High Temp - 378.56

[RogerSC]

I have the AC68p with the 1 GHz processor so I assume this runs hotter than the 800Mhz AC68u, mine has been at 82C since the day I fired it up and it has been rock stable. I quit worrying about temps, if it comes to the point I need to cut a hole in the router and attach a fan for stability I'd just RMA it. You just shouldn't have to go to those lengths.

Pretty much agree with this. Router design should be such that under normal usage circumstances no overheating occurs. If that isn't the case, the router (or other piece of electronics) is not likely to last very long.

 

[kevinlekiller]

I prefered doing that then doing a RMA with Asus Canada, which is atrocious, I've sent 2 things to RMA to them in the past (a 500$ monitor where the top half of the monitor become very dim after 3 months of use and a ROG motherboard that failed when powering it on), I had to pay shipping both ways, they returned me defective units after months of waiting in both cases. I'd rather go to the store and buy another router if it fails, but that's just me maybe?

You shouldn't have to do this indeed, but that's what happens when companies like Asus have poor QA/service.

 

[octopus]

Opening the case
There are 2 screws on the back under the tag sticker, one is up-left, another is down-right,
you have to remove it before pull off the front cover.

 

[AndreaS]

Thermal paste is more efficient than thermal pads. I had a similar experience when I upgraded the processor of my laptop. I substituted the thermal pad with some good thermal paste and, despite the faster processor, the temperatures felt down by 10 degrees. Me too, I have an AC68, overclocked to 1GHz, but my temps are in the range of 72-73 degrees, something more in very hot days, but never reached 80 degrees. I have the 2.4 Ghz WiFi disabled but, as far as I can remember even when the 2.4 Ghz was active the temps were the same. I guess I have been lucky as in my case the thermal pads were correctly set.

 

[octopus]

If you open up your RT-AC68U then have a look at heatsink. Then you will see that heatsink are bended.

( pic by hggomes)

 

[martinr]

If you open up your RT-AC68U then have a look at heatsink. Then you will see that heatsink are bended.

So that's an air gap under most of the top heatink? And that thin layer below the air gap is a thermal pad?

Talk about spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar!

 

[Davev6]

Just did a check on my 68U and same thing. Took out those thermal pads and added some thermal paste. I also did bend back that heatsink a little. With OC set to 1000,800 looking at 65C CPU temp where before it was almost at 80C. I think if I just add the smallest fan it will bring temps down quite a bit.

 

[martinr]

Just did a check on my 68U and same thing. Took out those thermal pads and added some thermal paste. I also did bend back that heatsink a little. With OC set to 1000,800 looking at 65C CPU temp where before it was almost at 80C. I think if I just add the smallest fan it will bring temps down quite a bit.

I’d forgotten all about this post.

There’s been a steady stream of topics on this. One I think I posted in about fans is:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/9-router-cooling-rt-ac68u-example.26733/page-8#post-432980

When I got my spare RT-AC68U (ebay), not only did I not bother with the fans, but I didn’t even replace this pads with thermal paste. I really don’t think it’s worth the effort, but as an exercise in seeing what difference it makes, by all means give it a go.