N100 small pc as router gets really hot to the touch

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ekke

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Nov 16, 2015
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ekke

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Nov 16, 2015
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I was thinking more in line with cpu steppings , is the cpu cooler interface defective, not enough coolingpat etc.

I had a intel i3 with fans etc as router prior, no fans now. Most people are seeing sub 50C on these while i see almost 55C idle!
 
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ekke

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Nov 16, 2015
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I think the CPU is never really stepping down, I think idle could be lower

1705764773108.png
 
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elvisimprsntr

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May 9, 2021
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That's why it's called a firewall. It gets hot! :D

I use mine as a coffee warmer.

IMG_2265.jpeg

50C core temps is nothing to be concerned about. Just make sure there is adequate ventilation around your appliance, i.e. don't put it in a cabinet or stack on top of something else radiating heat.

Screenshot 2024-01-20 at 11.51.00 AM.png
 
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ekke

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Nov 16, 2015
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1706213990668.png

I removed IPs and zenarmour, but I cant get much better speed/throughout then 700-800 Mbps and and down.
then N100 is really bad! or is it opnsense ? I think Im gonna reinstall pfsense if I have time to setup everything again from scratch ...

Its really bad, not worth the money at all. This box is now in the position of one of my worst purchaes ever :) in there with a 9 GB scsi 10krpm drive in the early 2000
 
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vjeko

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Sep 3, 2015
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I bought something similar with an i3 and 6 ports believing it would run normally. I noticed the
heatsink was excessively hot so I opened it up and the SSD was hot to the touch and I knew things
were'nt going to work for long if I closed it up again. It's now sitting
open with a Noctua NF-F12 bolted to the heatsink and SSD merrily open to the world :D and
I don't notice the sound of the fan. After this experience, I think I would wait till the
power needs of the electronics dropped way down before getting anything without a fan.
 
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louie1961

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May 15, 2023
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I personally would open the unit up and check the status of the thermal paste. On some of these units there is a gap between the surface of the CPU and the metal case. I have heard of this being an air gap (not enough thermal paste) or just jammed full of thermal paste, sort of like caulking. I just bought one of these recently https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZJB9KX5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

When I took it apart, there was a gap, filled with paste. I ordered some higher quality thermal paste and put a copper shim in there to fill the gap. I dropped my temps by 10 degrees C. I am running pfSense, with none of the bios pawer settings activated, but I have activated speedshift in pfSense and set my performance to 60

Capture.JPG
 
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ekke

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Nov 16, 2015
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louie1961 said:
I personally would open the unit up and check the status of the thermal paste. On some of these units there is a gap between the surface of the CPU and the metal case. I have heard of this being an air gap (not enough thermal paste) or just jammed full of thermal paste, sort of like caulking. I just bought one of these recently https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZJB9KX5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

When I took it apart, there was a gap, filled with paste. I ordered some higher quality thermal paste and put a copper shim in there to fill the gap. I dropped my temps by 10 degrees C. I am running pfSense, with none of the bios pawer settings activated, but I have activated speedshift in pfSense and set my performance to 60

View attachment 34019
Click to expand...
Yeah could be, but since the metal casing, the heatsink gets really hot to the touch I think its "ok", but you never know ...
 
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blunden

Active Member
Nov 29, 2019
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ekke said:
View attachment 34013

I removed IPs and zenarmour, but I cant get much better speed/throughout then 700-800 Mbps and and down.
then N100 is really bad! or is it opnsense ? I think Im gonna reinstall pfsense if I have time to setup everything again from scratch ...

Its really bad, not worth the money at all. This box is now in the position of one of my worst purchaes ever :) in there with a 9 GB scsi 10krpm drive in the early 2000
Click to expand...
That sounds low to me, even though I don't own an N100 system. Maybe try an OS based on Linux instead of FreeBSD, just for comparison. You can live boot VyOS for instance if you don't feel like making a full install.

Doesn't hurt to try with pfSense too of course.
 
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RySol

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Dec 5, 2023
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ekke said:
Yeah could be, but since the metal casing, the heatsink gets really hot to the touch I think its "ok", but you never know ...
Click to expand...
Not sure if this helps, but to give you point of reference. I got one similar to yours but from Topton, also N100. Decided to test it out with Openwrt, roughly same ambient temp as you, I have idle currently at 30c, average for the week is 30.4. It's also in a tiny closet with fan. My CPU usage is minimal and clock speeds are low, looking at the stats cpu hardly ever goes over 1ghz, at most it does once a day for a brief period.

Looks like it may be connected with CPU usage, double check your bios settings as well.
 
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Branko

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Mar 21, 2022
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I bought one for different purposes (fanless, passive cooling) and it was somewhat hot too.
What really helped is lowering PL2 from 25W down to 6W, and interestingly enough
performance didn't go down at all
 
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ekke

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Nov 16, 2015
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Ill try and find the pl2 settings in bios.
someone suggested that the pci could be stuck at pcie v1 ? but there was no pci section in my bios.
 
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devast

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Jun 28, 2023
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ekke said:
I was thinking more in line with cpu steppings , is the cpu cooler interface defective, not enough coolingpat etc.

I had a intel i3 with fans etc as router prior, no fans now. Most people are seeing sub 50C on these while i see almost 55C idle!
Click to expand...
Not really, it's just a cheap case/cooler design. You can try replacing the TIM, however it should not matter much. If you strap any fan onto it, it will go under 30c, and will solve every thermal issues you might have. I've got the same unit, let me quicky sum up some things: The case will get really hot if you do not attach a fan, cpu temps at 70-80-90c are fine, your ssd/ram will overheat before your cpu if it's too much heat in there.
 
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ekke

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So I started to use my Gbit conncetion and now the box is burning up ... what a pieace of ... *NEVER EVER BUY THIS UNIT*!!

coretemp0: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp0: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp3: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp2: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp0: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp3: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 27.9C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 81.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 81.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 80.0C
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 80.0C
root@OPNsense:~ # ~~~


root@OPNsense:~ # smartctl -a /dev/nvme0 | grep empe
- temperature is above or below threshold
Temperature: 76 Celsius
Warning Comp. Temperature Time: 451
Critical Comp. Temperature Time: 1
root@OPNsense:~ #


its boiling my ssd drive too!
 
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Branko

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Mar 21, 2022
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ekke said:
So I started to use my Gbit conncetion and now the box is burning up ... what a pieace of ... *NEVER EVER BUY THIS UNIT*!!

coretemp0: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp0: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp3: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp2: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp0: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
coretemp3: critical temperature detected, suggest system shutdown
hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 27.9C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 81.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 81.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 80.0C
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 80.0C
root@OPNsense:~ # ~~~


root@OPNsense:~ # smartctl -a /dev/nvme0 | grep empe
- temperature is above or below threshold
Temperature: 76 Celsius
Warning Comp. Temperature Time: 451
Critical Comp. Temperature Time: 1
root@OPNsense:~ #


its boiling my ssd drive too!
Click to expand...
Put both PL1 and PL2 to 6W and report back
 
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