A method is provided for each router to individually manage retransmissions at run time in a single chip computer die or a single computer that includes cores or compute nodes and routers that interconnect the cores or the compute nodes. Each router compares static energy saving and dynamic energy increase from turning off a retransmission buffer of the router in a monitoring phase. When the static energy saving is greater than the dynamic energy increase, the router turns off the retransmission buffer in a subsequent monitoring phase. When the static energy saving is less than the dynamic energy increase, the router turns on the retransmission buffer in the subsequent monitoring phase.