@@bitsundbolts Maybe you have a donor board with some other bad damage and can try to hot-air off the entire chip? Would be interesting to see your attempt at that.
@@bitsundbolts Even if the chip works now it may stop working later because the case will allow ingress of air and other stuff making the chip degrade much faster. Not to mention structural problem that comes with the crack. Personally, I think it's beyond repair in this state.
@@MomirPeh Agree. Thou would be fun to see him still try, just to see if by cheer chance it still works with that crack, but then is garbage bin with that.
Just a heads up, the Sequre HT140 has a some what concerning voltage leak issue at the tips because it is ungrounded. Shouldn't be an issue, as long as you don't ground the tool to whatever you're working on. northwestrepair made video on the issue if that interests you.
This looks like a very capable tool. The fact that you can turn off the prongs individually makes this super interesting. That would be so useful in cases where one side of what you are holding with the tweezers cannot take the heat.
nice repair, Alex. i finally understood how voodoo works in pure DOS (6.22), with 86Box, maaan, the difference is so obvious in Descent, Tomb Raider, Carmageddon 2, i couldn't believe it, it was just amazing!
I winced seeing some of those legs on the 3Dfx chip come off so cleanly. Glad this was a successful repair with your new friend there, though. Definitely thinking about picking up a pair of those tweezers myself when I start my home business.
I really appreciate your reverence for the 3Dfx Voodoo series of cards. They were such a great company, and their cards were awesome-- it's a shame they mismanaged themselves into oblivion, right when they were poised to take over the industry. I remember when I finally had to switch to using DirectX and OpenGL instead of Glide, and I remember noticing that Glide always seemed "smoother" and more consistent with it's frames-per-second-- especially in racing games like Need For Speed III and IV. The Glide version felt more real and responsive, and the DirectX versions always felt like it was struggling to maintain consistent frames. Always wondered why.
There is some chance that cracked chip still ok but not so big chance. Maybe crack destroy only plastic housing. Chance that crack destroy silicon - not so big. But chance that crack destroy gold microwires that goes to silicon - unfortunately much higher. But not 100%. According to multiple other damaged parts - this board better to consider as donor. Or! As a very cool repair challenge which we would be happy to watch on future videos ))) If it works after repair - it will be something incredibly cool. Such work is definitely worth deeply respecting. And if not, well, it will just be a very interesting video.
you have an ultrasonic cleaner! I am jealous now :) Nice fix, nice to see one of those two cards come back to life. Weird I didn't spot the crack when I had it here! Too bad. I doubt it'll work...
I watch hdd repair services on youtube. He has tweazers as well. They probably cost a lot more than yours, but he moves caps from donor to patient all the time with them. It's just as easy to solder. I think the key is making sure there is enough solder on the pad already.
I've faced the chip cracked this way once. It was ITI Rage 2. Mine was dead, even thought the crack didn't cover the entire chip up to the top. It was like 80% or so. Sadly that one looks really bad. Now with that tweezers any a tiny bit scratched capacitor would be resoldered. 😃 Is a nice tool to have. And a good practice.
you should check the voltage leak (both ac and dc) in those tweezers there are a bunch on the market that have those problems that can lead to frying some components. A few people have reviewed a few and not a lot were all that great.
Decades ago I had a motherboard, I dropped a screwdriver and it landed on the Northbridge. The Northbridge package cracked but that motherboard continued to function for another decade... So, there's always a chance that that chip may work, but chances are slim.
I'd still try it, what's the worst that could happen? The chip let's the smoke out? It's already half way to the scrap pile... 😂 Don't take the chip off yet until you have to, taking it off might crack the silicon...
Great repair! Those tweezers seem really useful. I don't have a lot of hope for the card with the cracked chip, but look forward to se you attempting to repair it. If it's dead, you could try to remove the top of the chip so we can see the die (or what's left of it) under the microscope :-)
Good to have so much specialized equipment. I ran out of space long time ago. I can do hot air, but that's about it. I tried swapping an SMD version of a 486 and failed. Lost a very rare socket adapter. Also, don't have any serious magnification. Using regular lenses and things are still too small sometimes. Swapping a BIOS chip in an LCD display took an hour once, because of how hard it was to align. Repairs are both a challenge and frustration. I have plenty of Voodoo cards, and most still run fine. They're special. 3D Acceleration was beyond my budget in the past, so I purchased all my Voodoo's long after the brand went out of business.
Be careful with the soldered tweezers! They can have too much volts if you measure the metal. The were one on UA-cam (Northwestrepair) in a fairly new video that has the same as measured too much volts which can ruin sensitive electronics! Go to the channel and watch the video
I'm no expert on these things, but one way to see how bad the cracked chip is would be to desolder it from the board. If it stays as one piece once removed there would be more chance of it working. If you end up with two halves then unless you can perform miracles it would be beyond repair.
I been watching your videos for sometime ether my memory was broken but possible but i thought you where in germany or somewhere like that, anyway Happy new year.
There was maybe a chance that the cracked chip would have worked, but using the ultrasonic cleaner likely killed it. For future: use epoxy to seal the chip, then remove it from board and check underside, seal it there also if needed. Chances are very small though, even if the silicon is fine, the bonding wires were likely broken across the crack. Those wires are so thin you can't believe it.
Instant sponge preparation instructions: add instant sponge to a small container (preferably the tray of a desoldering tweezer), add 3.5ml water, wait 0.2 seconds and your sponge is ready to use. 😂
Also depending on how deep that crack is because not only would it probably render the chip dead and the epoxy would not be able to reach that deep anyway
Regarding the crack, I can't say good or bad. I'd hit it with hot air and lift it off the board to inspect the underside. If it comes off in two pieces it was already a goner.
I actually think theres a non zereo chance the chip is still working. If it is, you should seal the crack with epoxy though, to stop moisture ingress wich will kill the chip over time.
I suspect that the cracked 3dfx chip is probably a goner. However, the only way to know for sure would be to reflow the pins and give it a test. But I probably wouldn't trust it, as who knows how the crack would affect the chip (and its interconnects) as the chip goes through thermal cycles. Still, if you attempt it, I would watch it.
Some may find this sort of thing unnecessary, but one of these days, after the war, these skills may be required to bring mankind back from the stone age. I mean the 3dfx cards specifically :)
Its game over for the cracked chip. To crack a large QFP that much requires A LOT of force. The silicon will definitely be cracked in half as well. Not a chance in h3ll of it working. You'll need to replace it.
Great content, as always! I have a quick question: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (mistake turkey blossom warfare blade until bachelor fall squeeze today flee guitar). How should I go about transferring them to Binance?
That chip is a gonner.. your only hope is to get one from a dead donor card !!! even if it is not completely through with the first heat cycle it will be
The silicon inside on the cracked chip is so thin that it could have flexed and survived if you're extra lucky? If i'm extra generous. If i was a betting person, i'd bet about 100:1 that the chip is no longer alive. What speaks for it possibly not being cracked is that i once extracted silicon die from a chip by heating and wrenching on it pretty hard until i cracked the epoxy and the die didn't look cracked under the microscope, also supported by the floor with t-pad of the leadframe which helped, but i kind of expect that the die area here is much larger than the chip that i opened up so it's much much less likely to survive. Also bondwires are quite easy to break and you've got a lot of those that you all need, like they're hugged on all sides by the epoxy casting, really don't see them surviving. Maybe someday we develop means to extract dies from epoxy without damage and re-terminate bare dies at home, who knows. Sounds crazy but so many things used to sound crazy 20-40 years ago that we routinely do today.
So the chip is cracked right in the middle, let's stick it in the Ultrasonic cleaner the water getting in there won't hurt! 😄 @pilluch lower down the comments has offered you a new chip. Bob
I have a donor Voodoo2 that I could send to you in order to possibly replace the split chip. I'll send you an email, just write me back if you're interested in the donor card ☺
I think that cracked is gone, but would be nice to see you attempting to bring it to life, I would be very impressed!!
I started working on the card... That crack goes through the entire height of the chip. I'll still try to see what and if something can be done.
Yeah that looks like a death-sentence for this chip, i don't expect this to be fixable without a donor chip.
@@bitsundbolts Maybe you have a donor board with some other bad damage and can try to hot-air off the entire chip?
Would be interesting to see your attempt at that.
@@bitsundbolts Even if the chip works now it may stop working later because the case will allow ingress of air and other stuff making the chip degrade much faster. Not to mention structural problem that comes with the crack. Personally, I think it's beyond repair in this state.
@@MomirPeh Agree. Thou would be fun to see him still try, just to see if by cheer chance it still works with that crack, but then is garbage bin with that.
lol ominous music as the crack is discovered.... dont need alcohol to see that one
Hehe. Yeah, that crack is very visible - once I've seen it through the microscope, it can't be unseen.
i read the words 'Hot' and 'Tweezers' and my brain auto-completed Louis Rossmann's old macbook repair videos.
We got no PPBus_G3HOT 😟
The chance of that cracked chip working was already very very low, but after the ultrasonic cleaning I would say it has dropped to zero.
If this statement is true, such kind of chip would be dead just from environment exposure so no difference.
Congratulations on your new donor card 😇
Just a heads up, the Sequre HT140 has a some what concerning voltage leak issue at the tips because it is ungrounded. Shouldn't be an issue, as long as you don't ground the tool to whatever you're working on. northwestrepair made video on the issue if that interests you.
This looks like a very capable tool. The fact that you can turn off the prongs individually makes this super interesting. That would be so useful in cases where one side of what you are holding with the tweezers cannot take the heat.
Thank you so much for keeping up the great work ever since I subscribed to your channel I always enjoy all the videos that you put out
nice repair, Alex. i finally understood how voodoo works in pure DOS (6.22), with 86Box, maaan, the difference is so obvious in Descent, Tomb Raider, Carmageddon 2, i couldn't believe it, it was just amazing!
Wow I forgot about Descent... when I would mention games like Doom, Hexen, Heretic, Duke Nukem 3D, Blood and many others I had forgot about that game.
I winced seeing some of those legs on the 3Dfx chip come off so cleanly. Glad this was a successful repair with your new friend there, though. Definitely thinking about picking up a pair of those tweezers myself when I start my home business.
I really appreciate your reverence for the 3Dfx Voodoo series of cards. They were such a great company, and their cards were awesome-- it's a shame they mismanaged themselves into oblivion, right when they were poised to take over the industry.
I remember when I finally had to switch to using DirectX and OpenGL instead of Glide, and I remember noticing that Glide always seemed "smoother" and more consistent with it's frames-per-second-- especially in racing games like Need For Speed III and IV. The Glide version felt more real and responsive, and the DirectX versions always felt like it was struggling to maintain consistent frames. Always wondered why.
There is some chance that cracked chip still ok but not so big chance. Maybe crack destroy only plastic housing. Chance that crack destroy silicon - not so big. But chance that crack destroy gold microwires that goes to silicon - unfortunately much higher. But not 100%. According to multiple other damaged parts - this board better to consider as donor. Or! As a very cool repair challenge which we would be happy to watch on future videos ))) If it works after repair - it will be something incredibly cool. Such work is definitely worth deeply respecting. And if not, well, it will just be a very interesting video.
you have an ultrasonic cleaner! I am jealous now :)
Nice fix, nice to see one of those two cards come back to life. Weird I didn't spot the crack when I had it here! Too bad. I doubt it'll work...
3dfx und voodoo! Best channel, thanks for another 3dfx saved 🙏 🙌 👍🏻 my best videos of all
I watch hdd repair services on youtube. He has tweazers as well. They probably cost a lot more than yours, but he moves caps from donor to patient all the time with them. It's just as easy to solder. I think the key is making sure there is enough solder on the pad already.
I've faced the chip cracked this way once. It was ITI Rage 2. Mine was dead, even thought the crack didn't cover the entire chip up to the top. It was like 80% or so. Sadly that one looks really bad.
Now with that tweezers any a tiny bit scratched capacitor would be resoldered. 😃
Is a nice tool to have. And a good practice.
you should check the voltage leak (both ac and dc) in those tweezers there are a bunch on the market that have those problems that can lead to frying some components. A few people have reviewed a few and not a lot were all that great.
Decades ago I had a motherboard, I dropped a screwdriver and it landed on the Northbridge. The Northbridge package cracked but that motherboard continued to function for another decade... So, there's always a chance that that chip may work, but chances are slim.
I'd still try it, what's the worst that could happen? The chip let's the smoke out? It's already half way to the scrap pile... 😂
Don't take the chip off yet until you have to, taking it off might crack the silicon...
Great repair! Those tweezers seem really useful.
I don't have a lot of hope for the card with the cracked chip, but look forward to se you attempting to repair it. If it's dead, you could try to remove the top of the chip so we can see the die (or what's left of it) under the microscope :-)
Good to have so much specialized equipment. I ran out of space long time ago. I can do hot air, but that's about it. I tried swapping an SMD version of a 486 and failed. Lost a very rare socket adapter. Also, don't have any serious magnification. Using regular lenses and things are still too small sometimes. Swapping a BIOS chip in an LCD display took an hour once, because of how hard it was to align. Repairs are both a challenge and frustration. I have plenty of Voodoo cards, and most still run fine. They're special. 3D Acceleration was beyond my budget in the past, so I purchased all my Voodoo's long after the brand went out of business.
There is a chance the cracked chip is ok. If the crack isn't over the die but over the leadframe you shouldn't have an issue.
9:56 I went "Oh no" at the exact same time!
Be careful with the soldered tweezers!
They can have too much volts if you measure the metal. The were one on UA-cam (Northwestrepair) in a fairly new video that has the same as measured too much volts which can ruin sensitive electronics! Go to the channel and watch the video
You need to play Doom on the soldering iron. It's just what needs to happen. 🤘
I'm no expert on these things, but one way to see how bad the cracked chip is would be to desolder it from the board. If it stays as one piece once removed there would be more chance of it working. If you end up with two halves then unless you can perform miracles it would be beyond repair.
I wonder if CuriousMarc would decap of one of the dead 3DFX chips and explain the internal circuitry?
The cracked one probably won't work, but what else can you do but patch it up and try it.
❤❤❤❤❤❤ xin chào
Excellent video
white pumpkin plant seed will be amazing
I been watching your videos for sometime ether my memory was broken but possible but i thought you where in germany or somewhere like that, anyway Happy new year.
There was maybe a chance that the cracked chip would have worked, but using the ultrasonic cleaner likely killed it. For future: use epoxy to seal the chip, then remove it from board and check underside, seal it there also if needed. Chances are very small though, even if the silicon is fine, the bonding wires were likely broken across the crack. Those wires are so thin you can't believe it.
Just so everyone knows, it's the scrappers who do all this damage to the cards, the very people he's buying them from.
USB-C excitement. Also it seems interesting considering that a USB device is able to solder which seems odd to me.
Instant sponge preparation instructions: add instant sponge to a small container (preferably the tray of a desoldering tweezer), add 3.5ml water, wait 0.2 seconds and your sponge is ready to use. 😂
i cant imagine what happened to card so chip is cracked like that😢😟
If the chip would be still working then maybe you could fill that gap with some kind of thermal epoxy depending on how severe that crack is
Also depending on how deep that crack is because not only would it probably render the chip dead and the epoxy would not be able to reach that deep anyway
Regarding the crack, I can't say good or bad. I'd hit it with hot air and lift it off the board to inspect the underside. If it comes off in two pieces it was already a goner.
I actually think theres a non zereo chance the chip is still working. If it is, you should seal the crack with epoxy though, to stop moisture ingress wich will kill the chip over time.
Shouldn't the cracked 3D FX be sealed before submersion?
I suspect that the cracked 3dfx chip is probably a goner. However, the only way to know for sure would be to reflow the pins and give it a test. But I probably wouldn't trust it, as who knows how the crack would affect the chip (and its interconnects) as the chip goes through thermal cycles. Still, if you attempt it, I would watch it.
Some may find this sort of thing unnecessary, but one of these days, after the war, these skills may be required to bring mankind back from the stone age. I mean the 3dfx cards specifically :)
Its game over for the cracked chip. To crack a large QFP that much requires A LOT of force. The silicon will definitely be cracked in half as well. Not a chance in h3ll of it working. You'll need to replace it.
Hahaha at 15:15 you found Sponge Bob!!!!
Great content, as always! I have a quick question: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (mistake turkey blossom warfare blade until bachelor fall squeeze today flee guitar). How should I go about transferring them to Binance?
Another excellent video! An off topic question where did you take the jazz background music you used on your videos? They are so relaxing...
Nice one!
the cracked one would need a donor FBI chip, maybe a card that had the gold fingers chopped off by a savage animal gold hunter?
I've seen chips take extreme abuse and keep working.
But that cracked chip I would just go ahead and replace.
I think i had shiny surfaces in UNREAL on my MX420 or do i remember it wrong?Do only 3dfx have that effect?
Why didn't you use the tweezers to solder SMD components back on? Did you try it and it did not help? May be you said something and I didn't catch it.
There's always a chance mate... they're just REALLY small this time hehehe
How did these get so damaged?
22:32 that looks like someone's fix, like they put some loose braided wire in there.
That chip is a gonner.. your only hope is to get one from a dead donor card !!! even if it is not completely through with the first heat cycle it will be
BEWARE☠💥⚡
My friends have recorded 50Vpp between tip and ground/earth while working with this iron!
The silicon inside on the cracked chip is so thin that it could have flexed and survived if you're extra lucky? If i'm extra generous. If i was a betting person, i'd bet about 100:1 that the chip is no longer alive.
What speaks for it possibly not being cracked is that i once extracted silicon die from a chip by heating and wrenching on it pretty hard until i cracked the epoxy and the die didn't look cracked under the microscope, also supported by the floor with t-pad of the leadframe which helped, but i kind of expect that the die area here is much larger than the chip that i opened up so it's much much less likely to survive. Also bondwires are quite easy to break and you've got a lot of those that you all need, like they're hugged on all sides by the epoxy casting, really don't see them surviving.
Maybe someday we develop means to extract dies from epoxy without damage and re-terminate bare dies at home, who knows. Sounds crazy but so many things used to sound crazy 20-40 years ago that we routinely do today.
the cracked chip will work intermittently, and will freeze randomly, at best. At worst, that chip is dead, Jim.
Even if the silicon isn't cracked, there is a high chance the traces are cracked. There is almost no chance.
cover up the sponge with water - the more water the better
I'll bet my iFixit kit has a bit for those tiny grubscrews.
Haha fill that crack up with some silicone ;) (Bathroom caulk - it'll hold)
So the chip is cracked right in the middle, let's stick it in the Ultrasonic cleaner the water getting in there won't hurt! 😄
@pilluch lower down the comments has offered you a new chip. Bob
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ xin chào các bạn . Tôi đến từ viet nam
card 2 = and the quarterback is toast
MY Voodoo 2 12MB PCI PASS OK
If it works great you are amassing. If not try to remove remaining plastic to expose the 3d fx core.
99,9% this chip is not ok
I have a donor Voodoo2 that I could send to you in order to possibly replace the split chip. I'll send you an email, just write me back if you're interested in the donor card ☺