Router temperatures

[Wade Coxon]

am I misunderstanding something? how is using >1 port relevant to not having EEE on?

I'm using all four ports and turned EEE on and temps went from low 90s to low 70s, performance is still perfectly fine.

I actually noticed QoS/SQM turned off EEE, but even after force enabling it afterward through Putty performance is still perfectly fine and temperatures are down (and QoS is still enabled and functional).

There is no connection between using 1 port and EEE.

I was just pointing out that enabling EEE will reduce temperatures, and using fewer ports will also reduce temperatures.
Doing both will combine the effect.

 

[mromero]

Latest and greatest AC86U's temps without and with dark blue led/silent cooling.
5/4/13-14 Degrees gain without actually mounting the cooler, thumbs up.


View attachment 33835

View attachment 33836

Ambient temperature?

 

[TITAN]

Ambient temp?

No, that is the CPU temp
2.4GHz sits around 50C
5GHz sits around 55C

 

[Hazel]

No, that is the CPU temp
2.4GHz sits around 50C
5GHz sits around 55C

View attachment 33845

We're aware of that We're just curious what your ambient temperature is, as the ambient temperature also is a factor in the radios temp and CPU temp (because it's the ambient air flowing through your router to help cool them down.)

 

[TITAN]

We're aware of that We're just curious what your ambient temperature is, as the ambient temperature also is a factor in the radios temp and CPU temp (because it's the ambient air flowing through your router to help cool them down.)

Oh right, sorry it wasn't very obvious by mromeo's post. I generally don't use/hear the term 'ambient temperature'.
Anyway, I'm not sure of the room temp, since i dont have any way to measure it in there... the router lives in a cupboard under the stairwell (think of a Harry Potter room), so the temperature is fairly consistent 24x7. There is also a couple of other devices in there (Modem, RPi, NAS, some IoT gear etc.). No fans, air con or other cooling in the room

 

[mromero]

Oh right, sorry it wasn't very obvious by mromeo's post. I generally don't use/hear the term 'ambient temperature'.
Anyway, I'm not sure of the room temp, since i dont have any way to measure it in there... the router lives in a cupboard under the stairwell (think of a Harry Potter room), so the temperature is fairly consistent 24x7. There is also a couple of other devices in there (Modem, RPi, NAS, some IoT gear etc.). No fans, air con or other cooling in the room

Well, how about an idea of where the router is physically located. Maybe start with what continent?

 

[Tomo]

OK guys, this morning i opened the Ac86u to mount the copper on the cpu. I bought a copper 1,5mm and a pad high perfrmance always 1,5mm, i put a litte of artic silver 4 beetween core, pad, coper and disspipator and the temperature drop had really good. I'm on a old merlin build 384.17 and before the mod i was hitting 73C-74C on cpu with 20° temp ambient, now i'm around 56C-57C, really really good.Now i'm ready to jump to the 386 firmware.

 

[Kendo]

^^ Nice work buddy!

 

[heysoundude]

OK guys, this morning i opened the Ac86u to mount the copper on the cpu. I bought a copper 1,5mm and a pad high perfrmance always 1,5mm, i put a litte of artic silver 4 beetween core, pad, coper and disspipator and the temperature drop had really good. I'm on a old merlin build 384.17 and before the mod i was hitting 73C-74C on cpu with 20° temp ambient, now i'm around 56C-57C, really really good.Now i'm ready to jump to the 386 firmware.

I would still have a fan blowing on it as it upgrades, and while it does what it has to do after rebooting - lots of processor activity for quite a while. you'll be helping prevent a heat soak that could take time to dissipate, and life off your router

 

[mromero]

OK guys, this morning i opened the Ac86u to mount the copper on the cpu. I bought a copper 1,5mm and a pad high perfrmance always 1,5mm, i put a litte of artic silver 4 beetween core, pad, coper and disspipator and the temperature drop had really good. I'm on a old merlin build 384.17 and before the mod i was hitting 73C-74C on cpu with 20° temp ambient, now i'm around 56C-57C, really really good.Now i'm ready to jump to the 386 firmware.View attachment 33988View attachment 33989

In the heatsink copper mod someone else posted, it was hard mount copper 3mm, no pad. I read on other forums not wise to put paste on thermal pads. It appears you did a hybrid copper heatsink / thermal pad mod? https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac86u-heat-sink-mod-er-hack.68940/page-2

 

[Tech9]

What @Tomo did is still an improvement to what was there originally. Paste should be applied to copper-die contact only.

 

[mromero]

What @Tomo did is still an improvement to what was there originally. Paste should be applied to copper-die contact only.

From his description it appears three layers of paste were applied.

 

[Tech9]

It's okay, he closed the router already and the final result is good. My temperature drop is 20C below original design using copper shim only with paste on both sides. He achieved 17C drop - still much better compared to the thick thermal pad Asus used. Two of my test routers have aluminum shims with paste on both sides and the same 20C temperature drop. Copper is not really necessary, just direct contact between the heatsink and CPU die.

 

[Tomo]

I think the main problem is the original 3mm pad, it's a really bad solution, with 2 copper or 1 copper + pad it's easy to earn 10C or more. I chose the solution of 1 copper + thermal pad because with two copper i had 3 mm and i had to file 0.3mm otherwise the heatsink wouldn't screw. I used very little of thermal paste as i said among all the parts in contact, it was the first test i wanted to do, if it didn't give good results i would have done other tests. After 18 hours the cpu is at 58C and i feel satisfied, 14C/15C drop without fan.

 

[sirzur]

I have done a similar mod to my RT-AC86U router and achieved 20C -25C drop in CPU, all without external fan. Ambient temp is probably 15C in the attached picture. Previously in summer and early autumn when ambient temp was about 30-35C, I was getting 85-90C on CPU

My recommendation would be 2mm copper shim on CPU and 2.8mm copper shims on wifi chips. 2mm seem to fit well on CPU. I currently have 1X 2mm and 2X 0.3mm shims on the wifi chips, with thermal paste on both sides, but I think it (the shims) is loose, so have ordered some 0.8mm copper shims. But given the temperature, I might not touch the router until summer even when I eventually get the 0.8mm shims. My only caution is to be careful when screwing back the heat sink. DO NOT overtighten the screws or the chips may be damaged

Previously I had to use a USB fan blowing on the back side of the unit to achieve similar results. While I had the router open, I also drilled 6 holes at the top of the unit to allow the air inside the unit to vent easily, 3 on each side. Mine is a 2018 unit bought from China and so am well outside warranty

 

[Tech9]

I'm testing one RT-AC66U B1 now and this is what CPU temp shows:

fanctrl_info = ; curr_cpuTemp = "81"

It doesn't go much higher; the room temperature is relatively high 27C. This router is older hardware, but very stable. Perhaps the best $100 home router out there. Up to 50ft around the Wi-Fi performance is not much different than AC86U.

 

[mromero]

I have done a similar mod to my RT-AC86U router and achieved 20C -25C drop in CPU, all without external fan. Ambient temp is probably 15C in the attached picture. Previously in summer and early autumn when ambient temp was about 30-35C, I was getting 85-90C on CPU

View attachment 33996
My recommendation would be 2mm copper shim on CPU and 2.8mm copper shims on wifi chips. 2mm seem to fit well on CPU. I currently have 1X 2mm and 2X 0.3mm shims on the wifi chips, with thermal paste on both sides, but I think it (the shims) is loose, so have ordered some 0.8mm copper shims. But given the temperature, I might not touch the router until summer even when I eventually get the 0.8mm shims. My only caution is to be careful when screwing back the heat sink. DO NOT overtighten the screws or the chips may be damaged

Previously I had to use a USB fan blowing on the back side of the unit to achieve similar results. While I had the router open, I also drilled 6 holes at the top of the unit to allow the air inside the unit to vent easily, 3 on each side. Mine is a 2018 unit bought from China and so am well outside warranty

I can get 2mm aluminum strips but no copper. I think I will try that. I have lots of 1mm copper but do not want to make a sandwich.

 

[dlandiss]

Tangential to this thread: https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/20/asus_thermal_pad_thickness/

 

[mromero]

Tangential to this thread: https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/20/asus_thermal_pad_thickness/

Sigh. Sounds like the apple nonsense and their screws. Except that in the case of the Asus RT AC-86u the CPU thermal pad blunder may be a sin or error of omission?

 

[heysoundude]

Sigh. Sounds like the apple nonsense and their screws. Except that in the case of the Asus RT AC-86u the CPU thermal pad blunder may be a sin or error of omission?

worse - the sin is greed: by saving a few pennies at manufacture, they make a LOT more when the equipment reaches (a premature) end-of-life and has to be replaced.
running Merlin's firmware and the scripts kinda makes us complicit in that - we like what they do, and we've put time and effort into learning them that we will probably default to another Asus router when our current ones stop functioning.