Q: What are these chip packages that Microsoft® and Sony® call the GPU, the CPU, and the Memory Chips? And why do they look so different from other components?

A: These are electronic chips that are packaged in what are called Ball Grid Array formats (BGA's). They are a relatively new form of Surface Mount Devices (SMD) and are similar to other components in that they have an integrated circuit (die) within the package and that they have connections to be soldered. However, instead of leads at the side of the chip, the connections are balls underneath the chip (See Below):

Above Left: Bottom Side of a QFP Surface Mount Chip with the leads at the side for soldering to the PCB.

Above Right: Bottom Side of a Ball Grid Array (BGA) Chip with solder spheres (balls) at the bottom for soldering to the PCB.

Many of the chips on the XBOX 360® and PlayStation® Printed Circuit Boards are packaged in the BGA format shown above including the GPU, CPU and Memory Chips. Indeed, most consumer electronic PCB's today incorporate more and more BGA style chips as they are more robust in construction and have faster gate speed for processing.

Once the BGA is placed and soldered onto the PCB, you can no longer "see" the connections (balls) as they are underneath the chip and no longer visible to the eye.

Finally, the XBOX and PlayStation® PCB's components are all soldered to the pads with lead-free solder, not the traditional solder that everyone is familiar with. Lead-free solder requires higher than traditional temperatures which makes preheating the PCB imperative.

Good News! Believe it or not, BGA's are surprisingly easy to remove and replace with the right equipment, the proper procedures. And Zephyrtronics has built into the popular ZT-7 System so many great features including effective preheating fo those lead-free solder joints so as to make your job now much easier to perform.

Above you can see the XBOX 360 printed circuit board populated with its components including the critical GPU, CPU and Memory Chip chips. And shown below is the XBOX CPU component which is Ball Grid Array (BGA) styled package (see the yellow highlighted sidebar for further explanation).

The ZT-7 is the very same soldering system that was used by NASA to place and solder the critical, high-reliability I.C.'s on the two Mars Rovers whose mission was so successful in 2003 and 2004.

Good enough for NASA and, yet easy enough to repair an XBox 360 PCB! And at a great price! Click here to learn more detail about the ZT-7 Hot Air Station.

 ZT-7 Benchtop System

Helpful Rework Guide: Zephyrtronics ships every ZT-7 with a detailed and helpful owners manual along with the 39-page report by NASA for its employees which features approximately 300 photographs filled with technical tips and techniques. In addition, for those reworking and repairing XBox360® modules, Zephyrtronics also includes a step-by-step illustrated guide for removing and replacing the components and even practice printed circuit boards and chips!

A Word of Warning from NASA About IR Rework Systems: "Hot plates and infrared pre-heaters are not recommended...The reason that they should not be used is that the thermal reaction times, energy transfer rates and efficiency are never consistent." The Zephyrtronics ZT-7 System uses no IR whatsoever, but the decades-long proven industry standard of forced convection hot air.

For more information and to learn more about the pitfalls with IR preheating systems, see a summary of the Video Comparisons & Demonstrations: 4 Methods of Preheating & Solder Reflow which illustrates the advantages of heated air or forced convection and why it is an industry standard in PCB work worldwide.

The ZT-7 is easy to operate and includes closed-loop and digital temperature control, plus digital countdown timing, bottom-side pre-heating and thermal ramping to enhance the quality of your work. Of course, the ZT-7 is not limited to just working on XBox PCB's, but is ideal for prototyping tasks, low volume production runs and rework/repair of your SMT and BGA tasks.

For more specifications, technical information and product details regarding our popular XBox or PlayStation repair stations, click here to see the full, webpage on the ZT-7 Hot Air BGA & SMT Rework Center. Also, feel free to call us at our factory in Los Angeles County between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time) Monday to Friday at (909) 865-2595 or email us at sales@ameritronics.com. We're here and happy to help.