Nvidia Shield Portable Teardown

Written By: Andrew Optimus Goldheart

Published: 01/08/13

Comments: 32

Nvidia Shield Portable Teardown

Published: 01/08/13

Teardown

Introduction

It's a gamepad. It's a tablet. It's a gamblet—erm, Shield? You love your hybrid car, you love your hybrid golf clubs, but will you love this hybrid game console? We're still not sure if this is an awesome gaming tablet, or an awesome tabletting game console. But what we do know is that we want to see it naked.

Join us as we meld gadget-gutting fun with punny inquisition in our Nvidia Shield Portable Teardown.

We belong together. Want to merge your accounts? Check out Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for your daily iFixit mind meld.

Tools

Step 1

Before we can consider this device worthy of teardown, we must put it through rigorous testing. Good news—it passed the personal gaming test with aplumb. Let's check out some specs:
Nvidia Tegra 4 Quad Core Mobile Processor
5-inch 1280x720 pixel Multi-Touch Retinal Quality display
16 GB Flash Memory with microSD slot
2 GB RAM
802.11n 2x2 Mimo Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 3.0
Android Jelly Bean operating system

Step 2

Flip off your old TV console, flip up the 5" Shield Retinal display, and settle in for some serious Sonic power—literally.
The 294 ppi display and stereo speakers are pretty impressive in this little console.
We wonder why it is called a Retinal display, as the eye's retina receives light; it doesn't transmit it. We assume it's because the other kids are jumping off the proverbial bridge.
Enough hedgehoggery. Let's see what this bad boy is packing.

Is there a way to mod the shield portable? like installing the Nvidia shield TV’s tegra x1 in it and a biger screen ?

Dean Jackson - 02/10/17

Step 3

The 20+ ounce Shield may not be ultra-portable, but that doesn't stop it from having a lot of sweet ports.
MicroSD
Mini-HDMI output
Micro-USB 2.0
3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
We at iFixit would like to formally nominate the Nvidia Shield for the Coolest Air Intake Award.
Was the neon green accent necessary? Probably not. But maybe active cooling on a handheld is something worth showing off.
A look at the model number, P2450, reveals no hidden message, though conspiracy theories are always welcome.

Step 4

Screws and screw covers—old news for the teardown fans in the audience. Not to worry, we'll make it quick.
Screws are old news, but good news. We want to save our epic battles for gaming, not for repairing.
We are eager to crack into this device for a few reasons:
Though the Shield is marketed primarily as a gaming device, it fills a unique cross-device niche.
The build and functionality of the Shield allow it to very nearly fill the role of a small tablet.
This opens up the market possibility of intense gaming tablets, a technological convergence that could reduce the number of devices you own and throw away.
It might be from outer space.

What kind of screws were they?

Lucas Hoekstra (Lucas9810) - 08/03/17

Step 5

One thing is for sure—with its shields disabled, this device looks nothing like any tablet we've ever taken apart…
…or game console…
…or anything…
…except maybe Shellder.

I cant get the front off no matter how much grunt i give it I unscrewed all the torx at the screen and the 4 hidden by the seals what am i doing wrong.

rockittt -

i have the same problem. U've got the answer?

kangde - 12/07/14

I also Noticed this problem....On the back of the Invidia shield there is also a plastic circle located in the center of the device.This will also need to be removed to lift assembly

erick - 21/07/14

Step 6

The flick of a spudger and a few connectors are all that you need for button panel assembly disassembly.
The buttons are a big selling point of the Shield, making it a full-fledged controller for hard-core gaming.
The bummer is, many games don't have controller support.
On the tablet front, the joysticks can be used for touch-free tablet browsing, albeit a little glitchy and unintuitive.

Step 7

It combines PC gaming, Android gaming, Netflix viewing, and web surfing, so it's hard to deny that the Shield has some serious potential.
It is impossible, though, to deny that it has serious potentiometers! The ubiquitous little orange controllers can be found under the triggers and the joysticks.
We unscrew the joystick board to get a closer look at these little guys.

Step 8

Check out the potentiometers as we jog that dial…

Check out the potentiometers as we jog that dial…
What's a potentiometer, you ask? Good question.
A potentiometer is a special type of resistor that has multiple terminals and an adjustable voltage divider.
A mechanical action, in this case the movement of the joystick, changes the resistance of each potentiometer. Measuring the voltage through each potentiometer indicates the joystick's deflection along two axes, pinpointing its position.

Step 9

A, B, see the D-pad come out of the Shield.
The button board registers presses of the ABXY buttons, the D-pad, and five control buttons.
We love the modularity of this design. Just in case the button mashing gets out of control, we are happy to know that the button board can be replaced separately from other components.
IC Identification:
Infineon (formerly Cypress Semiconductor) CY7C64345 enCoRe V USB 2.0 controller
STMicroelectronics MEMS microphone
ABLIC S-5712ANDL1-M3T1U hall sensor
Nexperia 74AUP1G14 Schmitt Trigger Inverter

Step 10

Next out are the stereo speakers.
When life short-circuits into mono, we take comfort in modular speakers. That way, you are never more than a short repair away from living in stereo.
While they are not portable-rave quality, the Shield has some nice speakers. As we mentioned before, these speakers offer great bass for their buck.
And now for something completely different: we spy with our keen eye, a magnet!
This guy is either attracted to the shell, to help it stay clammed up, or lets the display know when to shut off, then again… Por qué no los dos?

Step 11

Turning our attention back to the rest of the device, we remove the Frogger-esque air intake cover from the Shield.
Our fingers are crossed for aftermarket replacements in various colors.
Unfortunately, the connectors for the antennas are all trapped under a midframe, for now. At least we can spudger the forward antenna array off of the battery to free it up.

Step 12

We've heard rumors that the Shield has a crazy-long battery life. After some fussing, we're able to remove the three Sanyo battery cells that are responsible for the extended action.
The three-cell, 3.7 V, 7350 mAh, rechargeable lithium-ion battery's case is labeled 131907887.
These numbers add up to plenty of play time.
There is a small circuit board connecting the three cells of the battery. Our best guess? A charging control circuit.

Those are 18650 hi-capacity cells (18650 comes in various capacities depending on manufacturer) off the top of my head i can find a LG Lithium with 2600mAh at ~7$ each WITH tabs(also 2800mAh ultra capacity). Watch out which one you buy as 18650 comes from 1400mAh-ish to whatever they can put with new chemistries...

So changing the batteries(even putting beefier ones) should not be expensive -problem is resetting the charge controller that looks like a normal pack charger(like from a laptop, i can see the two white leads in the middle, those look like the I2C control lines, you can check it out with a bus pirate for example) thus it will maintain usage and capacity history(changing the cells alone won't be of much use as it will show a deflated battery)

Guillermo Lovato -

can i replace the bettery with 3.7v and 2600mAh batteries??

apis gani - 07/06/15

Step 13

Keeping cool is important for electronics, and if your fan stops working, the rest of your device is likely soon to follow.
Luckily, the Shield won't be needing anger management counseling, as the fan is a breeze to replace—it contains no screws, and its bumpers simply fit into slots on the midframe.

Step 14

We're excited to remove the display, but are quickly thwarted. The midframe blocks the display data cable and antenna cables, pinning their connectors down. We already had trouble getting to the midframe, blocked underneath the hinge bracket—we soon find ourselves in a vicious cycle of component Jenga.
We remove some screws and eventually lift the midframe out of the Shield.
This reveals a display cable with a fancy connector board, à la MacBook.

Step 15

At iFixit, we have two sincere loves:
Making things better.
Lighting things on fire.
For this teardown, sparks flew as our two loves met and we rekindled an experiment from a teardown of yore, this time with the power of video documentation.
Yes, the midframe is magnesium.
No, we didn't need to resort to desperate measures in the name of love, science, and the love of science.

Dunno why but I cant edit because I removed it? Please at a description BEFORE the point you love putting things on fire that you are testing the midframe. Only after I tried removing the step (because I felt it dint belong) I saw that you tested the midframe. State infront that in the teardown, you are testing the midframe for material properties.

Hope I dint break too much, and help others out to find why there is a video of a sink with a lighter. We dont want to find out why its there by a extra note in the bottom of the step, if a "frame" or "mid frame" can be misinterpreted as a video frame for some movie because it felt off in the first place. Next time either film you scraping the midframe, showing the midframe or state that you are testing the midframe in text, Before.

So confusing... and this website aswell.. I can edit this teardown that easely?

hackbirdone - 15/03/16

Step 16

The last components to come out of the body are the motherboard and the heat sink.
All that remains is the cold, empty shell that once held life.
Wait…this looks familiar.

Batman? More like Iron Man hidden within

Haley Chong -

Ba ba ba ba ba buh Batman

Duck -

Step 17

With the motherboard finally free and de-shielded, we get a look at the notable players:
Nvidia Tegra 4 (T40T-A2) Quad Core Mobile Processor
Samsung KLMAG2GE2A-A001 memory eMMC
SK Hynix H5TC4G63AFR-RDA 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM (4 ICs for 2 GB total RAM)
Texas Instruments TPS65913 power management
AzureWave AW-AH691 wireless module
InvenSense MPU-6050 6-axis gyroscope and accelerometer
Texas Instruments BQ24193 USB-OTG Battery Charger IC

So whats the total hardware cost for this device? Not the retail price.

Ed MacConnell -

so where is the gpu?

Martin Belchev -

The CPU and GPU are one chip, just like every other ARM based handheld.

David Kuder -

Step 18

And on the reverse side of the board:
Texas Instruments TPS63020 Buck-Boost Converter
Texas Instruments TPS51632 Step-Down Driverless Controller for Nvidia Tegra® T40 CPUs
Texas Instruments INA3221 Current and Voltage Monitor
SK Hynix H5TC4G63AFR 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM (remaining 2 of 4 ICs for 2 GB total RAM)
NXP Semiconductor TFA9887 class-D audio amplifier
Broadcom BCM4752 GPS Receiver
Realtek ALC5639 (probably similar to ALC5634 audio codec

Step 19

IC Identification, continued:
Maxim Integrated MAX17048 battery fuel gauge
ON Semiconductor NCT72C temperature monitor
Texas Instruments TPS61161A white LED driver
Texas Instruments TPS51604 4 A / 28 V half bridge gate driver
ANPEC Electronics APL3510F/APL3511D and Texas Instruments TPS22908 load and power distribution switches
Texas Instruments SN74LVC1G126 single buffer
ON Semiconductor ESD7004 and MG2040 ESD protection

Step 20

An Nvidia Shield shield!
We missed it during play time, but the silver shield atop the Shield is its own piece, secured to the device by magnets.
Easily removed means easily modified—we expect to see some awesome stenciled-up Shields.
We have been pondering the nomenclature choice for this device, and the fact that it comes with its own high-tech shield seems too blatant a reference. Could the shield be a more secretive, more subtle allusion?

Step 21

Ten minutes of mild terror with a spudger, and the display is free of the tape adhering it to its casing.
With the casing out of the way, we find a few antennas, a single IC, and a display cable hanging out on the back of the display.
Here are the markings we found:
Display: LH500W1-SD03 (LG Display)
IC: RM31100 (Raydium touchscreen controller)
Indistinguishable scribbles: yeah, right…

Where do you get a replacement display?

Ashwin Viswesvaran - 03/04/15

Step 22

Nvidia Shield Repairability Score: 6 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)
Durable design will stand up to regular backpack-toting.
Modular design means lower repair costs, because small parts can be replaced individually.
The Shield is an all-new type of device, and it feels like there is a lot of room for improvement in repairability. For now, a complicated interior design makes repair and reassembly difficult.
While the hinge seems sturdy, stubborn adhesive makes display repair risky, and involved disassembly makes removal difficult.
The battery is not easily accessible, and will require some tricky disassembly to replace.

Author

Andrew Optimus Goldheart

Member since: 17/10/09

502341 Reputation

18 comments

Would it be too much to ask for the cylindrical dimensions of the batteries, and what the mAh of each individual cell is? I'm looking around for possible replacement batteries.

Myles -

The cells are 64.5 mm long, and 18.5 mm in diameter. I'm getting 3.9 volts on each, so it looks like they're 3.7 V Li-ons in parallel, and the total capacity of the unit (7350 mAh) will be the sum of the individual cells', or 2450 mAh per cell. Hope this helps!

Andrew Optimus Goldheart -

They are 18650 batteries, you can buy them pretty much anywhere online, usually used in vaping and flashlights

Chris -

Do you think you could replace the d-pad with one like the ps3 or ds/wii

atlantis -

Question is, where to get a replacement fan? That will probably be first to go on mine since I have it unlocked and rooted. I then have the CPU governor set in "performance" mode rather than "interactive" mode which cranks that fan all the time, but the performance boost of no cpu throttling in the games is so much better.

John Lawson -

yeah where do i get a replacement screen

jwwowk5 - 15/09/15

So, I am needing to take the back off my Nvidia SHIELD Portable, and it has some weird 6 pointed screws.

I have screwdrivers like this, but none are small enough.

Which screwdriver is used to take this apart? Much appreciated.

For any of you who are wondering, the screen has stopped working. It turns on, stays grey with a black border. The black slowly fades to the middle. As I am no longer covered by my 1-year warranty, I must fix it myself. I was told it is most likely a loose wire - It was fine yesterday.

drm200064 - 07/12/15

The screw type is a Torx. T-5 is the size. Hard to find in big stores, I got lucky enough and found a small screwdriver kit in the dollar store for 1$ had a T-5 and a T-6 :). I had a similar problem to yours. I had the warranty so I didn't bother to fix it, but Shields suffer from this defect.

Javier Ramirez - 07/03/16

hello i have the same problem with my shield screen is gray, how you solved?

luismarlulu - 24/09/16

I have a nvidia shield Model P2450. The sliver part where you plug it in so it can charge fall out (Micro-USB 2.0). Do you know where I can have a motherboard for it.

Agustin Leyva - 10/04/16

My shield's wifi broke and it won't charge. I shaked the device a bit and something is loose inside. Now I am trying to open this thing and man was it a tough nut to crack.

Fuyao Zhao - 18/06/16

Where do you get a screen for it please help

james turner - 10/01/17

For the screen questions. Try eBay or repairsuniverse.com

Chris a - 06/11/17

need to find a replacement screen anyone ever find one?

Michael West - 08/04/18

wow interesting

Michał Szpak - 11/07/18

Hello

How can i get the full display?

Display: LH500W1-SD03

I live in Cancún- México

Thank you

lilbill2 - 06/05/20

Nvidia Shield shield! do you guys have a replacement part for it?

Daniel Palacio - 06/12/20

if the gamepad just stopped working except for some regular home buttons, what could be the problem? i tried swapping the ribbon cable that connects the top half to the bottom in the middle between the controller section and the base

Luke Hodges -