Replace RT-AC86U with RTBE86U / AX86U Pro / AX88U Pro ?

[Chris12]

Hi,

I have been trying to find the perfect router upgrade for my situation to replace the now EoL RT-AC86U router.

I took a look a a lot of ASUS routers and 3 of them are what I think good candidates:
- RT-BE86U (price: 290 euro)
- RT-AX86U Pro (price: 200 euro)
- RT-AX88U Pro (price: 250 euro)

I'm looking for a future proof router, able to handle good coverage through out my 2 floors home (brick walls, concrete floors/ceilings) (Like the AC86U does pretty well, which will be a mesh node on the second floor in the future).
As I've 1000/1000 Gbit internet (future 2.5/10GB?), models with 2.5/10Gb wan/lan are preferable. My local LAN/switches is not yet 2.5/10Gb ready (all cables are CAT.6)
The router is located in the open main living room, so all the spider-like fancy colorful ROG routers are a no-go. So I would like to stick to the form-factor of the AC86U or the AX88U Pro (if that one is the better option)
All camera's/PC/NAS are hardwired, only laptops/cellphones/tablets/TV are using wifi (LG TV supports wifi 5/6).
The firmware should be Merlin flash-able, as I run Merlin for many years now and I like it.
Gaming options are not a deal breaker
VLAN support is not a deal breaker.
Wifi 7 support no deal breaker.

Looking at the 3 above models the BE86U model is the one with the best specs for my possible future needs (2.5/10Gb ports) networking wise, but it has a 2.6Ghz quadcore processor but only 1GB RAM compared to the other 2 models.
Will this be performance wise a big difference (1GB RAM vs 2GB RAM) ?

The AX88U pro has 4x4 MIMO for the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, the other 2 models have 3x3 and 4x4 MIMO. Will this be performance wise make a big difference?
The clients at the moment are wifi 2.4 (IOT) / 5 and 6 (no wifi 7 clients at this moment, likely within 1 year some new cellphones will have that feature), I thinks clients can handle at most 2x2?

Are there other big advantages/differences between the 3 models performance/coverage wise?

 

[jay2020]

(Face palm)

dude where do you see 2GB ram on any of these routers?

 

[Chris12]

(Face palm)

dude where do you see 2GB ram on any of these routers?

Ah, seems to have mixed those up with other routers I looked at, as I compared like 10 routers before these 3 where filtered out.
They are all 3 indeed 1GB RAM

Thanks for noticing! I edited my post.

What is the advantage of more RAM (2GB vs 1GB) in routers, as I would not run any extra packages at all.

 

[degrub]

1) Can you even come close to saturating a 1 Gbit ISP link now ? Otherwise the list looks like typical residential use.
2) Since most web servers limit individual clients to around 100 Mbit/s connection, unless you are running some special applications it would take more than what you list to get over 1 Gbit/s demand. IMO, a 100 Mbit ISP connection would handle 90 % of home users. Even VPN into work was limited to 100 Mbit bandwidth and nobody can type that fast .
3) If you have high traffic on your LAN, which is presumably 1 Gbit link rate today, i would plan for using an unmanaged (since no vlans) 10 Gbit switch in the future and just use the router for internet access.
4) Assuming you have done the research for which routers are Merlin supported, i would pick the least expensive for today. All of them have a limited lifetime, maybe up to 4-5 years from the date of introduction. Otherwise, it would be for bragging rights or Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

 

[Chris12]

1) Can you even come close to saturating a 1 Gbit ISP link now ? Otherwise the list looks like typical residential use.
2) Since most web servers limit individual clients to around 100 Mbit/s connection, unless you are running some special applications it would take more than what you list to get over 1 Gbit/s demand. IMO, a 100 Mbit ISP connection would handle 90 % of home users. Even VPN into work was limited to 100 Mbit bandwidth and nobody can type that fast .
3) If you have high traffic on your LAN, which is presumably 1 Gbit link rate today, i would plan for using an unmanaged (since no vlans) 10 Gbit switch in the future and just use the router for internet access.
4) Assuming you have done the research for which routers are Merlin supported, i would pick the least expensive for today. All of them have a limited lifetime, maybe up to 4-5 years from the date of introduction. Otherwise, it would be for bragging rights or Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

1. My camera feed (3x) 4k h264/h265 are streaming to my cloud storage 24/7. Furthermore the usually Netflix/Disney/Prime streaming by my family members, and occasionally some huge usenet download for series/movies not available (yet) in my region for streaming, which is only limited by my synology NAS speed (35MB/s write speed). Seeing no lags right now.
2. Yes, correct. 1 Gb/s ISP is standard fiber speed here (upgrades towards 2.5/10G are possible as well)
3. Using now 2x Zyxel GS1900 8p switch, maybe replacing that later on with for example Zyxel XMG-108HP. Need to dive into that. Seeing no related hickups now.
4. All 3 models are Merlin supported, but only the BE86U is on the 3006 train yet (not a deal breaker).

 

[degrub]

Do you have ethernet cabling to the 2nd floor ?
If not, with concrete floor, i don't see how you will get much RF signal there unless there are large openings in the floor and line of sight.

Those two may preclude using a RF based AiMesh setup

 

[Chris12]

Do you have ethernet cabling to the 2nd floor ?
If not, with concrete floor, i don't see how you will get much RF signal there unless there are large openings in the floor and line of sight.

Those two may preclude using a RF based AiMesh setup

Yes all rooms have cat6 cables prepared!

 

[Jbennett360]

Flint 2?

 

[Chris12]

Flint 2?

Thanks for the suggestion, I looked into that one. But I will stick with the ASUS brand, among other things like Merlin flashable firmware.

 

[Jbennett360]

Thanks for the suggestion, I looked into that one. But I will stick with the ASUS brand, among other things like Merlin flashable firmware.

There's always OpenWRT to flash on top of the flint.

I was like you, wanting to stick with Asus. I've opted for a flint 2 to see what it's like in comparison.