Finally ditched my ISP’s router and installed my own opnsense firewall with my own Access Point. I have crowdsec running on opnsense to block attacks + adguard to block ads and malicious domains. My network is segmented between my homelab that is exposed and my AP.
Finally feels quite safe in my network 😅
I bought a topton router with Intel N150. I was and still am disappointed with how much it heats up. Enev at idle it’s not really comfortable to touch it.
check thermal paste and get a fan attached to it. computer 120mm fans fit just right.
I don’t think thermal paste is the problem here, the whole box is god damn hot, so it conducts heat well. At wall it measures 14-15w consumption, got it there from like 20-22w that was on defaults. Given that N150 is 6W TDP, the whole system just runs hot.
A fan would help, but I wanted fanless for a reason.
TDP is a very misunderstood concept these days because it used to be a hard upper limit but now it’s god knows what. The Spec Sheet is calling it “Processor Base Power”. What might that be you ask? Well of course it is
In other words it’s just marketing mumbo jumbo. According to other users the N150 can draw as much as 20 up to 35 watts even. The fact that the heat is radiating well through your case sounds like a positive if anything. This is x86 we’re talking about. The added complexity of that architecture over ARM comes at a price.
it’s good to check because some of them come with bad paste and/or contact between the sink and cpu. it could simply be soaking.
in any case you can also remove the front and back pieces of the case for slighly better temperatures without adding a fan or messing with thermal paste.
the really shitty thermal paste - pack some Arctic Silver onto that bad boy and if you can -increase the heat sink size or type - I don’t know what kind of room you have to work with.
the chassis itself is the heatsink
A muffin fan with 4 stand offs would to the trick. Must be this particular model that gets hot.