Buying the RT-AC87U

[Deleted member 22229]

I am highly considering purchasing the AC87U tomorrow at a local Best Buy store. It seems some people love this router others very much dislike it. At this time i just use a router for routing i dont use usb or vpn, samba or qos. I know Merlin just released a new bata build. My question is this router stable enough at this point to work well for basic routing does it still have the 5 ghz connection issues i know this router is work in progress but do you folks here think this router is a waste of time and money and i should either hold off or try something different? Any comments are appreciated.

 

[forty9er]

I have the router and just use it for "routing" as well. I was having 5 GHz issues but they have been resolved with Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.378.3885. Since that has been fixed for me, I love this router. It handle's everything I throw at it with no issues. I have since flashed Merlin's 378.50 Beta and have had no issues.

You have a 15 day return policy with Best Buy unless you are a Elite Plus reward member and you get 45 days. So you truly have no reason to buy it and try it out.

 

[LoneWolf]

Kel-L,

Welcome. I'm an RT-AC87R owner myself, having purchased it from Best Buy. Unlike some, I have had good experiences with it.

However, if I were to recommend a more economical use of your money, I'd probably recommend purchasing the RT-AC68P from Best Buy. It has the same main processor as the 87R. The main features you don't get are:

- MU-MIMO. This isn't a big deal, you have to have MU-MIMO wireless cards on the other end, which aren't available in notebooks yet, and are rare if they exist for desktops.

- Quantenna for the 5GHz. Right now, most of what Quantenna provides is MU-MIMO, and a dedicated processor for the 5GHz band. It means the router boots slower, and Quantenna's radio drivers are still very much in a state of development.

Given what I've seen since the RT-AC87R came out, I think the RT-AC68P offers a cost savings, by subtracting features you won't use any time soon. It's the router I'd buy myself if it had been available then and I had the knowledge of the past eight months.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Thanks for the replys i did pick up the 87R yesterday and aside from a few glitches it seems to work well expecially on the 5 ghz band as i was hoping. My biggest thing i notice is the 5 ghz radio seems to run hot about 65 c cpu is fine at 74 c and the annoying 5 ghz led blinks instead of being lite solid the way it should be reminds me of my older 68U before Asus and Merlin fixed it. Does your 87U have that issue?

 

[Ronv42]

Thanks for the replys i did pick up the 87R yesterday and aside from a few glitches it seems to work well expecially on the 5 ghz band as i was hoping. My biggest thing i notice is the 5 ghz radio seems to run hot about 65 c cpu is fine at 74 c and the annoying 5 ghz led blinks instead of being lite solid the way it should be reminds me of my older 68U before Asus and Merlin fixed it. Does your 87U have that issue?

Yes my light flashes for 5Ghz but I have turned on stealth mode in Merlin's firmware to hide all the lights. My 5 Ghz radio runs about 60 to 65 c. CPU somewhere about 75c Normal.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I guess the 5g led behavier is with all 87's @Merlin any idea what causes this and can it be fixed in a future firmware release? Also whats your opinion on the 5 ghz radio temps at 65c just seems high and with summer coming one has to wonder how high it will get. It would just suck to spend $269.00 on a router and have the 5 ghz radio burn out from to much heat. I do plan to buy some rubber feet to add under the router to raise it up a little to allow more air flow but i refuse to start using fans and coolers thats just rediculous.

 

[faur]

The 5ghz LED behavior is right from the box and it's the same on original firmware. Apparently it's coming from the different implementation of radio module - the 5 Ghz one is produced by Quantenna and the 2.4 Gz one by Broadcom... Each producer with his own vision of how control LED should blink...


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[faur]

Regarding the high temp, there is a "mod" that i already applied, but this is a matter of avoiding warranty... I opened up the AC87u and changed the crappy thermal tape between those 3 CPU with Arctic thermal paste. Before I had on main CPU 83 Celsius and now i have 71. The same proportion has been mentained on the other 2 CPUs. I did that because i didn't like the noise made by any cooler i tried...


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[Deleted member 22229]

The 5ghz LED behavior is right from the box and it's the same on original firmware. Apparently it's coming from the different implementation of radio module - the 5 Ghz one is produced by Quantenna and the 2.4 Gz one by Broadcom... Each producer with his own vision of how control LED should blink...


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That may be true but reading the pdf manuel for this router says the 5 ghz light should remain steady and flash rapidly with traffic. This is not what its doing its doing a steady flash reguardless of any data traffic not a huge deal but quite annoying.

 

[faur]

Indeed, agree, it's annoying and gave me the impression that something goes wrong.. but, so far, all is working fine. (i'm on original firmware x.3885)


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[Deleted member 22229]

I went to Home depot today and bought a package of rubber feet and added them under the router so it sits up higher now allowing much more air to flow under the router and temps have fallen to what i hope is acceptable levels. CPU 71c 5ghz radio 60c so it does make a difference. Today is my first full day of up time with my 87U and i have no issues what so ever with all devices no disconnects and no speed slow downs. Now its time to wait for Asus and Merlin to work out the remaining bugs and this should be a damn good AC router. For me this router just hammers on 5 GHz i get full bars any were in the house now allowing me to completely disable the very over crowded 2.4 Ghz band.

 

[bodean]

I went to Home depot today and bought a package of rubber feet and added them under the router so it sits up higher now allowing much more air to flow under the router and temps have fallen to what i hope is acceptable levels. CPU 71c 5ghz radio 60c so it does make a difference. Today is my first full day of up time with my 87U and i have no issues what so ever with all devices no disconnects and no speed slow downs. Now its time to wait for Asus and Merlin to work out the remaining bugs and this should be a damn good AC router. For me this router just hammers on 5 GHz i get full bars any were in the house now allowing me to completely disable the very over crowded 2.4 Ghz band.

can you link the rubber feet you bought for this router?
Recently I moved my router and had it on top of my Dish Hopper DVR. I am wondering if the heat from the router did something to my hopper, as it froze, and lost all my recordings. Wonder if the heat from the router, causes the hopper to overheat. I have since moved the router.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

can you link the rubber feet you bought for this router?
Recently I moved my router and had it on top of my Dish Hopper DVR. I am wondering if the heat from the router did something to my hopper, as it froze, and lost all my recordings. Wonder if the heat from the router, causes the hopper to overheat. I have since moved the router.

I wish i could do that for you but i did look online last night on the Home depot website and did not find what i was looking for. This morning i just went to the local store and found what i needed it was not listed on there site. I can say this though they are small square clear in color and sell in a package of 12 for $2.98. Sorry i cant help more.

EDIT: Just looked at the bill of sale the part number shows 039003495650 3/4 inch vinyl square bumpers. Just peel and stick them on the bottom of the router were the very small feet already are. The adhesive is not aggressive so they can be removed with no damage to the router if need be. Hope this helps.

 

[forty9er]

My 5 GHz runs those temps as well. Might try those rubber feet as well.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I will try and post a couple pics.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the replys i did pick up the 87R yesterday and aside from a few glitches it seems to work well expecially on the 5 ghz band as i was hoping. My biggest thing i notice is the 5 ghz radio seems to run hot about 65 c cpu is fine at 74 c and the annoying 5 ghz led blinks instead of being lite solid the way it should be reminds me of my older 68U before Asus and Merlin fixed it. Does your 87U have that issue?

Quantenna's LED handling is completely different from Broadcom, so they do not necessarily have the same behaviour.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Quantenna's LED handling is completely different from Broadcom, so they do not necessarily have the same behaviour.

Thanks for the reply Merlin. I know from reading the pdf manual that the light is not suppose to continually flash off and on rather it should be solid and rapid flash when data is being transferred. Its not a big issue kinda like when the 68U had a similar issue. I see you just posted beta 2 looking forward to the final.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the reply Merlin. I know from reading the pdf manual that the light is not suppose to continually flash off and on rather it should be solid and rapid flash when data is being transferred. Its not a big issue kinda like when the 68U had a similar issue. I see you just posted beta 2 looking forward to the final.

Manual is mostly a copy/paste job. That's why the RT-N66U and RT-AC66U manuals both spoke of the ability of adjust a fan's speed, something that only existed in pre-release versions of the RT-N66U.