Does AP mode cripple the performance on R7800?

[solo16]

Hi,

After the SNB review I bought the R7800 yesterday for ~usd220, so far I'm more than happy for its quality and performance compare to my ancient old E4200 v1.

However, the file transfer speed between pcs seems like there's some room for improvement, for a single large file it consistently transfer at 50-52MB/s which is ok but I expected the speed should sit around 70-80MB/s.
**I virtually place the R7800 next to my laptop in my room ~3M x 2.5M**

Here is how I link up all the devices on my network:
ISP Converter (Fibre to home) --> Pfsense Box (build it myself) with Squid(guard), Suricata, PFblockerng enabled --> Unmanaged 24 ports Switch --> R7800 (AP Mode 5Ghz Only Channel 44 according to WiFi analyzer app it operates across 42-46)
--> E4200 (AP Mode 2.4Ghz Only)
Here are my question: (Only concern on the AC performance with my Dell XPS15 9550 using BCM43602 wifi)
1) Does AP mode cripple the performance?
2) Is my file transfer speed normal? (According to Anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/show/10116/the-dell-xps-15-9550-review/8 with my laptop model it can perform at 652 Mbps)
3) Any tips and tricks can improve the file transfer speed?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[pete y testing]

However, the file transfer speed between pcs seems like there's some room for improv

so are both comps connected via wifi is is the unit being transferred to and from connected by ethernet as those results are with a comp connected by ethernet and the test comp by wifi

1) Does AP mode cripple the performance?

no

Is my file transfer speed normal?

depends on your answer above and the testing method used in that web site

3) Any tips and tricks can improve the file transfer speed?

is the adapter showing as connecting at 1300M speed wise in the local area connection

 

[solo16]

Thanks for answering it!!

those pc (desktops) are connected via LAN cables. Only one cellphone and one laptop are connected to R7800 via WiFi.

I'll try to "illustrate" it:

PC1 (cable) and PC2 (cable) --> switch --> R7800 --> Laptop and Cellphone (WiFi) 5Ghz @ 40Mhz

On my laptop yes I did see the connetion link is 1300M @ Channel 44 (42-46)

One of my PC is actually a "server" with a dedicated LSI raid card running RAID50 ~Crystal Disk Mark around 980R / 960W sequential.

Any tips / tricks would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[L&LD]

Try different channels, rebooting and waiting for 5 minutes or more afterwards before running your throughput tests. You will find one works much better than any other.

 

[solo16]

Hi, done that already and channel 44 is the best for me, and according to the wifi analyzer channel 44 is empty so it is logical to choose that as the default one. Thank you!

 

[L&LD]

Hi, done that already and channel 44 is the best for me, and according to the wifi analyzer channel 44 is empty so it is logical to choose that as the default one. Thank you!

Could you expand on how you tested?

 

[solo16]

Hi, do you mean the WiFi channel? If so I use an app in Win Store called WiFi Analyzer and I also use an app name the same on Android Nexus 6, both showing the same result, on 5Ghz channel 44 there's no "convex curve", other usable channel either have one or two "client" with the "convex curve". On higher band only channel 153 is empty but when I change to this channel the SSID isn't show up at all.
At channel 36 the best attenuation I get is around -35db worst case -39db.
At channel 44 the best attenuation I get is around ~29db worst case ~33db (the nominal attenuation is -30db)

Just done a very preliminary test after I read something about the Beamforming, seems like it require certain min distance for it to work at its best, so I tried to "place" my laptop as far away as I can within the room, and it does improve a bit on the transfer speed, from 50-52MB to 50-55MB , there's a very brief short burst to 59MB/s.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna try to place it a bit further away see if it can unleash its potential, more importantly I wanna learn.

Thanks so much!!

 

[L&LD]

Using apps on handheld devices and utilities (such as inssider) on computers is not testing for throughput. Nor is setting up your network as they may indicate a way to get the best performance from your network except by accident (or happy coincidence), if at all.

Test from a wired computer to a wireless client transferring a large (2GB) file from several locations while testing identically for each channel after a reboot of all network devices and computers used for these tests.

If using a laptop computer for your wireless client (recommended), make sure to also plug into AC power when the test is running to ensure the wifi card can achieve maximum performance.

Also note that simply having a utility like inssider running will give you a false performance of your network too. Simply do not use those apps and utilities while running the throughput tests.

 

[solo16]

First of all thx for your time answering my question!
I think there's some misunderstanding, I'm not using any app to test the throughput, I use app to check which channel is less congested, and that's all. I use app on both my laptop which downloaded via Windows 10 store, I "double verify" the result using my cellphone to confirm the channel is the best choice over other.

As the OP mentioned I AM using LAN CABLE (wired) PC (server with dedicated raid card @ raid 50 @ ~980MB read and 960 MB write) to transfer a single large file from 1GB to 8.7GB to my laptop (The target test device) and the result is consistently sit around ~50MB/s.

FYI, my laptop is BCM43602 which do not have MU-MiMO and the Link speed is showing 1.3Gbps, and the storage is NVMe ~1800MB Read and 580MB Write.

Yes all test is done with AC power

Anyway Thanks for your time!

 

[pete y testing]

my laptop (The target test device) and the result is consistently sit around ~50MB/s.

can you plug the laptop into the 7800 via ethernet and disable its wifi and run the same test to confirm its not something else bottle necking the read speed , you should still be able to connect to its lan ports even in ap mode

 

[solo16]

can you plug the laptop into the 7800 via ethernet and disable its wifi and run the same test to confirm its not something else bottle necking the read speed , you should still be able to connect to its lan ports even in ap mode

I just order the usb to ethernet adapter once it arrive I'll perform the test.

I saw some other Wireless AC reviews, even 2x2 AC866 also can achieve 70-80MB range, it really weird something must going on here.

Thanks!

 

[solo16]

Problem solved !!!

Short answer is the network credential problem.

My laptop is signing in with live acc while my server is using local account. After I changed that yup everything works perfectly now, I saw short brief peak at 89MB/s, and now the nominal avg speed is 60-70MB/s, mostly on high 60.

Out of curious why the login credential have anything to do with the speed?? I'm really really clueless about that.

It happened before while I'm trying the SMB3 which using multiple lan port to transfer files between pc, the situation was only one way works until I changed both credential.

Cheers!