R7000 vs AC68 firmware features and PCE-AC68 compatibility

[Ascendent]

I have been a frequent reader of snb over the years but first time posting. So first off thank you to everyone here for teaching me stuff over the years. Now to the matter at hand.

I need some input to decide between the R7000 or AC68.

Currently leaning towards the R7000 but not by much.

The main thing that makes me favor the R7000 is the slightly better hardware (processor) and storage transfer rates. That being said I may be getting a stand alone NAS in the near future making the second point a non issue.

The difference in wireless performance on the charts to me appears to be "functionally" insignificant (feel free to correct me).

With the above assumptions the deciding factor comes down to:
1. features offered in the firmware (including 3rd party)
2. compatibility/performance with with the PCE-AC68 (the only AC1900 network card I have found on the market).

I highly value 3rd party firmware (thanks to Merlin, Tomato, etc. for all their hard work). AC68 seems to have an edge over the R7000 in that department. However I have seen threads that suggest that in addition to the current 3rd party available for R7000 that Tomato may make it on to the device.

Despite a lot of searching I have not been able to answer the above 2 questions and would really appreciate any input you have to offer.

Thanks in advance for your time and expertise.

 

[sfx2000]

well... here's my two cents...

N450/N900 three stream routers are stable, and getting to a very good pricepoint - most of the bugs have been worked out, and they're like toasters these days...

Ever debug a toaster?

I didn't think so...

The AC crop of devices out there - we're in Wave 1, basic stuff, and we're starting to see Wave 2 silicon out there with a few OEM/ODM's - best to wait a bit...and save some money.

 

[Ascendent]

Thanks for the reply.

I hear you. If I wasn't in need of a router I wouldn't be buying right now. My old G router is misbehaving and on its last leg. I would wait if I could. I strongly considered going N and not AC as there is little benefit to AC at the moment. But with all the sales bring prices down in the 160's every other wk and owning at least 2 AC devices figured why not.

On the topic of having bugs worked out. Do you see these 2 routers having a bug free future (relatively speaking) with updates from manufacturer's and the 3rd party community. Or do you feel only new iterations of the AC with new hardware are likely to solve current issues? If there are too many issues I might consider N again.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
I am on R7000 after getting rid of RT-AC66U. This R7000 is oc'd 1200,800, I have a small Synology NAS going 7/24, 3 surveillance cameras, most important is wife's HD video streaming(soap opera coming from old country) every night after work. No complaints from her. My son from basement studio runs his WiFi connected recording audio station. I am on dd-wrt going back to check stock f/w when I see new release but
so far ended up back to dd-wrt. All is well. But then I am not a PnP type. I can take care of problems myself when run into any issues. My dd-wrt connection goes back to original WRT days. One thing important to me
with any router(firmware) is accessing it with telnet and/or SSH.

 

[Ascendent]

Thanks for the reply TonyH.

May I ask what network card you are using on the receiving end of the HD stream? And is it uncompressed BlueRay size files or being served from a media server that preprocesses/compresses based on bandwidth.

 

[RogerSC]

Thanks for the reply.
On the topic of having bugs worked out. Do you see these 2 routers having a bug free future (relatively speaking) with updates from manufacturer's and the 3rd party community. Or do you feel only new iterations of the AC with new hardware are likely to solve current issues? If there are too many issues I might consider N again.

Can't speak to the RT-AC68U, but my R7000 is doing great with dd-wrt firmware. Currently on Kong's 23900M "STD NEWD" build, totally stable for me. Great wireless performance, as well. Not seeing any bugs that affect me at the moment. All I"m currently using, though, is routing, wireless-n, and wireless-ac, plus ad blocking with the integrated privoxy. All working well. If you get a NAS (a really good decision), you should have similar stability and performance.

I wouldn't waste time on Netgear stock firmware at this point, but who knows? Maybe the next release will fix the issues that I see here...I'm not willing to bet on it, but you never know *smile*.

 

[Ascendent]

I wouldn't waste time on Netgear stock firmware at this point, but who knows? Maybe the next release will fix the issues that I see here...I'm not willing to bet on it, but you never know *smile*.

Exactly why 3rd party firmware support is very important to me. Manufacturers tend to not keep the product alive beyond 1 year at best and don't really ever resolve all bugs as long as the product is selling well enough. I haven't run a stock rom (phones, tablets) or firmware in years on anything unless there was no 3rd party support for the device. It's good to know dd-wrt has come along. I'll give that build a try if I end up going with the R7000. Thx.

 

[sfx2000]

Thanks for the reply.

I hear you. If I wasn't in need of a router I wouldn't be buying right now. My old G router is misbehaving and on its last leg. I would wait if I could. I strongly considered going N and not AC as there is little benefit to AC at the moment. But with all the sales bring prices down in the 160's every other wk and owning at least 2 AC devices figured why not.

On the topic of having bugs worked out. Do you see these 2 routers having a bug free future (relatively speaking) with updates from manufacturer's and the 3rd party community. Or do you feel only new iterations of the AC with new hardware are likely to solve current issues? If there are too many issues I might consider N again.

I would wait a bit - if you're in a bind at the moment, I would look at N300 class - there's some solid choices there, and very good pricing.

AC1300 is bleeding edge, and we're starting to see the late first gen chipsets, along with early second gen starting to come out - and the attendant issues that go along with being on the point of technology.

Most of the tier ones are stable now - ASUS, Netgear, Linksys, Apple - but they're all still a bit spendy, and better stuff is coming down the line this fall...