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BLIssID

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Location
Connecticut
ok well my new nf7-s R2 board doesn't like to overvolt the memory voltage like my old 1.2 board. so i'm looking into doing the vdimm mod for this board.

i need some help on picking up some supplies from radioshack.
heres a link:
soldering supplies
i'm trying to decide if the 15watt, or the 25watt soldering iron is best for this job. also ill need some fine solder, if someone would point me in the right direction, it would help me out a lot.

thanks!
 
I use a 25 watt iron for all of my vmods, but just make sure you find one with a very thin tip. The way I solder the wires on to the IC's is by tinning the wire first, then putting a very small amount of flux on the end, so it really doesn't matter how fine the solder is. I then sandwich the wire between the leg of the IC and the iron for a few seconds, and the wire is soldered on.
 
Irons are the only way to go, guns are terribly inacurate, and not very practial for computer use.
 
mateo88 said:
I use a 25 watt iron for all of my vmods, but just make sure you find one with a very thin tip. The way I solder the wires on to the IC's is by tinning the wire first, then putting a very small amount of flux on the end, so it really doesn't matter how fine the solder is. I then sandwich the wire between the leg of the IC and the iron for a few seconds, and the wire is soldered on.

yup thats exactly what i had in mind!

i'm gonna practice on my cousin's old P4 board, thats now dead before i do it on mine.

also one more question, if you look on that link, on the 2nd solder page, would it matter if i used the silver bearing solder, or the lead-free solder?

thanks
 
Im also reading up on the vdimm mod for my mobo.. Havent done any vmods yet.. and planing on practicing on a old mobo..

Im a little confused about flux..and tinning..

From what I understand so far tinning is covering the end of the wire with solder before soldering it to the mobo..

And ...FLUX.. this gets put on the spot that your soldering and the wire before and after tinning it ?

What does FLUX do ?

sorry im a noobie when it comes to this ;)


Thunda
 
k i did the volt mod, everything went great!

thanks for all the info guys, i can't wait to push my mushkin to the limit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
 
arg, i ran into a problem.

volt mod went fine, p95 didn't want to pass for more then 20mins on the blend test. no matter what voltage i gave the ram.

was not even stable at a speed that i knew for a fact was stable before the mod.

so i was looking at the trimmer case and noticed that it was 1.25watt. The one that motherboardFAQ recommend is the 0.75watt one. Could this be the problem? i know for a fact that the soldering went fine, all connections were fine.

also one more question, does it matter which ground point i use on the trimmer? i first tried point 1, then 3 point, both leading to screw holes.

thanks
 
BLIssID said:
so i was looking at the trimmer case and noticed that it was 1.25watt. The one that motherboardFAQ recommend is the 0.75watt one. Could this be the problem? i know for a fact that the soldering went fine, all connections were fine.


thanks


Im wondering this also.. I got the same part # and its a 1.25 watt one also not the .75 that is shown in pic.. I havent done the mod yet tho..
 
try it, and see how it goes. if its not stable like mine was, you could always remove it.

let me know how it goes :D
 
I will.. gotta practice on a old mobo first for a few days ;) to improve my soldering skills and get the guts to do it..

I picked up Rosin Core Solder .050 dia ...and Tip Tinner\Cleaner.. Should I have gotten Flux and thinner solder..?

Thunda
 
i got the .022 dia solder, doesn't matter what you get.

what i did was, first attached both wires to the trimmer, then put some solder on the end of the wire, and attached it to the resistor.

came out great.
i can't wait to do it in a few days. i'm gonna try again with some different wires and see if it comes out better.
 
Update

ok well i re-did the mod. all soldering went great once again.
this time i used different wires that were a bit bigger then the ones i used before. (cut up RPM sensor wire from my tornado)

220 , 11-2-2-2.5 , 3.0v dimm everything seems stable, p95 stable and everything.

i'm going to try 220 , 11-2-2-2 , 3.0v and see how things go.

also i seem to be more stable when i use the ground point nearest to the tuner knob.
 
Re: Update

BLIssID said:

also i seem to be more stable when i use the ground point nearest to the tuner knob.

Awsome dude ..good luck

Do you mean keeping the ground closest to the VR ?


Thunda
 
arg no go. no matter what voltage can't do 11-2-2-2 220.

i removed the mod but left the wire that i soldered onto the motherboard on, in case i ever come across a .75w trimmer, it would be easy to add it and do some more testing.

and yes, try the one close to the gold knob first. if you come across any problems, try the other and see how things go.

good luck with the soldering, hope you get better results then i did. ;)
 
The wattage rating on the trimmer is just the maximum it can handle, so a higher rated one will not have any effect. What sort of power supply are you using? If the rails aren't stable, that might be causing the errors.


Edit - doh! I just saw the power supply in your sig. You still may want to check the rails, though.
 
well my 3.3v = 3.34+

which is what the vdimm pull from, so no problem there.

ill check the 12+, 5+ tomorrow when i wake up with a MM.

//Edit:
12v = 12.12
5v = 4.94
 
Last edited:
heres a pic of my mod, before i removed it.

what i really don't get is, when i bump the voltage p95 would fail faster then before...
example:
2.9v 220 11-2-2-2.5 p95 pass
3.0v 220 11-2-2-2 p95 fail in 20min
3.1v 220 11-2-2-2 p95 fail in 1min
3.2v 220 11-2-2-2 p95 fail about 10 secs after test starts.
 

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might be from the vdimm fluctuating.. When priming how is the 3.3v rail on the psu ?

Some people have to mod the 3.3v psu rail higher to get the vdimm stable..

Ive been reading ALOT about this.. and planing to to it tonight.. wish me luck :D


btw... hard to see in your pic.. but is the red wire attached to the RIGHT side of the resistor ?
 
3.3rail wont drop under 3.31 while in prime. its always around 3.31 - 3.36.

yes of course the red wire is on the right side. its very hard to tell in that pic. my cousin's dig cam is not that great.

the end of the wire is attached on the right side, the body of the wire just goes over the resister, making it look like its attached to the whole thing.

its done right, when i had the trimmer in, i was able to get the voltage to 3.26. was just not stable... :(

goodluck tonight, let me know hwo things go. just remember to use very little solder on the wire, and make sure you keep your hand steady.

be careful to not get any solder on the chip legs south of the resistor, it would be very hard to fix if you do. i marked it on image for you:
 

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Definitely at least 25W because 15W is so weak that the circuit board may soak up enough heat to prevent it from ever making the board hot enough to melt the solder. Too little heat is actually more likely to cause board damage than too much heat is, and even 35-40W isn't overkill when a board has 4-6 layers in it.

You want to keep the tip very clean by frequently wiping it off against a damp cellulose sponge. A plastic sponge will melt.
 
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