit boards).
4. While you are there, note whether the board is the green 8-bit style with a mini-USB-era layout, or a later board — the silkscreen version number is the part that matters for firmware selection.

Knowing the exact version matters because firmware files are board-specific: flashing firmware built for a different board can leave a printer unresponsive until the correct build is loaded.

The upgrade path: 4.2.2 and 4.2.7 silent boards

For most owners, the sensible upgrade is not to patch around the V1.1.3’s limits but to replace it with one of Creality’s later 32-bit boards:

• Creality V4.2.2 — the 32-bit board fitted to later Ender 3 family machines; many units carry silent TMC stepper drivers.
• Creality V4.2.7 — the widely sold silent upgrade board, with TMC2225 silent drivers, a proper bootloader and far more firmware headroom.

What changes with the swap:

• Noise — silent drivers remove most stepper whine; on an Ender-class machine the fans become the loudest part.
• Firmware — a bootloader is present, so updates go over USB/card the normal way, and modern Marlin features fit.
• Processing headroom — the 32-bit processor handles higher step rates and additional features (such as running a bed-levelling probe) more comfortably.

Wiring notes: on the Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro, the 4.2.x boards are close to a drop-in replacement — the connectors for motors, endstops, thermistors, heaters and fans carry over, and the main jobs are labelling every wire before removal and matching each one to the same connector on the new board. Our 4.2.2 board diagram and pinout guide shows every connector and is the reference to work from during the swap. On CR-10-family machines, treat the swap with more care — display types and wiring differ by model, so confirm your exact printer’s compatibility before ordering, rather than assuming an Ender board will suit.

One honest caution: board revisions and driver chips varied even within the 4.2.x line, so check the exact board and driver variant you are buying, and keep your old board until the printer is fully tested on the new one.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Creality V1.1.3 a 3D printer?

No. The V1.1.3 is a mainboard — the controller board inside a printer. It was fitted to early Ender 3, early Ender 3 Pro and some CR-10-family machines. Build volume, nozzle size and print speed are properties of the printer, not of this board.

Can I make my V1.1.3 printer quiet?

Not with this board fitted. The loud stepper noise comes from its soldered A4988-class drivers, which have no silent mode and cannot be replaced individually. The standard fix is a board swap to a silent-driver board such as the V4.2.7.

Why can’t I update the firmware over USB?

Many V1.1.x boards left the factory without a bootloader, so the USB connection cannot accept firmware directly. Burning a bootloader once — using an Arduino as an ISP programmer or a USBasp — enables normal USB updates afterwards. Alternatively, a replacement 4.2.x board already has a bootloader.

How do I check which board my printer has?

Open the electronics cover and read the version printed in white silkscreen on the board itself, next to the Creality logo — for example “Creality V1.1.3”. The printer’s model name alone is not reliable, because Creality changed boards during production runs.

Is upgrading from V1.1.3 to V4.2.7 worth it?

If you keep the printer, usually yes: you get silent motors, straightforward firmware updates and room for modern features and a levelling probe. If the printer is otherwise worn out, weigh the board swap against putting the same money toward a newer machine — but for a sound Ender 3 or Pro, the board is the upgrade that removes the most daily frustrations.