Hacking Sx Core and Sx Lite , test Units Received

[xadra]

Nothing concrete but it could be considered as news:

 

[MrSandstorm]

no way of knowing if he actually got away with it till a few months from now
if that thing overheats and melts away the solder used to put in the TX lite chip and he can;t boot then i guess he will know

Oh, he'll get away with it. I can tell because I've once put that paste through worse.

A few years ago I had this discussion with a friend, about how far we could push that exact crappy paste before it became completely useless, so I decided to try and see. Got an old i7-870 with that near-useless Intel stock cooler, applied that paste and left it running Prime95 Small FFT's test for 8 hours on a hot day (~35C ambient). The CPU stayed at 97C all the way through, and thermal-throttled roughly 30%, but still works to this day.

Now, that i7 is a 95W part, that usually goes up to 110~120W at stock, and it survived, so the Tegra X1 on the Switch should be fine. Maybe some 10-20 degrees above what it would usually run at, but won't get damaged and definitely won't melt any solder. The constant heating up and cooling down might crack the BGA solder joints between it and the mainboard over the years, though.

 

[FR0ZN]

Nothing concrete but it could be considered as news:

Where is this? Discord? Or their Chat server?

 

[rbtnt]

Where is this? Discord? Or their Chat server?

Their chat server TX doesn't operate on discord anymore.

 

[Astur_torque]

Oh, he'll get away with it. I can tell because I've once put that paste through worse.

A few years ago I had this discussion with a friend, about how far we could push that exact crappy paste before it became completely useless, so I decided to try and see. Got an old i7-870 with that near-useless Intel stock cooler, applied that paste and left it running Prime95 Small FFT's test for 8 hours on a hot day (~35C ambient). The CPU stayed at 97C all the way through, and thermal-throttled roughly 30%, but still works to this day.

Now, that i7 is a 95W part, that usually goes up to 110~120W at stock, and it survived, so the Tegra X1 on the Switch should be fine. Maybe some 10-20 degrees above what it would usually run at, but won't get damaged and definitely won't melt any solder. The constant heating up and cooling down might crack the BGA solder joints between it and the mainboard over the years, though.

The soldering iron heats much more than those 100 degrees pre-throttling I'm sure.. it's completely unlikely this heat destroys everything

 

[MrSandstorm]

The soldering iron heats much more than those 100 degrees pre-throttling I'm sure.. it's completely unlikely this heat destroys everything

Exactly, it won't melt the joints or anything. Only thing that might happen is long-term damage due to thermal stress, though even that would seem unlikely with a sub 15W chip like the X1.

 

[musashiro]

i was hoping rossman levels of soldering but with all the videos showing up, i think i can do it with a detailed guide.. i wonder if clones are now making their move..

still hoping for a software solution though

 

[Hongtm77]

He said he will be uploading the full installation video later.

 

[2noob4u2]

Sorry guys there is a post count limit. PM me for any questions, thank you.

Sad x(
I'll send you a message soon.

Nothing concrete but it could be considered as news:

 

[Thejigmaster]

Sad x(
I'll send you a message soon.

Yeah it doesn't specify directly but in the FAQ for the general trading agreement its 100 posts.

 

[weatMod]

Exactly, it won't melt the joints or anything. Only thing that might happen is long-term damage due to thermal stress, though even that would seem unlikely with a sub 15W chip like the X1.

what do you think about using solder paste and a hot air tool for this mod , do you think it would be easier?
i never used a hot air tool but i know some of them have different temp as well as air flow speed settings
you think it would work or would it blow away the solder and other SMD's ?
someone was recommending a cheap $40 combo solder hot air station on /csg/ a few months ago from aliexpress i think
i wonder if i should order it
i really need a good variable temp soldering iron station anyways $40 is cheap for the that alone but this has the hot air tool too

 

[semzorro]

Nothing concrete but it could be considered as news:

At least it is something.

 

[MrSandstorm]

what to do think about using solder paste and hot air took for this mod , do you think it would be easier?
i never used a hot air tool but in know some of them have different temp as well as air flow speed settings
you think it would work or would it blow away the solder and other SMD's ?
someone was recommending a cheap $40 combo solder hot air station on /csg/ a few months ago from aliexpress i think
i wonder if i should order it
i really need a good variable temp soldering iron station anyways $40 is cheap for the that alone but this has the hot air tool too

I think you should choose whatever method makes you feel more comfortable, but personally I wouldn't use hot air for this, and I think it would actually make the job more difficult.

With hot air you'll be heating not only the desired solder points but also everything around them, and while it's not that likely that you'll blow away SMDs, it's not impossible, and what's more likely, you could end up damaging nearby components if you don't gauge the amount of heat correctly.

There's also the issue that we don't know yet what material those flat cables are made of, but flexible materials don't usually deal with heat very well, so the iron would be better as it can apply heat more precisely just to the pads instead of the whole thing.

This is all my personal opinion, and I'd be very grateful for any corrections, suggestions or different takes people here might have.

If you choose to buy tools from aliexpress, make sure to look for reviews on youtube or some other place you trust. Those cheap hot air stations, for example, sometimes lack proper fail-safes and the handpiece (where the heater and fan are located) could potentially melt itself or start a fire if the fan fails and the station doesn't cut power to the heater. I'm not saying they're all bad, and there are many good quality tools on aliexpress, but do exercise caution.

 

[illusi0ns]

i was hoping rossman levels of soldering but with all the videos showing up, i think i can do it with a detailed guide.. i wonder if clones are now making their move..

still hoping for a software solution though

lol rossman is kool hence why i normaly point noobs in the direction of his vids for soldering

 

[Blyton]

Didnt they say in the first announcements that there will be a method without soldering which works but not as good as the soldering one?
What happened to that?

 

[XD2020]

Looking on Amazon, the smallest tip for my iron seems to be 0.79 mm. Is that an okay size for soldering the resistors? Thought someone said 0.38mm but don’t see them that small.

Edit: Hm, guess needle is smaller than conical but doesn’t transfer much heat.

https://www.amazon.com/Baitaihem-Re...ild=1&keywords=sp40nkus&qid=1590335801&sr=8-5

 

[Astur_torque]

Any tiny tip compatible with JBC?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Didnt they say in the first announcements that there will be a method without soldering which works but not as good as the soldering one?
What happened to that?

Maybe it was inviable

 

[weatMod]

I think you should choose whatever method makes you feel more comfortable, but personally I wouldn't use hot air for this, and I think it would actually make the job more difficult.

With hot air you'll be heating not only the desired solder points but also everything around them, and while it's not that likely that you'll blow away SMDs, it's not impossible, and what's more likely, you could end up damaging nearby components if you don't gauge the amount of heat correctly.

There's also the issue that we don't know yet what material those flat cables are made of, but flexible materials don't usually deal with heat very well, so the iron would be better as it can apply heat more precisely just to the pads instead of the whole thing.

This is all my personal opinion, and I'd be very grateful for any corrections, suggestions or different takes people here might have.

If you choose to buy tools from aliexpress, make sure to look for reviews on youtube or some other place you trust. Those cheap hot air stations, for example, sometimes lack proper fail-safes and the handpiece (where the heater and fan are located) could potentially melt itself or start a fire if the fan fails and the station doesn't cut power to the heater. I'm not saying they're all bad, and there are many good quality tools on aliexpress, but do exercise caution.

i also thought about using something like this
https://www.amazon.com/0-25ML-Silve...ld=1&keywords=wire+glue&qid=1590337200&sr=8-5

or this



looks like it could do the job not sure about durability though




what do you think?
silver is the best conductor and i don't think we are need that much current to be transferred through the solder points anyways

if the chip doesn't get that hot then maybe this stuff would hold up
but i never used it and i don't know much about it, tolerances etc.
sees like this would be the easiest safest option

 

[0x3000027E]

rossman levels of soldering

rossman levels of *flux*

 

[flufffluff]

i also thought about using something like this
https://www.amazon.com/0-25ML-Silve...ld=1&keywords=wire+glue&qid=1590337200&sr=8-5

or this



looks like it could do the job not sure about durability though




what do you think?
silver is the best conductor and i don't think we are need that much current to be transferred through the solder points anyways

if the ship doesn't get that hot then maybe this stuff would hold up
but i never used it and i don't know much about it, tolerances etc.
sees like this would be the easiest safest option

looks like a nice solution without a solder/iron more like glueing it, is there more info about that ? also heat wise ?