ASUS RT-AC68U hardware Version A2 or B1?

[mustafa803]

Hi.

I am new here.

I visited two different electronic stores in canada and I was looking for the Asus Ac68U router.

When I was looking at the specs on the box I came across two different hardware versions: A2 and B1. Both show they were manufactured in 2015.

I tried contacting asus customer service to try to get an explanation from them as to what the difference was or to provide we with the latest hardware version that I should buy, but they appeared completely lost and had no idea what I was talking about. They kept telling me the only versions available are AC68u AC68p AC68w AC68r....

So I decided to post it here. So what is difference between both and which one should I pick? And is there a newer version on the way that I should be waiting for?

Thanks.

 

[hggomes]

Choose B1 (BCM4709 1GHZ), A1/A2 is still the old CPU BCM4708 at 800mhz.

C1 will be out soon its also a BCM4709 1GHZ but a new CPU revision, it will only work with FW versions = or > to 380.

 

[mustafa803]

Thanks for your reply....

 

[pege63]

C1 will be out soon its also a BCM4709 1GHZ but a new CPU revision, it will only work with FW versions = or > 380.

Where can we find this info do you have a link?

 

[hggomes]

You can't, you will need to wait some months to confirm this info when the router will be out on the market.

 

[pege63]

Do we gain something by switching from A1 to B1 , C1Router?

 

[hggomes]

Not much, but 200mhz and BCM4709 instead of BCM4708 in A revisions, also FA support.

 

[mustafa803]

I was reading the review for the Asus RT-AC68P on smallnetbuilder.com and I came across the following paragraph:

Digging through the FCC ID filings turned up a Class II permissive change filed at the very end of 2014. Among the modifications the letter describes is changing the radio SoC from BCM4360 to BCM43602. The new chip is used in Broadcom-based AC3200 class routers like NETGEAR's R8000. It takes the BCM4360 3x3 802.11ac MAC/PHY and adds a local processor and 960 KB of SRAM to make a complete standalone radio.

The new device can't change any RF characteristics, but it will completely offload 802.11 packet processing from the main CPU. This could boost storage performance. I didn't expect my review sample had the BCM43602 and visual inspection confirmed this. I've asked ASUS when this change will be rolled into the 68P and will update when I hear back.

So is this the change we should expect in the C1 version?

 

[connorm]

Not much, but 200mhz and BCM4709 instead of BCM4708 in A revisions, also FA support.

FA support?

 

[connorm]

I was reading the review for the Asus RT-AC68P on smallnetbuilder.com and I came across the following paragraph:



So is this the change we should expect in the C1 version?

yeah that C1 is what im looking for

the same solid RT-AC68U/R7000 Platform with tonnes of Third Party Firmware available but with those 43602's

however obviously there is going to need to be a slightly different version of the FW to accommodate the 43602's

i absolutely hate the fact these new routers all need 4+ antennas and they cant all stay at the back ( i think the antennas on the side is god awful)

R85000 is the closest to anything i like ascetically lately and its still wayy to big

why did routers go from having 3 atennas and being reasonable size to 4/6/8 and being obnoxiously large lol

 

[VANT]

I was reading the review for the Asus RT-AC68P on smallnetbuilder.com and I came across the following paragraph:



So is this the change we should expect in the C1 version?

RT-AC68P have 4360 radio chip not 43602.

 

[whitey019]

Just for clarity, was the A1 version the CPU BCM4708 originally at 666Mhz that could be changed to 800Mhz.

 

[VANT]

for me 68U with SOC 4709 its nonsens becouse we have 68P with 4709.

 

[mustafa803]

I decided not to wait for the C1 so I went ahead and purchased the B1 version. It is showing 1000MHZ under CPU frequency.

It is working great with merlin 378.56_2.

Once the C1 comes out I will wait to see what the reviews will be like and based on that I will decide if it is worth upgrading to it or keeping the B1

 

[connorm]

sounds good, i was just in staples today in vancouver bc and still had A2

i think the dif between A1 and A2 was just that they added sheilding for usb3.0 interference

and B1 got BCM4909 instead of bcm4908 and new skyworks amp for 5GHz

C1 should add to this with new 5GHz and 2.4GHz chips should be 2 BCM43602 which will have there own CPU to offload wifi processing from the CPU (im exited and am probably going to want one of these)

 

[mustafa803]

I went to staples in toronto but they only had the A2 version.

Canada Computers had both the A2 and B1. That is where I got mine from....

 

[tallytr]

Got mine today from NCIX for $199 (A2 version), manufactured 2015.
Works just fine, super fast. now getting 100Mbps download in areas of the house where I "only" got 54Mbps before with RT-N66U.
No need for 2.4GHz band

 

[VANT]

N66u LAN-WAN performance is about ~700mbit/s, so if you have problem with 100 mbit/s You have problem with configuration not with router.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...n900-gigabit-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

 

[L&LD]

VANT, It's not the LAN-WAN performance that matters for tallytr. It is the much better 5GHz band the RT-AC68U has over the RT-N66U (as do almost all AC1900 class routers and including the nominal AC1200 class RT-AC56U, which actually performs closer to an AC1750 class product).

 

[tallytr]

N66u LAN-WAN performance is about ~700mbit/s, so if you have problem with 100 mbit/s You have problem with configuration not with router.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...n900-gigabit-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

Yeah, it's my ISP, I get max. 100-120mbps download speed. I'm happy if my router get's me close to that even at distances via wi-fi. The RT-N66U did that just fine but at closer range, all the AC router does now for me is expanding the range at high speed, sorry, I'm no pro, just a user.