RT-AC68U slow gigabit, will merlin help?

[simonp]

Hi

I've been upgraded to 1000mbit from 500. I have an asus RT-AC68U that can deliver around 500mbit speeds but cannot go above 550 or so now that the line has been upgraded.

Some people that I can google seem to be able to get close to gigabit speeds from this router, others less so.

I can read that the Merlin firmware has some performance fixes also?

Anyone have an idea on whether Merlin might let me run closer to 1000mbit on this or should i just give up and replace it?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Merlin's firmware can't make the router go any faster than it's capable of. It's more about bug fixes and extra features.

With stock firmware you should be able to get over 900Mbps using an Ethernet connection if you have hardware acceleration enabled: https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/search/1235-asus-rtac68u

 

[simonp]

Yeah i saw that too, but its getting something like half that using the standard firmware (latest one).

I can get much faster speeds directly connected to the FIOS box so it has to be router related.

Where exactly would i check if hardware acceleration is enabled on the standard firmware?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I don't think there's anywhere in the GUI that shows that in stock firmware (there is in Merlin's). You could probably get it from a command line SSH session.

Enabling QoS is the thing that usually disables hardware acceleration. Or disabling it under LAN > Switch Control (this might be a Merlin-only option).

 

[simonp]

OK i went ahead and installed merlin, very easy and quick and it seems to retain all my settings.

I now get upwards of 900-980mbit.

So my problem seems solved this way, but the stock firmware is apparently no good if you have more than 500mbit connections I suppose we can learn.

One thing I also noticed was that before i switched the cores were loaded to 80-90% constantly. Now they hover around 5-20%.

 

[ColinTaylor]

... but the stock firmware is apparently no good if you have more than 500mbit connections I suppose we can learn.

That's clearly not the case as demonstrated by Tim's testing and the many people that have gigabit connections that have posted in these forums.

One thing I also noticed was that before i switched the cores were loaded to 80-90% constantly. Now they hover around 5-20%.

The CPU loading is an indication that hardware acceleration was disabled.

 

[simonp]

Alright, it was set to Cut through in switch control before though, i tried both settings before i flashed it. Works fine now.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Given your reported speeds and CPU load I suspect that previously it was using CTF only and now it is using CTF and FA (you check that on the Tools > System Information page).

 

[simonp]

That could be, prior to this there was nothing but Auto and disable in the switch control options.

It does indeed say HW acceleation enabled in tools->system information now.