Command line to check 87U CPU Temp...

[Parvinder Leddar]

HI,

I can't remember where I got this thread from, but do check this out:

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/91564085-post1528.html

It might actually look like a QC problem by ASUS, thus the varied temp difference in sets. The original thermal pads does look like it's badly applied and didn't cover whole surface area.

 

[DaveMishSr]

Hi!

Do you have the model or link for these fans? It's really working well if it can reduce the temps by 20 deg C, which is what I wanted. My current temps are around 75 deg C., with a single large fan notebook cooler, which spins very quietly, underneath the router.

Thanks!

A simple search on eBay for "mini USB octopus laptop cooling fan" produced 39 results. Take your pick. I simply went with the cheapest price at the time of my purchase. It did take about 3 weeks plus to arrive but it had to come out of China. If you can get something from China in less than a month you cannot complain!

However, fan placement can make a huge difference. If you look at my avatar you will see my router stand (guarded by the frogs of death of course, with an attack monkey for good measure) that keeps the fan about 1/2 of an inch below the router. Any closer and cpu temp goes down but the 5GHz chipset heats up (or vice versa, I forget which).

As for temperature reductions my AC87R ran at about 48°C|58°C|78°C. Once I was able to get down with the fan placement underneath the router I was able to get that down to around 40°C|48°C|58°C. So the big payoff is in keeping the CPU cool but 20-25°C is a HUGE factor in extending the router's service life. I was a naysayer for quite some time on active cooling vs passive cooling but I am a 100% supporter of active cooling now.

 

[Parvinder Leddar]

HI DaveMishSr,

Thanks for the comments. Love the monkey and frogs!

Yes, I must say, 20-25deg C drop is awesome and anything staying cool, is always better for longevity!

My notebook cooler, which is just a pad which you position underneath, helps it cool down to around 76deg from 85 (stock router) but I finally realised I have a solution right under my eyes!

I have a half height server rack nearby to where I position the router, and it has 2 powerful, (although not as quiet) fans blowing out of the rack. The air is not hot at all from the fans, and my ambient room temp is 27-29 deg C on most days and 23-26 deg C nights.

By placing my router directly above this server rack fans, it managed to bring temps down significantly (this is during the day, and I expect 1-2 deg C drop nites, when it's cooler):

2.4 GHz: 38°C - 5 GHz:52°C - CPU:60°C

I am sufficiently happy with this setup; it does not interfere with my wireless signal strengths, router is kept reasonably cool, and setup looks decent. Active cooling is definitely the way to go. Well, there is no harm to do both active and passive for best results, but at the very least, I think active is a must.

Manufacturers probably won't care to improve QC as they expect us to buy new routers every 2 years for the 'features'.

Here are some pics, the notebook cooler has been decommissioned.

Cheers!

A simple search on eBay for "mini USB octopus laptop cooling fan" produced 39 results. Take your pick. I simply went with the cheapest price at the time of my purchase. It did take about 3 weeks plus to arrive but it had to come out of China. If you can get something from China in less than a month you cannot complain!

However, fan placement can make a huge difference. If you look at my avatar you will see my router stand (guarded by the frogs of death of course, with an attack monkey for good measure) that keeps the fan about 1/2 of an inch below the router. Any closer and cpu temp goes down but the 5GHz chipset heats up (or vice versa, I forget which).

As for temperature reductions my AC87R ran at about 48°C|58°C|78°C. Once I was able to get down with the fan placement underneath the router I was able to get that down to around 40°C|48°C|58°C. So the big payoff is in keeping the CPU cool but 20-25°C is a HUGE factor in extending the router's service life. I was a naysayer for quite some time on active cooling vs passive cooling but I am a 100% supporter of active cooling now.

 

[DaveMishSr]

HI DaveMishSr,

Thanks for the comments. Love the monkey and frogs!

Yes, I must say, 20-25deg C drop is awesome and anything staying cool, is always better for longevity!

My notebook cooler, which is just a pad which you position underneath, helps it cool down to around 76deg from 85 (stock router) but I finally realised I have a solution right under my eyes!

I have a half height server rack nearby to where I position the router, and it has 2 powerful, (although not as quiet) fans blowing out of the rack. The air is not hot at all from the fans, and my ambient room temp is 27-29 deg C on most days and 23-26 deg C nights.

By placing my router directly above this server rack fans, it managed to bring temps down significantly (this is during the day, and I expect 1-2 deg C drop nites, when it's cooler):

2.4 GHz: 38°C - 5 GHz:52°C - CPU:60°C

I am sufficiently happy with this setup; it does not interfere with my wireless signal strengths, router is kept reasonably cool, and setup looks decent. Active cooling is definitely the way to go. Well, there is no harm to do both active and passive for best results, but at the very least, I think active is a must.

Manufacturers probably won't care to improve QC as they expect us to buy new routers every 2 years for the 'features'.

Here are some pics, the notebook cooler has been decommissioned.

Cheers!

Nice setup. If you can raise the router by a half-inch or so (127mm's IIRC) I bet you can get that cpu temp down. Since that post I have fabricated a high-rise router stand with not 1 but 2 storage shelves. I know that this is really pushing the envelope to the point of living life on the edge but one has to do what one must. Seriously though, the new stand design works even better and my temps are currently 40°C| 44°C| 52°C. Here is a photo as I haven't updated my avatar.

It may look really silly but it not only works but it works great! The 2 storage shelves are really convenient and add to the structural integrity. I already have some ideas on how to improve the design but I am not going too crazy. The main feature that I strove for was ease of both acquiring the building materials and assembly. The list of materials is easy:

1 pc cardboard 11" x 9"
2 pcs cardboard 7" x 9"
4 pcs cardboard 2" x 9"
12 popsicle sticks
4 empty paper towel tubes
- Cut 4 pcs to 7"
- Cut 4 pcs to 1"
Carpenter's glue
Frogs & monkey (optional)*

* I am convinced that these items are 100% necessary to insure proper operation of your router as they stand guard versus router gremlins!

 

[Parvinder Leddar]

Hmm,

Thats indeed even better, if the °C gets lower! Let me trying raising it a little higher, by 1/2 to 1 inch.

Great job on the DIY!

One thing I notice is that the 5Ghz temps are high on mine, but still below 60, so thats fine. Do you have many devices connected to the 5Ghz network? Mine are almost all 5Ghz, so I am not sure if this contributes to the hotter operating temp.

What's your ambient temp in the room btw? Does it fluctuate a lot, day vs night? Our hot sun year long in South East Asia keeps our Air cons defeated most of the time!

Nice setup. If you can raise the router by a half-inch or so (127mm's IIRC) I bet you can get that cpu temp down. Since that post I have fabricated a high-rise router stand with not 1 but 2 storage shelves. I know that this is really pushing the envelope to the point of living life on the edge but one has to do what one must. Seriously though, the new stand design works even better and my temps are currently 40°C| 44°C| 52°C. Here is a photo as I haven't updated my avatar.

View attachment 3941


It may look really silly but it not only works but it works great! The 2 storage shelves are really convenient and add to the structural integrity. I already have some ideas on how to improve the design but I am not going too crazy. The main feature that I strove for was ease of both acquiring the building materials and assembly. The list of materials is easy:

1 pc cardboard 11" x 9"
2 pcs cardboard 7" x 9"
4 pcs cardboard 2" x 9"
12 popsicle sticks
4 empty paper towel tubes
- Cut 4 pcs to 7"
- Cut 4 pcs to 1"
Carpenter's glue
Frogs & monkey (optional)*

* I am convinced that these items are 100% necessary to insure proper operation of your router as they stand guard versus router gremlins!

 

[bigmag]

2.4 GHz: 41°C - 5 GHz: 45°C - CPU: 65°C (active cooling) 28c in my Home Office

 

[tim]

Lego was my solution. Stolen from my son

 

[bigmag]

I have this
http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00MNB40ZU/
and an 80mm fan whis fancontrol

 

[tim]

Maybe we should start a new thread for pictures of people's router cooling solutions

 

[chaitu87]

Maybe we should start a new thread for pictures of people's router cooling solutions

I totally agree...

 

[DaveMishSr]

Hmm,

Thats indeed even better, if the °C gets lower! Let me trying raising it a little higher, by 1/2 to 1 inch.

Great job on the DIY!

One thing I notice is that the 5Ghz temps are high on mine, but still below 60, so thats fine. Do you have many devices connected to the 5Ghz network? Mine are almost all 5Ghz, so I am not sure if this contributes to the hotter operating temp.

What's your ambient temp in the room btw? Does it fluctuate a lot, day vs night? Our hot sun year long in South East Asia keeps our Air cons defeated most of the time!

Right now my house thermometer reads 72°F and my temps currently are:

2.4 GHz: 40°C - 5 GHz: 44°C - CPU: 53°C CPU

The house does vary a bit but never goes over 78°F or below 68°F. My cpu temp never goes above 58°C. However, weather here in San Diego tends to be pretty tame. I can easily see where the heat and humidity of SE Asia could easily overwhelm any cooling system. Here though the setup I have hit upon works great and is cheap. The fan costs between $3-5 US depending on the exact eBay seller and the building materials are trash that would otherwise be thrown out and filling up what little room we have left in our soon-to-close landfill.

Edit: I currently have eight devices connected to the 5GHz band, four of which are media bridges in 802.11ac mode.

 

[DaveMishSr]

Lego was my solution. Stolen from my son

View attachment 3943

Not only is that awesome but I must still have about 10,000 Lego pieces from when my kids were little! Nice!

 

[jgebel]

For the Quantenna SoC:

qcsapi_sockrpc get_temperature

For the Broadcom CPU:

cat /proc/dmu/temperature

Hi RMerlin-What are the command line codes to check the individual radio temps?

 

[tim]

For RT-AC3200 it is:

wl -i eth1 phy_tempsense
wl -i eth2 phy_tempsense
wl -i eth3 phy_tempsense

Don't know about the Quantenna stuff.

 

[jgebel]

Thanks for the info.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[yorgi]

For the Quantenna SoC:

qcsapi_sockrpc get_temperature

For the Broadcom CPU:

cat /proc/dmu/temperature

Is there anyway in future firmware releases to have a log of the temperatures from cpu and antennas?
That would be useful when trying to diagnose a router problem.
Just a thought

 

[kushwavez]

I know this is a really-really old topic, but for the future viewers, don't worry about the temps. These routers CPU are designed for hotter environment and ~80 C is just fine and normal. Actually around ~90 is fine too, the router won't start to struggle with that. You should only worry if it's going up to 100, that's indeed not normal.

I have two RT-AC56U, all two is at around ~86 C (summer time).
One is running for two years now, once dropped and the thermal heatspreader broke and the temps went up to around 98 C. I disassembled and fixed it, at since I was at it, I replaced the original thermal pads with Thermal Grizzly ones. The temperature remained the same as before, around ~86 C. The other one is the same, so I don't worry about them. I didn't have a single freeze or restart.