AC1900 First Look: NETGEAR R7000 & ASUS RT-AC68U

[ehume]

I have FIOS. No modem needed.

 

[balu000]

The reason is in my country the ISP does not provide for a modem if the one they supplied breaks and also the one they supply is a cheap one. So looking for a good ADSL2 modem. thanks.

 

[ofg007]

n7000 USB speed

The speed of the connection to the USB drive i experienced using Netgear n7000 is very low. Is there a setting/configuration that I need to adjust? or how do you explain the difference in results?

I tested the speed on a Mac Book Pro (MBP) Retina, Black Magic Speed Test, and a WD 3.0 external drive.

The Write/Read (W/R) results are as follows (MB/s):
Direct connection MBP-WD : 96.0 / 96.5

Wired through router - USB 2.0: 12.2 / 17.7
Wired through router - USB 3.0: 17.0 / 28.8
Wireless - USB 2.0: 9.8 / 15.9
Wireless - USB 3.0: 10.1 / 15.4

Please note that these measurements represents the average of five measurements.

Thank you.

 

[Almighty1]

In the review, the Netgear R7000 is faster than the ASUS RT-AC68U. Now that both had newer firmware updates, is the ASUS RT-AC68U still slower than the Netgear R7000? Is it the hardware or the firmware on the ASUS that is causing it to be slower than the Netgear R7000?

 

[sfx2000]

quick comment on the article...

I tried multiple times to get the tests to run, but each time the router share would disconnect while copying the first 1 GB VOB file in the test folder. Maybe ASUS should put some shielding on the USB 3.0 connector...​

Might be shielding - USB3 can and will interfere with Wifi in the 2.4GHz space, however, when cabled up, USB3 isn't an issue perhaps...

I suspect it more of an issue with the Linux NTFS/FAT32 drivers - the linux NTFS driver specifically has CPU loading issues, at least in the open-source version. I've seen this driver bring desktop/server class CPU's to their knees... it's pretty horrible...

Try running the test again with the attached USB device formatted in EXT3 or EXT4, and you might get different results.

Also on the client side - might consider CIFS/SMB1 instead instead of SMB2/3...

For Win7/8/Server 2008 etc... look here - there are a few ways to do this outlined in the MS KnowlegeBase article below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2696547

Mac: just use "cifs://COMPUTER_ADDRESS" instead of "smb://COMPUTER_ADDRESS" and this will do SMB1 instead...

sfx

 

[thiggins]

Try running the test again with the attached USB device formatted in EXT3 or EXT4, and you might get different results.

Also on the client side - might consider CIFS/SMB1 instead instead of SMB2/3...

For Win7/8/Server 2008 etc... look here - there are a few ways to do this outlined in the MS KnowlegeBase article below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2696547

Mac: just use "cifs://COMPUTER_ADDRESS" instead of "smb://COMPUTER_ADDRESS" and this will do SMB1 instead...

Thanks for the suggestions. Could be some of them could get yield better performance. But that's not what running a benchmark is about.

 

[sfx2000]

Thanks for the suggestions. Could be some of them could get yield better performance. But that's not what running a benchmark is about.

True true...

NTFS/FAT32 has been an issue with linux... linux always prefers it's own FS as it runs in the kernel, and the BSD drivers aren't much better.

Most NTFS implementations (and FAT32/16/ExFAT) are userland, and this is a performance hit...

Perhaps test both for devices that offer the option?

sfx

 

[Lat]

I just made an account just to to add something to this. I guess I'm not crazy then.

I first noticed this happening with my R6250. It would be a light "screech." It would ONLY do it when a B network was on the same channel as you and was in range. Turning an AP to G or N made the Netgear instantly stop making that noise when the Netgear was transferring over 2.4 GHz.

I got annoyed by it so then I went to the EA6300(The fake EA6400). It wasn't happening for quite awhile until now. Lately it began making the same exact sound when transferring data over wireless. The faster the transfer, the more noise produced. This however makes the sound whether there's a B network or not.

Lastly, I also noticed my Netgear A6200 adapter made a similar but lower sound(at least I think it's coming from it too).

This screech, static, whatever sound is sort of annoying.

Here's a link to the sound file that describes the sound I hear:
http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/2094542~d179b89b7de56a6dd8d032e66c3483ab/IMG_0073.MOV

I took this a few months ago with an iPod laying against my R6250. Have to turn up your volume a bit to hear it. The screech/static is whenever there's a constant transfer going on. The tapping is when a video keeps buffering on and off. Throughout that black video with the sound, I made my phone stream a video on Youtube. Whenever I went to buffer ahead, it made the screech and tapped whenever it was buffering all it needed to.

This is obviously not what it sounds like a few feet away. From a few feet away, it only sounds like a slight buzz/staticy sound.

Seems like this is plaguing Broadcom setups. Netgear said that they tested this when I reported it, but they didn't hear any sound. I just wonder if they weren't listening close enough or not.

I just purchased an R7000 as well. I noticed a similar screech noise only upon TX on the 5GHz band.

Did an exchange in store for another brand new Nighthawk, and it had the exact same symptom, only upon TX on the 5GHZ band.

Because I sit right beside my router, this is actually quite irritating. I'm guessing that all the R7000s my local brick and mortar store have are all from the same batch. I'm tempted to go and swap it one more time, but I'm guessing it'll still have the same issue.

 

[remixedcat]

Can you please re-upload that file to a different site. I can't download and listen to that.

 

[Darknessrise]

Can you please re-upload that file to a different site. I can't download and listen to that.

My file? or are you talking about someone else?

 

[remixedcat]

The one you linked

 

[Darknessrise]

I tried uploading it to my post, but the attachment fails.

I also noticed a similar, but quieter sound from my A6200 adapter.

 

[remixedcat]

i got it to work.... and that's pretty bad

 

[jonstatt]

I may be going crazy or missed something in this thread, but on the SmallNetBuilder rankings wasn't the R7000 the number 1 rated router with the RT-AC68U number 2??

If you check it now, the RT-AC68U is now rated number 1?

 

[thiggins]

I may be going crazy or missed something in this thread, but on the SmallNetBuilder rankings wasn't the R7000 the number 1 rated router with the RT-AC68U number 2??

If you check it now, the RT-AC68U is now rated number 1?

Since I retested 2.4 GHz with new firmware I decided to test 5 GHz too. I will have a short retest article up on Monday.

NOTE that the Linksys EA6900 2.4 GHz results right now are NOT correct. They represent 40 MHz bandwidth, not 20. I will have the correct results posted later today.

Also note that although the ASUS is now in #1, the profile charts are VERY close. The main thing that changed is that the low 2.4 GHz throughput on the ASUS on the first test got fixed.

 

[jonstatt]

Since I retested 2.4 GHz with new firmware I decided to test 5 GHz too. I will have a short retest article up on Monday.

NOTE that the Linksys EA6900 2.4 GHz results right now are NOT correct. They represent 40 MHz bandwidth, not 20. I will have the correct results posted later today.

Also note that although the ASUS is now in #1, the profile charts are VERY close. The main thing that changed is that the low 2.4 GHz throughput on the ASUS on the first test got fixed.

That explains it....many thanks

 

[thiggins]

Retesting is now complete and proper data is posted for all three routers. The results are now that the NETGEAR and ASUS tie for #1

 

[jonstatt]

Retesting is now complete and proper data is posted for all three routers. The results are now that the NETGEAR and ASUS tie for #1

So it really is splitting hairs to choose between these routers then. Choose your religion (e.g. Asus or Netgear) and be happy with either is the bottom line I guess.

 

[Chuck_IV]

So it really is splitting hairs to choose between these routers then. Choose your religion (e.g. Asus or Netgear) and be happy with either is the bottom line I guess.

For wireless/routing yes, they are very similar. However, what stood out to me was the USB 3.0 read/write speeds between the 2. Netgear looks to have a noticeable(2 times the speed in many instances) advantage on USB 3.0 speeds, no matter the file system.

I had been running an ASUS AC66U and while I was generally ok with it, it gave me fits with its ip release/renew. It never worked with my provider(Charter) no matter the firmware(Merlin, Stock or DD-WRT). Every time I'd get a new ip, the router would drop connection and would never to a proper ip release/renew. I'd have to circumvent the router, to a manual release/renew and then reattach the router. Plus, I seemed to have some strange bouts of odd lag at times, that I could never pinpoint with the 66U. I'd see it in my gaming and occassionally when streaming.

I bought the Netgear R7000 and things have been great. It handled my latest IP change without issue and also I'm not seeing the bouts of occassional lag(so far) that I had with the Asus.

 

[thiggins]

For wireless/routing yes, they are very similar. However, what stood out to me was the USB 3.0 read/write speeds between the 2. Netgear looks to have a noticeable(2 times the speed in many instances) advantage on USB 3.0 speeds, no matter the file system.

You are correct, Chuck. The R7000 maintained that advantage in the retest.