Asus Zenwifi XT12 vs XT8

[thetnee]

Just an update. After RMAing one of the XT8. finally got 4 XT8 Units running smoothly as AIMESH Wireless AP mode on Wired backhaul.



My only complaint is when I disconnect and reconnect the mesh nodes, I notice the main Mesh node struggling a bit with cpu usage sometimes spiking to almost 100%.



The Zenwifi xt8 does seem to have a pretty weak processor



I've now noticed the Zenwifi XT12 uses a brand new Qualcomm 2ghz quad core processor vs the 1.5ghz Broadcom one on the xt8.



Will I see a big improvement in my use case? Considering my wired backhaul is only 1gbps.

 

[RMerlin]

've now noticed the Zenwifi XT12 uses a brand new Qualcomm 2ghz quad core processor

It's a Broadcom BCM4912.

 

[thetnee]

It's a Broadcom BCM4912.

This is same as some older Asus higher end routers right?

 

[RMerlin]

This is same as some older Asus higher end routers right?

No. The BCM4912 is the latest CPU, which brought the clock bump to 2 GHz, and the move to a newer SDK based on Linux 4.19. It's currently only used by the XT12, ET12 and GT-AX6000 (with a few more models coming later).

 

[thetnee]

No. The BCM4912 is the latest CPU, which brought the clock bump to 2 GHz, and the move to a newer SDK based on Linux 4.19. It's currently only used by the XT12, ET12 and GT-AX6000 (with a few more models coming later).

So u would say this is the best Asus currently has?

My cisco rv340 uses a dual core 900mhz processor with 1gb ram and throughout is capped at 933mbps..would u say the XT12 can outperform this for load balancing if I have a 1gbps and 500mbps connection?

 

[oharag]

Hey - my thoughts on XT8 - I noticed that strength of connection compared to my old Asus RT-AC88U is much worse. I don't know if this is due to the difference in antennas. Looking at XT12 it looks like there are more antennas - and pointed in different directions - so hopefully strength is better. Also, can anyone comment on VPN acceleration? I tried loading a VPN Client on my Asus XT8 - speeds were 1/5 normal. I don't know if Asus routers support VPN acceleration - or maybe other companies do instead. Maybe it's the slow processor that causes slow down. I would hope XT12 speeds up VPN much faster.
ATM I have 2 XT8. I read comparison to XT12. XT12 looks impressive, but I would rather have more Ethernet Gig ports - like at least 4 on top of the two 2.5 WAN/LAN. The XT 8 has at least 3 Gig. I would like to have two XT routers with wired 2.5 gig backhaul - and the ability to connect at least 4 gig ethernet wires. XT12 seems like a step backwards (and forwards with at least 2.5 LAN). Also the XT12 does not have USB. Seems like a downgrade? It's twice as expensive as XT8. Though I can understand why - XT12 is faster - more antennas - better cooling and more beefy overall.

 

[RMerlin]

So u would say this is the best Asus currently has?

The GT-AX6000 is a better overall device, if I remember correctly it has more memory, in addition to having more ports.

would u say the XT12 can outperform this for load balancing if I have a 1gbps and 500mbps connection?

It might be able to produce more simultaneous throughput, however there's more to it that raw throughput. How the load balancing is implemented will also factor in.

 

[danceedance]

The GT-AX6000 is a better overall device, if I remember correctly it has more memory, in addition to having more ports.


It might be able to produce more simultaneous throughput, however there's more to it that raw throughput. How the load balancing is implemented will also factor in.

I see AX6000 amd XT12 have the same old ram/storage of 1GB/256MB

Do you know why Asus has not updated these aspects for a long time?

Will having 512MB faster NAND storage be helpful? Will performance be better with 1.5GB of RAM with Merlin? Consider that Asus seems to have the more features packed OS.

Netgear and Linksys seems more generous with 512MB of storage.

 

[RMerlin]

Will performance be better with 1.5GB of RAM with Merlin?

No. As long there's enough RAM to run all the code it needs to run, then more RAM isn't going make any difference. The only thing that might benefit from it would be more caching for plugged USB disks - at which point people should really be using a real NAS if they need to improve file storage performance, not buying a router with more RAM. Or people running a third party firmware and then running a very memory-intensive process like an IDS or a large DNS blocklist. Which neither of these are factors when Asus plan for a new product - they plan the hardware costs according to the need of their own software, not that of third party solutions.

Keep in mind that every little part upgrade adds up to the price. If that upgrade brings zero benefit, then it makes no sense to upgrade them. More flash would be useless when they already have enough space to contain two separate images of the firmware.

Netgear and Linksys seems more generous with 512MB of storage.

Which is pointless if more than half of that flash is unused. The Netgear RAX200 firmware for instance is only 74 MB, and I doubt they write so much persistent data that they'd need the increased space just to increase longevity through wear leveling.

 

[leerees]

We need to expand. Therefore, I'm guessing XT12's is the next step up from the AX92u's. From what I can tell, the XT8 has a slower system chip than the AX92u.

I'm surprised at the lacklustre launch of this product. A flag ship product is on the market today, yet there is only 2 YouTube reviews in English. One is just an amutuer unboxing video and the other is a poorly edited ramble with loud music.

 

[thetnee]

Ended up getting a pfsense box to bond two 1gbps fiber connections.. Running 2 XT12 and 2 xt8 as mesh wireless AP now.

Loving the speed!

 

[Tech Junky]

Ended up getting a pfsense box to bond two 1gbps fiber connections.. Running 2 XT12 and 2 xt8 as mesh wireless AP now.

Loving the speed!

PF or DIY...either way it's the best option when moving beyond 500mbps. Doing an x64 setup gives you so much more HP when it comes to packet processing / FW. Also, the impact when it comes to VPN is night / day as OVPN @ 1gbps line rate is about 50% but, using wireguard based options boosts you over 1gbps w/ over provisioning. Not to mention slotting different speed NIC's is nice when fitting the network speeds to the speeds tailored to your demands. Opening the door to NBASE-T 2.5 / 5 GE instead of being forced into 1/10GE cards.

 

[thetnee]

PF or DIY...either way it's the best option when moving beyond 500mbps. Doing an x64 setup gives you so much more HP when it comes to packet processing / FW. Also, the impact when it comes to VPN is night / day as OVPN @ 1gbps line rate is about 50% but, using wireguard based options boosts you over 1gbps w/ over provisioning. Not to mention slotting different speed NIC's is nice when fitting the network speeds to the speeds tailored to your demands. Opening the door to NBASE-T 2.5 / 5 GE instead of being forced into 1/10GE cards.

In noob terms what does Wireguard do? If I don't have use for VPN

 

[Tech Junky]

WG is the new replacement for OVPN that runs better w/ less lines of code / overhead / processing for VPN.

 

[RMerlin]

WG is the new replacement for OVPN that runs better w/ less lines of code / overhead / processing for VPN.

It's an alternative, not a replacement. There are a lot of things that cannot be done with WG unlike OpenVPN, so it's not always a usable solution.

 

[Tech Junky]

a lot of things that cannot be done

Like using it on consumer routers.

 

[RMerlin]

Like using it on consumer routers.

Yeah, unless your Internet connection is slow enough that you can run it on a pure software (without NAT acceleration) setup. Wireguard should be very usable with a 200 Mbps Internet connection and a modern ARM-based CPU, as these recent ARM CPUs can route around 300-400 Mbps of NAT traffic with hardware NAT disabled.

 

[Stepalex]

I'm surprised at the lacklustre launch of this product. A flag ship product is on the market today, yet there is only 2 YouTube reviews in English

I think it's a direct consequence of it not being launched in the North America, sadly.

I made the plunge, and for now (albeit only 2 days in) I am very impressed with XT12 vs XT8 in my set-up.