Thermal tape question...

[Jsheppard]

I'm new here... thank you for adding me. My router for a little over two years has been a GT-AC5300. It has been absolutely fantastic until last week. I never had to reboot it, reconfigure it or mess with it at all except to update firmware for security reasons. Last week, it locked up. Upon reboot, it was stuck in a boot loop. Ever since then (until oven.. keep reading), I have not been able to get ANY firmware to load on the router, this includes loading through the recovery portal accessed by holding WPS button as well as ASUS recovery by holding the reset button and loading via Asus recovery software. Long story short, I overheated when I setup a bunch VM's on ESX servers. This along with normal streaming and my kids video gaming, work from home, school from home, Hulu... basically beating the crap out of it. I opened it up and the bottom heatsinks were covered in either grease from the thermal pads boiling out or excess flux. The bottom heat sinks have an oily residue on them. Once opened, I knew it had been overheated, so I pulled an old trick and took the board out the chassis and stuck it in an oven preheated to 380 and baked it for 10 minutes... opened the door and let it cool (fixes solder joint problems). Assembled and now it runs great. I uploaded the original firmware via the recovery tool and booted into the router. Updated the firmware and its fully functional with NO issues whatsoever. I now have a laptop cooling pad on order to put under the router. *** BUT... Here is my question. I want to replace the thermal tape under the heat syncs... but I don't know the thickness of tape/pads to purchase. I don't want to pull it apart to measure b/c then it will need to stay apart until the tape arrives. Anybody know the thickness of the thermal tape? Any recommendation on brand?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I think you mean thermal pad, not thermal tape. e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UYTTLI4/?tag=smallncom-21

 

[Jsheppard]

That one is .5mm thick. The other ones listed are long strips and are 1.5mm to 2.5mm thick. Are you saying it is .5mm thick? I just want to make sure I order the correct thickness.

 

[Tech9]

Assembled and now it runs great.

You got lucky and it may fail again. See this thread for router cooling ideas including thermal pads, copper shims, fans, etc:

Router temperatures

Hello everybody With this release, temperature of my RT-AC86U has risen again. It's around 96°c. and logs shows CPU turned off due to excessive heating. CPU Wait is ENABLED. Anyone else experiencing this? Thanks

www.snbforums.com

 

[ColinTaylor]

Are you saying it is .5mm thick?

No I'm not saying that. I don't know how thick the pads are on the GT-AC5300. See if you can find a supplier that sells a pack with all 3 thicknesses.

 

[Jsheppard]

You got lucky and it may fail again. See this thread for router cooling ideas including thermal pads, copper shims, fans, etc:

Router temperatures

Hello everybody With this release, temperature of my RT-AC86U has risen again. It's around 96°c. and logs shows CPU turned off due to excessive heating. CPU Wait is ENABLED. Anyone else experiencing this? Thanks

www.snbforums.com

Oh goodness!!! It looks like 1.5mm to 2.5mm depending which chip and heat sync. I'm going to get several thickness pads and make sure it has a cooling fan from this point forward.

 

[Jsheppard]

No I'm not saying that. I don't know how thick the pads are on the GT-AC5300. See if you can find a supplier that sells a pack with all 3 thicknesses.

That was my first thought until I seen the prices. A wee bit expensive.

 

[Jsheppard]

You got lucky and it may fail again. See this thread for router cooling ideas including thermal pads, copper shims, fans, etc:

Router temperatures

Hello everybody With this release, temperature of my RT-AC86U has risen again. It's around 96°c. and logs shows CPU turned off due to excessive heating. CPU Wait is ENABLED. Anyone else experiencing this? Thanks

www.snbforums.com

Any chance the ax11000 is the same. I got that two days ago... bought the 4 year warranty with it.

 

[Jsheppard]

I just purchased some 1.5mm copper plates, 1mm pads and 1.5mm pads. Router turned off for now so it doesn't cook itself. Hopefully the 11000 has better cooling solution so it doesn't bake itself in 2 years.

 

[Tech9]

You should take some measurements first. The thermal transfer pads are the easiest match - just look what thickness Asus used originally. The copper shims are more tricky because different ICs have different gaps to the heatsink. I hope you know what are you doing.

 

[FTC]

Hi, although I do not have the GT-AC5300, the pictures I found in the web show its heatsinks to have screws to keep them over the chips. In that case my recommendation is not to use thermal pads but some K5-PRO viscous thermal paste. This way you will be able to easily fill the gap with the exact needed quantity (just put some in excess and let the pressure do the rest).. and without worries (it is not conductive and easy to remove if needed, plus a long term solution).

 

[Jsheppard]

I hope you know what are you doing.

Um... ok.

 

[Jsheppard]

Hi, although I do not have the GT-AC5300, the pictures I found in the web show its heatsinks to have screws to keep them over the chips. In that case my recommendation is not to use thermal pads but some K5-PRO viscous thermal paste. This way you will be able to easily fill the gap with the exact needed quantity (just put some in excess and let the pressure do the rest).. and without worries (it is not conductive and easy to remove if needed, plus a long term solution).

That does sound like a better and more permanent solution. I'll measure with plastigage first to see what the actual thickness is. At what point would the gap be too large for the viscous thermal paste to stay in place and be affective?