# Linksys EA6500 Mod



## DzillaXx

So found this router on Ebay, thought it was a damn good deal for a 3x3:3 AC router. For Around $40, I said why not. Considering I already had all the tools needed to do this mod, and a Extra Power adapter. So really the only thing I bought was the Router.

Now for the goodies.









How the router looks stock, it is fairly big. Bigger than my old TP-Link.


As you can see, it has crap cooling from the start. Ticking Time Bomb. So I fixed it up with some Heatsinks. The wireless AC chip gets pretty hot compared to the rest, so this was a must IMO.


U.FL to RP-SMA Pigtail Antenna adapters attached, had bought extra when I did my WNDR3400 mod.


Drilled Holes and mounted the Antenna Adapters.


One of the Cables was not long enough, so I had to steal one from my WNDR3400. So I thought I might as well post what that looks like inside.


Looking good










Before:


After:


So far so good, Wifi performance has increased. Atleast on the 5ghz side, as that is all I tested. Will post benchmarks later.

But for anyone that has this router and wants to improve it, this is a vary easy mod to accomplish.

Oh and Lets not forget DD-WRT, as the Stock GUI on this router sucks.


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## coachmark2

Interesting.

What's the gain on those antennas?


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *coachmark2*
> 
> Interesting.
> 
> What's the gain on those antennas?


7dbi

Also Wiki page for the router








https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Linksys_EA6500_v1


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## coachmark2

Cool. Just make sure you're within ERP limits.


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## DzillaXx

The router runs the AC chips at under 100mW, but I may try and push it up to 100mW if needed. And The 5Ghz spectrum doesn't go too far, so i'm happy so far. As 5ghz performance is defiantly up.

As for Benchmarks, Here is a quick one. But note this is all done with a Intel 5100 wireless card, so it is only a two stream N only. I have the laptop nearly in the line of sight about 10 yards away.

Server to laptop with my old TP-Link


Laptop to Server


Now for the New Router, Server to Laptop.


Laptop to Server


As you can see the Speed of the Laptop back to the Server didn't really improve, probably a limitation of the Intel 5100 card. Will be adding the Intel AC card to my laptop at some point. I did see a nice improvement in Download speed.

I get the same performance Stilling directly next to my TP-Link, 10 yards away with my laptop. Thanks to this new router.








But I do have to say those TP-Link results are lower than they should be, as I have had it pushing a decent amount more at that range. Just didn't feel like messing with it.

Etherway I wasn't having any wifi problems, I just upgraded for fun. Still never had a problem streaming 1080p to my Fire TV stick 10 yards away over 5ghz. But Now I am atleast 4K ready.


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## djsi38t

Very interesting and a nice work!


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *djsi38t*
> 
> Very interesting and a nice work!


Thanks. Kinda my first real thread. Always wanted to make a Mod Thread, and now I have.









At least anyone that owns a EA6500 and stumbles into this thread looking for idea, has a good start.









Kinda wish I did a before and after benchmark with the EA6500, but that GUI was so Horrid.


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## DzillaXx

OK, Update.

I ended up finding a problem with DD-WRT that required me ditching it for now. Sadly







. Problem was it wouldn't channel bond, so my devices wouldn't go into 40/80mhz mode. While MiMo worked fine. Also I'm not sure why my TP-Link was going slow, as I used to have that and my WNDR3400 Bridged to I could stream shows to my TV before getting my fire tv stick. Would get a solid 11.5MB/s most of the time, and my laptop in the same place would do slightly better. Now When I went to Test my EA6500's performance close up, I was still getting the same 12.5 I got 10 years away. When I was getting 13-14MB/s from my TP-Link while being next to it. As I used to have no problem getting 300mbps connection to my TP-Link with DD-WRT, but all I could get with the EA6500's DD-WRT install was 144mbps. Performance was spot on, if only Channel Bonding worked.

So I reverted back to the Stock Linksys firmware. Does everything I need it to, and wireless performance is fixed. I'll try DD-WRT again in the future.

This is about 10 yards away with the stock firmware. Pretty good IMO, considering I never got much more than 12MB/s from my TP-Link on a good day from this distance.


This is directly next to my router. Pretty good for a 2 stream N connection. 156mbps on a 300mbps connection.










Upload speed from laptop to server at 10 yards has improved too. With around 8-9MB/s when I tested it.


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## coachmark2

156Mbit/s OTA for 2x2 802.11n is definitely impressive. That's about the highest real-world I've seen out of an N box.


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## DzillaXx

It does use the same BCM4360 as the Netgear Nighthawk. So that explains the good 5ghz performance.


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## PhotonFanatic

Are those the little vram heatsinks people use on their video cards?








Just curious. Perhaps some larger ones could be used? Maybe I could order some bigger ones. And how exactly did you connect them? When I first noticed how warm this thing runs, I was thinking of building a little fan base for it to sit on. Sort of like those powered laptop bases, only smaller. It should work pretty good due to all those holes it has in the bottom. The fans would just blow the air up through the bottom holes and out the top ones. It was getting warm enough as to make me wonder if that metal top piece was the heatsink lol.

Of course you'd have to use some of those lower CFM, low decibel fans so you don't have to sit there and listen to fans blowing.


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PhotonFanatic*
> 
> Are those the little vram heatsinks people use on their video cards?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious. Perhaps some larger ones could be used? Maybe I could order some bigger ones. And how exactly did you connect them? When I first noticed how warm this thing runs, I was thinking of building a little fan base for it to sit on. Sort of like those powered laptop bases, only smaller. It should work pretty good due to all those holes it has in the bottom. The fans would just blow the air up through the bottom holes and out the top ones. It was getting warm enough as to make me wonder if that metal top piece was the heatsink lol.
> 
> Of course you'd have to use some of those lower CFM, low decibel fans so you don't have to sit there and listen to fans blowing.


Yeah GPU memory heatsinks. I had them laying around, but you can buy bigger ones.

But it is solid copper, and does a decent job at keeping the temp down. I would buy bigger heatsinks if I didn't already have these. They just stick on with their double sided thermal tape.

Considering that Overheating is one of the biggest complaints about the router, Nothing wrong with trying to keep it cool.

The case is pretty easy to open. The 4 Phillips screws are under the feet, on the bottom of the router. After removing the screws, just take a flat head and guide it around the edges of the case to pop it off.

Also that silver on the top of the router is just thick plastic. it has a few vent holes on the top, but they don't do jack.









The 5GHZ card is the one with the antenna's connected to it. Next to it is the 2.4ghz chip, which I also put a heatsink on. I also put a couple over where the CPU is, on top of the shield. Not sure how good the contact is, but that chip didn't get hot in the first place.


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## PhotonFanatic

Looks like you got some extra speed out of those antennas.

They do sell the ea6900 antennas on ebay. Do you think it would be possible to add those in the same spots as the ea6900? I like the aesthetics of those 3 little antennas.


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PhotonFanatic*
> 
> Looks like you got some extra speed out of those antennas.
> 
> They do sell the ea6900 antennas on ebay. Do you think it would be possible to add those in the same spots as the ea6900? I like the aesthetics of those 3 little antennas.


If you look at my pics above, you can see there is no room for an antenna in the middle. And putting it in the middle of the top of the router would have been hard, considering I would need to etch out a part of that thick plastic. But I left it in a position that if I ever decided to solder connectors to the 2.4ghz side, I could make the router look pretty cool with 6 antennas. Really only place that makes sense to add a third antenna on this thing, was the top.

I'm not sure if they sell the EA6900 antenna's on ebay, but better off getting atleast 5dbi. I had one of my stock 5dbi TP-Link antenna's connected to the top port in one of those pics. I think it looks better that way, but Decided to use three matching antennas for performance vs aesthetics.


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## PhotonFanatic

What heatsinks would you actually have preferred to use, if you could take your pick? I'm thinking of those random motherboard heatsinks you see on some of the cheaper motherboards.

As for dbi, I'm assuming the higher that number, the "better' the antenna? As in, they will broadcast a little farther, and "hear" a little better?


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## DzillaXx

Think of it like this


As for Heatsinks
http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Copper-Cooling-Heatsinks-cooler/dp/B00637X42A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424068924&sr=8-1&keywords=RAM+Heatsinks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708154

Though maybe someone else would be better at finding these things.


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## PhotonFanatic

Guess it does look like I would prefer the 5 dbi. So does that mean directly above the antenna, there would be no signal?


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PhotonFanatic*
> 
> Guess it does look like I would prefer the 5 dbi. So does that mean directly above the antenna, there would be no signal?


No you still get signal, just not as good. Though one floor down/up is nothing, I get full bars a floor below my router on 5ghz. And the basement still has full converge, just not as strong as it would be if I had 2-3dbi antennas. But Your 2.4ghz is pretty much 0-1dbi, so that has you covered anyways.

For me the 7dbi is perfect.


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## PhotonFanatic

If I'm understanding you correctly, 7dbi would still work fine in a two story house?


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PhotonFanatic*
> 
> If I'm understanding you correctly, 7dbi would still work fine in a two story house?


Yeah, my router is on the second floor of a two story house.

But for most people 5dbi would be perfect.


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## PhotonFanatic

Would I be correct in assuming that thermal tape isn't as efficient as thermal paste?


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## DzillaXx

They make Thermal paste glue, but really couldn't tell you how much better it would be.


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## TheReciever

Yeah or pick up some permanent thermal grease (to the same effect)

Though thermal tape would be much easier to work with.

Thanks for sharing Dzilla. Makes me wish I had AC at home


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## PhotonFanatic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DzillaXx*
> 
> They make Thermal paste glue, but really couldn't tell you how much better it would be.


Now according to those pics you posted, is 12.5Mb per second about as fast as your transfer speeds get?


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PhotonFanatic*
> 
> Now according to those pics you posted, is 12.5Mb per second about as fast as your transfer speeds get?


That is with DD-WRT.

Channel Bonding doesn't work when I tried it.

With the Stock Firmware I get 19.5MB/s

And that is with a 300mbps N card.


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## PhotonFanatic

Are you going to upgrade to that AC gigabyte intel card that you linked as a recommendation?


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PhotonFanatic*
> 
> Are you going to upgrade to that AC gigabyte intel card that you linked as a recommendation?


My Laptop uses full size mini pci-e cards.









But may try to find a adapter.


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## PhotonFanatic

I'm not up to speed on those cards, but wouldn't it be possible to get an AC laptop card and just plug it into the side?

A bit off topic, it would be cool if they made video cards like that for laptops that you could just slide into the side to upgrade.


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## coachmark2

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DzillaXx*
> 
> My Laptop uses full size mini pci-e cards.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But may try to find a adapter.


I know your pain. I put a 7260 half mini in my D630. It has a full size slot but I found that if i put the half sized card in that when I reinstalled the keyboard, it held it in place


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *coachmark2*
> 
> I know your pain. I put a 7260 half mini in my D630. It has a full size slot but I found that if i put the half sized card in that when I reinstalled the keyboard, it held it in place


Thinking this might do the trick.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Mini-PCIE-Half-to-Full-Size-Extension-Card-Wireless-WIFI-PCI-Adapter-Bracket-/301239090014?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item46233fbb5e

My Laptop has access to everything from the bottom.









Also Kinda wish they made a 3x3 AC card for laptops, as I have three antennas.

Edit: Just picked up the 7260 and bracket, so will be testing that as soon as I get it.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PhotonFanatic*
> 
> I'm not up to speed on those cards, but wouldn't it be possible to get an AC laptop card and just plug it into the side?
> 
> A bit off topic, it would be cool if they made video cards like that for laptops that you could just slide into the side to upgrade.


They do make express slot wireless cards, but I don't like to use them.


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## PhotonFanatic

Ok how did you get the lid off the router? I looked but there are no screws on the bottom.


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## s0rcier

real nice mods, is it still running stable?

did u experient with serial recovery on that unit?
is a standard pl2303hx usb-ttl cable works?
any chance you got the pinout?

im really tempted to order some antenna and install dd-wrt
but without a safe "recovery" options i will hold!
thanks


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *s0rcier*
> 
> real nice mods, is it still running stable?
> 
> did u experient with serial recovery on that unit?
> is a standard pl2303hx usb-ttl cable works?
> any chance you got the pinout?
> 
> im really tempted to order some antenna and install dd-wrt
> but without a safe "recovery" options i will hold!
> thanks


Works solid as ever still. WiFi never drops a connection, which is nice.

I gave up on DD-WRT, Could never get channel bonding to work. So that mean it would only work in 20hz mode, which sucks.

Moving back to the stock Linksys firmware was pretty easy, and for the most part works good.

Can always use another router if you wanted and just use this with the stock firmware as a AP.

Never needed to use the Serial cable for it, but have used them on older Netgear equipment. For the most part I haven't seen the need to use it on this router yet.


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