NETGEAR R8000P Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band WiFi Router with MU-MIMO Reviewed

[thiggins]

NETGEAR's R8000P Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band WiFi Router is a redesign of NETGEAR's tri-radio router, adding MU-MIMO and improved storage performance.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

 

[bezant]

I missed the articles to which you are referring with the statement that testing for MU-MIMO is a waste of time because "previous tests have shown that the feature either can't or doesn't influence how devices connect"

 

[thiggins]

I missed the articles to which you are referring with the statement that testing for MU-MIMO is a waste of time because "previous tests have shown that the feature either can't or doesn't influence how devices connect"

The statement was:
"I did not test MU-MIMO, because it doesn't benefit most people or Smart Connect, because previous tests have shown that the feature either can't or doesn't influence how devices connect in order to optimize total throughput."
There are so many conditions required for MU-MIMO to increase total throughput for multiple devices, that it provides no benefit to most users. Most recent discussion was in
Is MU-MIMO Ready For Prime Time?

For Smart Connect, previous reviews of "tri-band" routers show little intelligence in how devices are assigned to bands. Examples:
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...8000-nighthawk-x6-first-look?showall=&start=3
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...-smart-wi-fi-router-reviewed?showall=&start=4

 

[Feren]

> damn cheap D-Link DIR-878—a DIR-882 clone, AC 4x4 router masquerading as a 3x3—could be a much better buy.

Given that both Netgear and DD-WRT are showing 878 as a 3 stream device (albeit, 4x4:3) how can you assume that it's a proper "AC 4x4 router"? We can see 4 antennas, but one of them may be firmware gimped. (I might guess, to prevent cannibalization of sales of higher-end routers, such as DIR-882).
They only way to know would be to test for maximum bandwidth.

 

[thiggins]

> damn cheap D-Link DIR-878—a DIR-882 clone, AC 4x4 router masquerading as a 3x3—could be a much better buy.

Given that both Netgear and DD-WRT are showing 878 as a 3 stream device (albeit, 4x4:3) how can you assume that it's a proper "AC 4x4 router"? We can see 4 antennas, but one of them may be firmware gimped. (I might guess, to prevent cannibalization of sales of higher-end routers, such as DIR-882).
They only way to know would be to test for maximum bandwidth.

Go read the DIR-882 review. It contains D-Link's confirmation that the 878 supports AC2600 operation.

 

[Feren]

Go read the DIR-882 review. It contains D-Link's confirmation that the 878 supports AC2600 operation.

Of course, I did read your review of 882. However, when you have contradictory statements, all in black-&-white, you (ok, maybe just I) can't be confident. There may be caveats.

 

[RMerlin]

Note that this new revision has AES acceleration in its CPU, so its OpenVPN performance should be much better than on the original model.

@thiggins : some of that USB performance boost comes from the new Broadcom platform rather than raw CPU muscle. Instead of a generic USB driver, it now uses a proprietary, closed source USB driver. I assume it's much more efficient at controlling their USB interface than the old one used by the BCM470x with kernel 2.6.xx.

 

[thiggins]

Of course, I did read your review of 882. However, when you have contradictory statements, all in black-&-white, you (ok, maybe just I) can't be confident. There may be caveats.

Sorry, I'm missing where the "contradictory statements" are.

 

[Feren]

Sorry, I'm missing where the "contradictory statements" are.

Well, D-Link officially specify "Package Contents: Wireless AC1900 Wi-Fi Router" yet you quote D-Link, "DIR-878 can function at AC2600 speeds". Numbers 1900 and 2600 are different, hence "contradictory statements."
My guess, raison d'etre for you website, is that you don't completely trust vendor's claims either.

 

[Crlssctt]

Can somebody please tell me what the difference is between this and the x6s offered by Costco

 

[Internet Man]

Can somebody please tell me what the difference is between this and the x6s offered by Costco

https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_R7900P
"Changes from the R8000P to this R7900P include the removal of the USB 2.0 port and of NitroQAM for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios which reduces the maximum speeds from 750Mbps to 450Mbps for 802.11n and from 1625Mbps to 1300Mbps for 802.11ac."

Negligible changes, really. NitroQAM is nearly impossible to make use of in the real world.

 

[Crlssctt]

Thanks for the wiki

 

[ErgoProxy05]

Note that this new revision has AES acceleration in its CPU, so its OpenVPN performance should be much better than on the original model.

@thiggins : some of that USB performance boost comes from the new Broadcom platform rather than raw CPU muscle. Instead of a generic USB driver, it now uses a proprietary, closed source USB driver. I assume it's much more efficient at controlling their USB interface than the old one used by the BCM470x with kernel 2.6.xx.

Can you setup this X6s as a OpenVPN client like the Asus RT-86u?

Also, i'm have issues finding its VPN speeds when using OpenVPN as a client on the router. Do you know where to find this info? Hoping to see 200+mbps performance on this.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

These reviews are always interesting. Mostly I find that they just keep making the R7800 look so good.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Netgear suffers from absolute GARBAGE and untested firmware on almost all there routers. Example the R7000 has had worthless firmware releases for the last 3 releases. Then a week or so ago the released another and yep pure garbage again untested and released. They just cant get it right. The only usable router they have right now is the R7800 and it has only had a hot fix release in over 6 months time. It's not even official it beta.