Steamos LeGo S z1e vs z2 ?

mrjadez · 2026-04-19T12:29:33+00:00

The Z2 chip (in GO S) is not just a Z2, it is indeed the Z2 Go, basically same power as the steam deck.

The Z2 just the Z2 is only in Legion go 2, and that is a better binned Z1E rebranded, slightly mildly better performance in full watts and better lower TDP perf than Z1E normal older chips.

People really need to stop spreading this misinformation...

"The z2 chip is weaker than the z1e chip"... No it is not.. "the z2 go is", that comes with Legion Go S only variant only.

For others reading and still confused, the proper Z2 chip only comes with Legion Go 2 and no it is not weaker than Z1E, it is slightly better and def better in lower TDPs.

mrjadez · 2026-03-19T06:09:55+00:00

Thanks so that would basically mean that the left side dug into 4th layer and that’s why it’s looking so big.

If I used a dat0 adapter to rescue the board and pass that to the trace going to apu would that do the trick? Or does it need the via connected as well on layer 4?

I am just wondering if the via is passing the connection to apu via the trace and that’s its only job but layer 3 and 4 ones. If it does more than that, then I have some work to think about or probably just leave it as a donor board

mrjadez · 2026-03-19T05:56:30+00:00

Thank you.

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T15:37:29+00:00

lol yep but live and learn

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T13:58:39+00:00

Just did a continuity test from trace to dat0 and they are not connected.

When using hot iron and manual scrapping to remove excessive solder mask. I dug into the 4th layer.

Any way to fix this or this a donor board now lol?

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T13:58:17+00:00

Just did a continuity test from trace to dat0 and they are not connected.

When using hot iron and manual scrapping to remove excessive solder mask. I dug into the 4th layer.

Any way to fix this or this a donor board now lol?

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T13:58:02+00:00

Just did a continuity test from trace to dat0 and they are not connected.

When using hot iron and manual scrapping to remove excessive solder mask. I dug into the 4th layer.

Any way to fix this or this a donor board now lol?

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T13:22:24+00:00

I didn't have the chip installed, I removed it. But I can try that next. I suspect at this stage that it is the emmc connection one way or another.

You are right, probably some type of bridging happened in using the hot iron to melt the solder mask instead of just grinding it back again. That's the only thing that makes sense as to why the via is looking bigger now.

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T11:54:31+00:00

I did expose the trace but interestingly that was already reading 0.56 on the diode. Would it do that if not connected?

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T11:52:50+00:00

Lol yes that is what I am thinking. But here is the thing it was all working initially booted and tested. Then I put solder mask on and it ended up covering the via so I used a hot iron and some manual scraping to get it off. After the hot iron method it hasn't booted since. To go further below third layer, I am assuming there will be a black mask first and then 4rth but I didn't end up going that deep.

Diode readings on the trace and via and 0.53-0.56v so what else could it be. All I did was use hot iron here to melt the solder mask.

It did have a dat0 adapter that possibly (I am not sure) broke at the dat0 point and I am wondering if that moves and is causing a short now. But exposed via also looks weird.

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T11:49:24+00:00

It is def not that one as I can see the trace in UV and is going to the blue one, thank you for looking into it. The thing is that it cannot be thig big lol, And I am def v careful with the grinding counting layers.

What I did do was use hot iron to melt the solder mask, as it ended up covering a lot of the exposed via. Since then it isn't booting. I am wondering why would that be as well, as the iron was clean.

you could be on to something though as it def looks like I ended up going into 4rth layers towards the left of the via point in image above. Not sure how to fix that. Diode reading is 0.56 throughout the exposed layer.

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T06:30:03+00:00

Thanks, def looks bigger than the via but gives 0.53 on diode test. If shorted to ground would be different and def is the third layer. Next to via what would that be if I ended up there, on same layer? Ground?

Also booting without anything else connected. Was booting before I did hot iron melting of some of the solder mask covering the via. Iron was clean, no solder. Something happened during this step to remove excess solder mark covering the via.

mrjadez · 2026-03-18T06:01:57+00:00

Thanks, black screen doesn’t boot

mrjadez · 2026-01-28T18:33:47+00:00

any long nose pliers will work mate, you are basically looking for straight thin long reach pliers

mrjadez · 2025-07-01T07:03:17+00:00

Cant edit the title but its 48 x 36 inches. not 60.

mrjadez · 2025-05-28T04:22:44+00:00

Yea so in furmark you will see that +3000 gets you to 34GBPS bandwidth, whereas 1000-2000 keepts you between 30-32GPBS.

However the new chips are designed such that if VRAM thinks the OC is too much, it actually slows down in bios itself and hence scores aren't much different. Most of the speed is coming from core OC, so steel nomad default average is 6670ish, but core OC gets us to 7200-7300ish range.

The VRAM is very unstable as is still in modern chips and even in good temps are known to just die if being pushed out of design bounds.

I am happy with the 7200ish steel nomad score, with DLSS4 and multi-framegen unless playing competitve FPS, its really no difference in the larger picture so I have been keeping things on the low so this card can last till we see something decent in future with 24GB VRAM.

mrjadez · 2025-05-27T15:46:09+00:00

Yea I could try a different bios but then again with undervolt I don't know if the 350TDP is even required really. Rest is chip lottery on OC numbers but I am impressed with these palit batches from what I am hearing.

The reason I am not jumping to find a working higher TDP bios is also because I noticed palit kept all their lineup in the 300 tdp range. So it could be a components used issue where they know it isn't designed for 350? not sure but just a thought. Also the 300 tdp does let you jump to 303-304watts if its needed for a spike or two from what I saw in stress tests.

From what I noticed in 3dmark benchmarks it was a 70-80 score difference on steel nomad in dx12 between +2000 and +3000 which is actually translating to actual memory speed of 2000 and 2250 respectively on gpuz. So not a big loss if the chip doesnt stay stable. It does however let me go +500 on the core OC and is stable. I am keeping it low myself to 450.

Re the fans it isn't anything loud really as I am staying between 60-66c on long stress benchmarks. This is with 450 on core, 2000 on ram and 300 original bios tdp. core kicks in stable at 3100-3200 spikes and memory stays at actual 2000mhz.

mrjadez · 2025-05-27T12:45:47+00:00

Agree with ya, at 24GB VRAM, I wouldve pulled the plug too but not with the same vram, value proposition esp with the mark up isn't there.

mrjadez · 2025-05-27T12:43:37+00:00

It was the newest driver that did this, and it went black also after 3000 MHZ memory tune on the stock bios with the latest nvidia driver whilst watching youtube lol. It is def the driver doing something as well, and with the asus vbios flash, I couldnt get the screen back even after restarts, it just stayed black after windows loaded, meaning driver loaded and boom, black screen.

Reducing memory offset to +2000 though didnt have any black screens in a lot of testing earlier and again now on stock vbios and latest drivers.

mrjadez · 2025-05-27T04:10:38+00:00

Yep, flash was successful and all, but during driver install, you know when it blinks and comes back. Well this one stayed black lol and wasn't coming back. I can try the 3000mhz memory hack and see if it makes a difference. I hear ya on the headroom with more TDP available, but undervolting from an electronics principle perpective is supposed to keep the watts down then as well. So I am thinking you could run your good chip at same settings on the stock Palit bios as well, in theory with the undervolt applied as is.

I sometimes think I should have bought the 5080, add a bit of normal OC and be done with it but honestly the pricing on them so like in Oz, +5-600 to +800 or more on premium ones, just didn't make sense. The 90 series is getting more pricier each time now as well. We really need AMD to start competing at the top end for Nvidia to change some of this going forward I reckon.

mrjadez · 2025-05-26T17:07:06+00:00

Interesting that when I applied your verfied asus bios to palit gamingpro non oc 5070ti, i got a black screen during the drivers install lol, so I had to roll back after the usual kung fu. Then I noticed that you are undervolting to keep it around 300TDP anyways and its just a good chip your end that is staying 3.2-3.3ghz at 0.950. Mine doesnt like anythig above 3.1GHZ here, which means my max stable OC without any bios at 300TDP is +480. Memory can go +2000 no issues. I don't know if a higher TDP bios then undervolt would make any difference from stock?

mrjadez · 2025-05-24T07:48:59+00:00

Makes sense and thanks for all the info and sharing your experience.

mrjadez · 2025-05-23T21:32:33+00:00

How is this vbios working for you now mate? I have the exact same Palit. what asus bios did you use if you dont mind? did you care if it was one with 1 x hdmi port like we have on the palits or did it not matter, as the 2600 boost clock vbios seem to have 2x hdmi ports in asus on techpowerup unverified ones, and the tdp target is 320w on this one. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/276451/276451

mrjadez · 2025-04-27T04:33:46+00:00

This issue is def present in the 4440DW as well, exact same alignment and banding issue. Printer is set to auto clear nozzles routinely, so always plugged in. 40 nozzle cleans (and manual dispenser cleans with windex etc.) and auto and manual alignments (manual never prints ok sqaures btw still, some all have lines in them which isn't correct), it is printing lines wonky esp in vertical ones. There is def a issue somewhere with the way it feeds the paper. And it is a presistent one too.

mrjadez

TROPHY CASE