Powerline Networking with the Western Digital Livewire

At AnandTech, we are always interested in getting to know what actually powers the units we review. The WD Livewire happens to be the first powerline adapter product that we are reviewing. Though we had heard about Atheros/Intellon and Gigle Networks before, it is always exciting to open up one of the kits and confirm the chips ourselves. One of the routing units was given the teardown treatment, and the results are presented below for your viewing pleasure.

The routing unit appears quite impregnable, until one realizes that two out of the four circular gripping pads at the bottom of the unit hide screws beneath them. Once these were out of the way, disassembling was fairly straightforward. Removing the bottom plastic plate revealed a thin metal film covering the PCB. The intent of this metal film is to act as a shield for the heat generated by the chip behind and prevent it from possibly melting the underside of the unit. The metal film is held in place by two screws and is also soldered to the PCB.

Metal Film for Thermal Protection

After unscrewing and unsoldering the metal film, we are presented with the underside of the PCB, which contains the main chips enabling the powerline networking functionality. Our suspicions are confirmed, with the Atheros INT6400 chip, as well as the Intellon AFE (Analog Front End), INT1400 (PDF) making an appearance.
 

The Underside is Largely Unpopulated Except for the Powerline Chips

Up Close with the Powerline Chips

With a little bit of maneuvering, it is also possible to completely remove the PCB from the casing (as we have already done in this section's pictures). The top portion of the PCB shows a transformer, multiple capacitors and the Realtek RTL8306G 6 port Fast Ethernet switch controller. EtronTech supplies the DRAM for the chipset, and is the other big chip which can be seen in the photograph.
 

Top Side of the Board

So, we have taken a look at the internals of the WD Livewire. In the next section, we will look at how it performs.