RT-AC68U reporting 1 ghz CPU

[mokodi]

I just bought a new RT-AC68U and the revision is B1. I flashed to Merlin 378.56_2 and did a factory reset. Under Tools -> SysInfo it reports that the CPU Frequency is 1000 Mhz and HW acceleration Enabled (CTF + FA). I searched the forums and know there was a bug in earlier firmware which reported incorrect HW acceleration support but I did a factory reset after upgrading so NVRAM should be cleared.

I thought the U version of the router is supposed to have the BCM4708 which does not support FA and is only clocked at 800 mhz. Is the firmware reporting incorrect CPU information? Is Asus using a higher clocked version of the BCM4708 or did they simply standardize on the BCM4709 for more streamlined production reasons?

I couldn't find a way to get the CPU model information via software. dmesg doesn't produce any useful CPU identifiers.

 

[Etz]

Yep, newer revision C1 has newer CPU.
So everything is correct.

 

[mokodi]

So essentially no difference between 68U and 68P now? That's a nice bonus.

 

[john9527]

Yep, newer revision C1 has newer CPU.
So everything is correct.

Not exactly....the newer C1 revision will refuse to load 56_2 code (and he says it's marked as a B1 rev)

I'm wondering if there is a B1+ where they just replaced the processor (my understanding is that C1 has other changes).

Also, the 68P has different wireless HW, but don't know how to verify that directly. The 68P did use a different country code in the CFE though, so it would be interesting to see the output of

nvram get 0:ccode
nvram get 0:regrev
nvram get 1:ccode
nvram get 1:regrev

 

[Etz]

Not exactly....the newer C1 revision will refuse to load 56_2 code (and he says it's marked as a B1 rev)

I somehow missed that B1 and version part in his post...

 

[mokodi]

Were you looking for the output on a 68P? Here's the output on mine. The box says B1, purchased from a local electronics store with high inventory turnover (Fry's electronics). Didn't see a C1 while I was there.

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4 Mon Nov  2 14:58:44 UTC 2015
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 0:ccode
Q2
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 0:regrev
40
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 1:ccode
Q2
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 1:regrev
40

 

[john9527]

Were you looking for the output on a 68P? Here's the output on mine. The box says B1, purchased from a local electronics store with high inventory turnover (Fry's electronics). Didn't see a C1 while I was there.

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4 Mon Nov  2 14:58:44 UTC 2015
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 0:ccode
Q2
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 0:regrev
40
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 1:ccode
Q2
admin@RT-AC68U-3050:/tmp/home/root# nvram get 1:regrev
40

Right, that's the 68P info....base 68U is US/0, US/0.

Inerested on what his 'hybrid' 68U reports.

 

[mokodi]

My internet speed is 100 Mbps down and with a download maxing out speeds top was reporting 99% idle. I'm not sure how much FA helps or whether it's really enabled but it looks like I have plenty of CPU headroom.

Old router with BCM4706 (same as AC66) running tomato had 80%+ CPU utilization under the same conditions.

The Broadcom product page just groups 4707/4708/4709 together now and lists 1ghz CPU usage and "Hardware Flow Accelerator" as a feature. Of course there's no publicly accessible data sheet or feature matrix available. I think I'm too spoiled by TI and their excellent publicly available data sheets.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

I purchased one awhile ago and discussed in in other threads. The B1's that are out there and are 1ghz have the same CPU as the 68P's. RMerlin has shared that the C1's are not going to be 68P's, they will be faster 68U's.

How it is that currently Asus put 68P's out there labeled as 68U's is still a mystery. Was told the European 68U's are 68P's. So maybe some of these 68P's marked as 68U's in the US are European models?

Ifyou put Shibby's on the 68U B1's it will report them as 68P's.

 

[Etz]

How it is that currently Asus put 68P's out there labeled as 68U's is still a mystery. Was told the European 68U's are 68P's. So maybe some of these 68P's marked as 68U's in the US are European models?

No sure about this, so far all RT-AC68U`s I have bought or what I have encountered are all 800Mhz models, regardless of B1 revision. And all are EU models...

 

[Sethr]

I just bought a 68W on the Amazon (U.S.) Deal of the Day for $120. The box is marked B1. Merlin reports the CPU as 1 GHz. But it definitely only allows U.S. bands for the WiFi.

 

[gffmac]

I'm probably going to get one of these in the UK sometime in June, Ill keep an eye out for B1 or C1 versions. Only thing it seems I cant bank on a B1 being the faster CPU.

 

[primitivo]

I'm probably going to get one of these in the UK sometime in June, Ill keep an eye out for B1 or C1 versions. Only thing it seems I cant bank on a B1 being the faster CPU.

I read somewhere that B1 & C1 revs are for US market. I bought RT-AC68U in Europe one month ago and it was A2 rev.

 

[gffmac]

I read somewhere that B1 & C1 revs are for US market. I bought RT-AC68U in Europe one month ago and it was A2 rev.

I hope I can find one. Fingers crossed.

Is it clearly stated on the box? I might ring around so if anyone can identify a B1.

 

[gffmac]

The Mrs surprised me and brought me one home it's an A2. I can always over clock it

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

 

[DaM]

I read somewhere that B1 & C1 revs are for US market. I bought RT-AC68U in Europe one month ago and it was A2 rev.

I too bought an AC68U a month ago in the UK, and it was an A2 rev manufactured in 2016.

 

[Wutikorn]

So is what processor does C1 have? Is it 1GHz?

 

[MarkRH]

I got my RT-AC68U in December 2014 in the USA and it was a rev A2. Made sometime in 2014.

 

[Wutikorn]

I got my RT-AC68U in December 2014 in the USA and it was a rev A2. Made sometime in 2014.

I bought it a couple of week ago in Thailand. I got the C1 version; however I will be in US for 1.5 months until I can go back, update to Asus Merlin firmware and check.

 

[KevTech]

I bought it a couple of week ago in Thailand. I got the C1 version; however I will be in US for 1.5 months until I can go back, update to Asus Merlin firmware and check.

Just get putty or some other terminal.

Enable telnet in the router then issue this command in the terminal: cat /proc/cpuinfo

You can also use: nvram get clkfreq