My router is an n100 passively cooled device. But before I made it my router I ran a bunch of stress tests and even ran some games on it. I don’t think it had a single problem running at its max 12W PL. I’m not sure if clocks even dropped from their max all core turbo speed.

As long as the chassis is big enough 15w is nothing. Plus it takes a WHILE for the heat soak to peak. Would you even run anything on it that would stress it for 30+ minutes?

take a look at busted-up laptops. you can get competent 4/6-core machines with busted screens/keyboard/etc which makes them useless in the real world in the sub-$100 region. way better performance, storage options, connectivity, antennas, power brick included, etc., and you don't need to dick around with "hats" and arm64 packages and the like.

I'm a user of the N100 but I added a 60mm fan on it. I have a board that has full fan control so I have it so the fan is mostly stopped. It only runs a little at near 100% load. For me it was getting a little too hot. Noctua fans are really quiet. I never hear that PC.

A throttled N100 will still give you more than a pi. I'd get it and throttle or cool it however you like.

Edit: oop didn't see this was old. Hopefully whatever you've bought works for you.