So since the GC Nano project went into effect @CrazyGadget and I were working on more Omega trims than we've ever done before, this led me down a path of morbid curiosity to answer the question:
"How small can the Omega trim actually be?"
I spent a bit of time looking over the compendium and drew up a theoretical trim line for the smallest possible Omega footprint (without digging into voltage layers).
This trim would effectively make a "GC Pico" 16% smaller than the Nano and 32% smaller than the current world record.
My first test was to relocate the 1.15v cap to the rear of the board and trim right up to the passives, leaving only a tiny sliver of the 1.15v via intact and have verified the Wii still boots.
My next plan was to relocate the passives to the right of the GPU as most thought these were pretty much required for the system to boot.
@YveltalGriffin on the other hand was confident that these could be bypassed if 3.3v was applied to the correct pads.
He was right!, bypassing the components and supplying 3.3v directly the system booted right up and ran games without issue.
So we've now verified 3 of the trim lines are possible (RAM side doesn't change from a regular Omega).
The last line is the top but due to the NAND relocation flex sitting about 2mm higher than the potential trim line it can't be used which means I decided to go old school and manually rewire the Nand
Unfortunately I was only about 8 wires away from finishing up the relocation when I realised I fucked up. I had accidentally removed pin 10 from the Nand while removing the non-required pins.
So I did what any sane person would do and was led to the 6th circle of hell (Heresy) by @Redherring32 and trimmed the Nand to get access to the leadframe, and it's about 40% smaller now.
The pitch on the leadframe is so fine that 40awg magnet wire barely fits on the pad.
I'm determined to have this Wii survive so once I've lost all my sanity soldering to this leadframe I'll update with my progress.
"How small can the Omega trim actually be?"
I spent a bit of time looking over the compendium and drew up a theoretical trim line for the smallest possible Omega footprint (without digging into voltage layers).
This trim would effectively make a "GC Pico" 16% smaller than the Nano and 32% smaller than the current world record.
My first test was to relocate the 1.15v cap to the rear of the board and trim right up to the passives, leaving only a tiny sliver of the 1.15v via intact and have verified the Wii still boots.
My next plan was to relocate the passives to the right of the GPU as most thought these were pretty much required for the system to boot.
@YveltalGriffin on the other hand was confident that these could be bypassed if 3.3v was applied to the correct pads.
He was right!, bypassing the components and supplying 3.3v directly the system booted right up and ran games without issue.
So we've now verified 3 of the trim lines are possible (RAM side doesn't change from a regular Omega).
The last line is the top but due to the NAND relocation flex sitting about 2mm higher than the potential trim line it can't be used which means I decided to go old school and manually rewire the Nand
Unfortunately I was only about 8 wires away from finishing up the relocation when I realised I fucked up. I had accidentally removed pin 10 from the Nand while removing the non-required pins.
So I did what any sane person would do and was led to the 6th circle of hell (Heresy) by @Redherring32 and trimmed the Nand to get access to the leadframe, and it's about 40% smaller now.
The pitch on the leadframe is so fine that 40awg magnet wire barely fits on the pad.
I'm determined to have this Wii survive so once I've lost all my sanity soldering to this leadframe I'll update with my progress.