Asus AX88U on sale

[Val D.]

$325 USD on Amazon.com

Yes, with $60 USD on top in shipping and import charges to Canada.

Would something similar happen with 4 cores?

@RMerlin can answer this question. On dual-core CPU clients 1-3-5 run on Core 2, clients 2-4 on Core 1.

 

[Marin]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/openvpn-cpu-question.56957/#post-496468

See post #12

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[netware5]

Yes, with $60 USD on top in shipping and import charges to Canada.

@RMerlin can answer this question. On dual-core CPU clients 1-3-5 run on Core 2, clients 2-4 on Core 1.

The above is about clients. What about servers?

 

[skeal]

I've had my AX88U since early spring and it constantly amazes me. I too come from AC68U and AC3100 routers. This AX88U really is a beast at all things. If you can afford it, it's the best choice moving forward. IMHO

 

[COBOL-Coder]

Best buy has the AX88U on sale right now for $363 CAD

Which is the cheapest i've seen it most places its selling for $450 CAD.

9/9/2019 Amazon $325

 

[RMerlin]

Was WIFI 6 standard finalized?

January 2020, unless it gets delayed once again.

 

[ubimea]

FWIW, Asus Store selling the RT-AX88U $299.99, free shipping in the US. 9/9/19

https://store.asus.com/us/search?q=rt ax88&s_c=1

I suspect Amazon may lower it to $279.00 or so as Black Friday/November sales approach, as I think it sold at that price briefly at the end of July 2019

 

[consorts]

i know we got a lot of power users here where money is no object, but...
speaking as frugal, the only reason to get any 1.8mhz AC is for OpenVPN,
so if that's not your purpose, then settle for any >1.2mhz AC or wait for
AX/wifi6 to mature - that's my plan, anyway...

 

[Makaveli]

9/9/2019 Amazon $325

Thanks but I'm in Canada so US prices don't mean anything for me as discussed on the previous page.

$325 US = $427 CAD

Which is more than the $363 CAD that I paid for the device.

And even at $299 USD as posted by ubimea that is $393 CAD and still more than what I paid.

i know we got a lot of power users here where money is no object, but...
speaking as frugal, the only reason to get any 1.8mhz AC is for OpenVPN,
so if that's not your purpose, then settle for any >1.2mhz AC or wait for
AX/wifi6 to mature - that's my plan, anyway...

I don't think its a money is no object if that was the case I would spend thousands and go all out with enterprise gear. Any Adult with a career should be able to afford a couple hundred bucks the question is do you want to. Also helps I have no children

If you want an expensive hobby look at cars makes computers looks like a joke.

Also can anyone recommend a good thumb drive I can use for scripts. I've not gone USB thumb drive shopping in awhile and things are different now, can't even bother looking for one under 8GB.

Secondly why do most have atrocious writes speeds.

 

[Val D.]

i know we got a lot of power users here where money is no object, but...
speaking as frugal, the only reason to get any 1.8mhz AC is for OpenVPN,
so if that's not your purpose, then settle for any >1.2mhz AC or wait for
AX/wifi6 to mature - that's my plan, anyway...

a) You can't compare two different generations CPU by clock frequency only. The newer ones not only have a higher clock speed, but are also MUCH faster. It's not just the difference between 1.2GHz and 1.8GHz.

b) RT-AC86U and RT-AX88U have new Radio modules also. The data throughput is 30-50% higher on the same distance using the same clients. Just this fact is worth upgrading, even if no VPN is used on the router.

 

[consorts]

It's not just the difference between 1.2GHz and 1.8GHz.

you are putting words in my mouth.
i specified that OpenVPN benefits because the 1.8's include logic
that specifically optimizes OpenVPN performance.
any implications that it has to do with ghz speed alone
is purely of your own delusions.

let me put it to you another way.
if you don't usb nas off your router
and you don't have a gigabit isp
and you don't openvpn off your router
then getting a 1.8 or higher asus
is a waste of home consumer money.

this is another reason why mesh is popular
because most of us don't need a supercomputer
for a router, we only need better wifi area coverage.

pretty much every AC router out today has not change much since 2015
so all these beeps and whistles marketing keeps adding to routers in order
to justify higher costs, are features 99% won't ever get around to using.
any regular on this forum is probably in that 1% but that does not mean
that we automatically agree with you that faster is better. often it's not...
it just uses more electricity, generates more heat, and drains your wallet
a lot faster of dollars you'd be better off spending elsewhere on your LAN.

 

[Val D.]

we only need better wifi area coverage

You may have to try RT-AC86U or RT-AX88U and see for yourself. Not only the CPU is new. See section b) in my post above.

waste of home consumer money

You may need to find a better job. RT-AC86U is CAD200 right now, or USD150. This is definitely not a lot of money in my world.

 

[elorimer]

don't usb nas off your router

I agree with this for completely unrelated reasons. For the longest time I had a Seagate external 4T attached to my 87U, and it just catastrophically failed. It worked fine for attaching storage to the network, and if you can accept total loss because you have backup elsewhere, fine. But if you have backup elsewhere, it is better to invest in transforming that into a more robust NAS, and then, why use the router to serve up something.

Meantime, a good CAD price and a good USD price surfaced in this thread.

 

[elorimer]

Also can anyone recommend a good thumb drive I can use for scripts. I've not gone USB thumb drive shopping in awhile and things are different now, can't even bother looking for one under 8GB.

I recall @kvic had collected some data on thumb drives here. and I think had a discord channel up on the topic. It and he were disappeared one day. I just had to toss a fried 8GB and replaced it with a 16gb Cruzer Fit. Don't need anything like that space even with a swap file but I don't want to go through another replacement cycle.

 

[RAH-66]

RT-AC86U and RT-AX88U have new Radio modules also.

AC86U=AC88U=Broadcom BCM4366
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/ASUS_RT-AC86U
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/ASUS_RT-AC88U

 

[Val D.]

AC86U=AC88U=Broadcom BCM4366

Are you sure?
Check the differences between BCM4366 and BCM4366E chips. Also, RT-AC88U is actually more expensive than RT-AC86U, so what’s the point?

 

[CaptainSTX]

The AC88U is not the same router as the AX88U. The AX88U's processor is the BCM43684.

The AX88 has a a lot of features the the AC86 doesn't support. In addition to 8 LAN ports it also supports LAG which could be useful to someone with a gig connection. The WiFi differences also might make a difference to some people.

 

[Grisu]

Also can anyone recommend a good thumb drive I can use for scripts.

Some in this "thumb drive thread" ended up with a cheap SSD, much less troubles than all thumb drives, no wifi-interferences with good cable and no overheating problems or dying drives.
You can even use an old spare one when upgrading a laptop/PC to a larger one with external USB3 adapter case.

 

[Makaveli]

I agree with this for completely unrelated reasons. For the longest time I had a Seagate external 4T attached to my 87U, and it just catastrophically failed. It worked fine for attaching storage to the network, and if you can accept total loss because you have backup elsewhere, fine. But if you have backup elsewhere, it is better to invest in transforming that into a more robust NAS, and then, why use the router to serve up something.

Meantime, a good CAD price and a good USD price surfaced in this thread.

Most of my storage is in a HTPC box I never run any storage directly off the router no point.

I recall @kvic had collected some data on thumb drives here. and I think had a discord channel up on the topic. It and he were disappeared one day. I just had to toss a fried 8GB and replaced it with a 16gb Cruzer Fit. Don't need anything like that space even with a swap file but I don't want to go through another replacement cycle.

Thanks for that link excellent info.

I actually do have a spare one of these laying around.

Kingston DataTraveler G3 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive

Submitted by M@rco (SNBforum) on Aug 10, 2018
Tested on Asus RT-AC68U
CmdLine: iozone -e -I -a -s 20M -r 4k -r 16k -r 512k -r 1024k -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 -i 2
                                                       random   random
      kB  reclen    write  rewrite    read    reread    read     write
   20480       4     7036     7130     9836     9950     8254      887
   20480      16     8271    10115    19585    20873    21119     2987
   20480     512     9714    11419    31369    31709    31683    10498
   20480    1024    11120    11600    31689    32036    31906    11296
   20480   16384    11410    11737    33117    32525    33298    11648

Like what I see here also I can pick up a 32GB model for a decent price.

SanDisk Ultra Flair 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Submitted by kvic on Aug 5, 2018
Tested on Asus RT-AC56U
CmdLine: iozone -e -I -a -s 20M -r 4k -r 16k -r 512k -r 1024k -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 -i 2
                                                              random   random
             kB  reclen    write  rewrite    read    reread     read    write
          20480       4     4628     4697    19021    19119     6206     3977
          20480      16    16030    16768    51271    50867    22272    13536
          20480     512    48162    75564    91575    92086    80767    67474
          20480    1024    53266    86650    92302    95623    89220    78823
          20480   16384    71618    88822   107486   107510   107406    87864

Some in this "thumb drive thread" ended up with a cheap SSD, much less troubles than all thumb drives, no wifi-interferences with good cable and no overheating problems or dying drives.
You can even use an old spare one when upgrading a laptop/PC to a larger one with external USB3 adapter case.

I feel it will cost me more than $30 that the 32GB drive will cost but also worth looking at. Had 2GB USB drive die on me after about 1.5 years usage for scripts.

I would then just need a USB to SATA adaptor or preferable enclosure I prefer to not have the drive sitting out in the open.

So many good suggestion folks keep them coming.

 

[heysoundude]

You may need to find a better job. RT-AC86U is CAD200 right now, or USD150. This is definitely not a lot of money in my world.

was it just me, or did anyone else cringe at this?