A Look Inside

Dismantling this router was easy as it only involved removing five screws.


Most of the small mainboard's real estate is covered by a very large heatsink, there to cool down all the major controllers and supporting ICs.


The rear of the mainboard looks empty, so we will start exploring it there. The first component that caught our attention is a Toshiba THGBMBG5, a 4 GB e-MMC module.


Here are a GL836 IC, the USB 2.0 Dual SD-card reader's controller, and the reset switch.


The mainboard's flash memory (25P80VG) has a capacity of 8 Mbit (or 1 MB).


Here is the mainboard's primary side with its heatsink and metal shields removed.


The router's CPU is a Broadcom BCM58622; it includes a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU clocked at 1.0 GHz and is supported by 256 MB of Samsung DDR3 memory. The BCM58622 integrates a Gigabit Ethernet switch core and the corresponding PHYs (Physical Layers).


Here is the VRM that feeds the CPU with power. It includes a CSD16340Q3 FET (25V, 60A @ 25°C, 6.1 mOhm @ 2.5V Vgs) and a CSD25402Q3A FET (-20V, -76A @ 25°C, 13.3 mOhm @ -2.5V). There is also an A04914, a 30V Dual N-Channel FET (30V, 6.5A @ 70°C, <28mOhm @ 4.5Vgs) along with an SBR (Schottky Diode).


All filtering caps are of high quality since nothing but Japanese polymer caps by Nichicon, Chemi-Con, or FPCAP (Nichicon) are used.


There are two Broadcom BCM43460KMLG controllers on the board. These are dual-band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and IEEE 802.11ac 3x3-compliant MAC/PHY/Radio complete systems on the chip (SoCs). So not only does the BCM43460KMLG support the new 802.11ac draft but also the older IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n standards. The 5 GHz radio band Broadcom controller also includes three RFFM4591 RF front-end modules.


The 2.4 GHz band includes the Broadcom controller, three Skyworks SKY13377 SPDT switches, three SKY15971 low-noise amplifiers, and three Skyworks SE2623L 2.4 GHz Wireless power amplifiers.


Two G2PM109N magnetic modules and a single GST5009 protect the LAN and WAN ports.


Here are the antenna connectors.