RT-AC88U

[winb83]

Went to Walmart and bought a RT-AC68R. It serves as a media bridge to the RT-AC88U just fine. No intermittent disconnects. I guess a Netgear can't serve as a media bridge to an ASUS even though it works fine the other way around. The speeds were pretty fast between the two ASUS routers. I was able to transfer a 3GB file in about 42 seconds from my WD Mycloud to my PC. From my gaming PC to my HTPC the same file took 25 seconds.

When my second RT-AC88U comes in the mail from Newegg I'll just take this Walmart router back.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Went to Walmart and bought a RT-AC68R. It serves as a media bridge to the RT-AC88U just fine. No intermittent disconnects. I guess a Netgear can't serve as a media bridge to an ASUS even though it works fine the other way around. The speeds were pretty fast between the two ASUS routers. I was able to transfer a 3GB file in about 42 seconds from my WD Mycloud to my PC. From my gaming PC to my HTPC the same file took 25 seconds.

When my second RT-AC88U comes in the mail from Newegg I'll just take this Walmart router back.

Good to know it works great. I own a 68P and hopefully get my 88U from Amazon next week. I'm gonna try the same exact set up. Thanks.

 

[winb83]

Good to know it works great. I own a 68P and hopefully get my 88U from Amazon next week. I'm gonna try the same exact set up. Thanks.

The Newegg is a better deal. It comes with a modem you can sell for at least $70 on eBay and it cost $290 for the router and modem together.

I ended up selling my Nighthawk x4 on Craigslist for $120. I'll be adding in my Amex offer for $25 off $200 at Newegg and the $50 rebate and my second RT-AC88 will be mostly paid for even if i decide to keep that modem.

 

[sm00thpapa]

The Newegg is a better deal. It comes with a modem you can sell for at least $70 on eBay and it cost $290 for the router and modem together.

I ended up selling my Nighthawk x4 on Craigslist for $120. I'll be adding in my Amex offer for $25 off $200 at Newegg and the $50 rebate and my second RT-AC88 will be mostly paid for even if i decide to keep that modem.

Yeah but I traded in some routers and MOCA adapters for a $345.00 gift card. So I get the 88U as a trade no money out of my pocket.

 

[bigmag]

Hi
New Infos and Pic from the PCB

http://en.sunningview.com/article/102619

 

[kvic]

Hi
New Infos and Pic from the PCB

http://en.sunningview.com/article/102619

Using PCE-AC68 client, 5G throughput is only ~400Mbps?

Onboard USB3 read performance is outstanding. 88.6MB/s over wired gigabit ethernet. Note that the attached disk is apparently capable of close to 90MB/s read.

Same test of onboard USB3 read performance but through PCE-AC68 client 1300Mbps link @ 5G band. Drops to 47.4MB/s ...about 379Mbit/s which is consistent with 400Mbit/s throughput test.

5G performance is not outstanding from this guy's test...

 

[Zerodeefex]

Groupon has a 20% off code (local20) for $100 credit at newegg plus a year of premier which brings each to $80. I picked up 3 and ended up spending 251 after tax for the router/modem combo plus the $50 rebate and I already found a local buyer for the modem for $70. $131 after tax seems pretty good! My AC87U will be a media bridge for my computer and audio system upstairs now.

 

[winb83]

Using PCE-AC68 client, 5G throughput is only ~400Mbps?

Onboard USB3 read performance is outstanding. 88.6MB/s over wired gigabit ethernet. Note that the attached disk is apparently capable of close to 90MB/s read.

Same test of onboard USB3 read performance but through PCE-AC68 client 1300Mbps link @ 5G band. Drops to 47.4MB/s ...about 379Mbit/s which is consistent with 400Mbit/s throughput test.

5G performance is not outstanding from this guy's test...

I don't use any USB 3.0 externals connected to the router but I have multiple desktops and one is hardwired to the 88 the other is hardwired to the media bridge 68 and sending a file from one C drive to the other I get speeds of about 110MB/s

If I send a file from the USB 3.0 hooked up to one PC directly through the same network to the desktop the speeds are 88-90MB/s

Keep in mind I'm in a 610 Square foot apt though. The tow are pretty close.

 

[RMerlin]

5G performance is not outstanding from this guy's test...

Might be all about methodology. My own personal experience indicate otherwise.

I'd rather wait for Tim to review it, so we get a more reliable baseline to compare against (as his previous tests also shared the same strict conditions).

 

[Joseph canttell]

With my ac3100 from bestbuy, on 5ghz auto AC mode using channel 149/80, using r7000 running xvortex merlin firmware connected as media bridge using 3x3 1300 ac mode to the asus, I was getting 90Mbps out of 112Mbps (gigabit connection) wireless copying files to a desktop PC hard wired gigabit into r7000 from my server a QNAP TS251 hard wired gigabit into asus router.

Uploading file using windows explorer from desktop on r7000 wireless to asus router then hardwired to Qnap box, 112Mbps maxing out gigabit hardwired connection wirelessly between r7000 and asus router with a 3x3 1300 solid link with 12 feet of space between both routers LOS.

On asus router running the 380.858 stock firmware.

I believe with asus optimized and tweaked firmware updates and newer drivers for cpu and wifi chips to support mu mimo, it will get faster.

Also when I was testing these 5ghz ac wifi speeds between router and r7000, I had two newer iPads connected via 5ghz n speed which is 2x2 300Mbps connections.

Also my galaxy s5 was connected 2x2 866 AC speeds and when transferring files over the media bridge link I ran Internet speed tests on all other ac devices simultaneously and they did not slow down the ac 1300 media bridge link by much meaning the main cpu and also the wifi chips CPUs can handle multiple 5ghz ac devices and give them the maximum speed their links provide.

In other words on all devices running at same time on the 5ghz network, I can make them acheive 60-80 percent of their rated connected speed simultaneously.

Ben,asked and compared to the netgear r 7000 which was my previous top wifi router capable of some wifi speed, the asus 88u or ac3100 bestbuy model is 2-3 times better and faster on the 5ghz band. On the 2.4ghz band, I don't believe the firmware or drivers are mature yet because perf is not as great compared to the bcm4360 in the netgear r7000 for total throughput 2.4ghz n performance...

However in my house and outside, the asus router gets +10-20 better signal in all spots the r7000 could reach. Outside of my house down drive way to the street, the asus gives me a signal level of 50 instead of 70-80 which barely holds a connection on the netgear r7000.

Ethernet speeds are perfect with low latency, no capacitor noise or coil whine from the asus (netgear had it) and the asus just released android app controls router and every connected device.

You can limit not only Internet access, but you can set individual speeds for each device for the Internet (does not limit speeds on local network just wan port for each connected device individually).

It handles my 110/11 inet connection seamlessly to 8-9 wifi devices and my lan devices. Temps are cool and it stays running for more than a day.

I am getting some weird messages in logs of device, but asus in China is working on it.

Overall best router to date even better than q-atheros chipset and quantenna designs..

Just need the 2.4 side tweaked and optimized in firmware....

 

[System Error Message]

i might even get this and probably could stress test it. I would have to sell my asus ac68U first for more space which i wouldnt mind. Its much more sensible that they actually have 8 LAN ports instead of 4 seeing as how there are more wired devices today if you count what modern broadband offers such as IPTV, and other modern things around such as NAS, consoles and other things.

Seeing as i have been able to utilise 90% of rated wifi throughput i could actually test the performance of the newer wifi chips. If ASUS would offer one at a discounted price i wouldnt mind testing and reviewing.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I thought Smart Connect was for only Tri-Band routers on the 5Ghz band.

 

[NightOwl326]

I thought Smart Connect was for only Tri-Band routers on the 5Ghz band.

Wrong

 

[sm00thpapa]

Wrong

Ok thanks Nightowl. I would love to see how this actually works going from 2.4 Ghz band to a 5 Ghz band.

 

[NightOwl326]

Ok thanks Nightowl. I would love to see how this actually works going from 2.4 Ghz band to a 5 Ghz band.

That is what the rt-ac3200 has been doing since its release.

 

[m3tpe]

Groupon has a 20% off code (local20) for $100 credit at newegg plus a year of premier which brings each to $80. I picked up 3 and ended up spending 251 after tax for the router/modem combo plus the $50 rebate and I already found a local buyer for the modem for $70. $131 after tax seems pretty good! My AC87U will be a media bridge for my computer and audio system upstairs now.

bought in on the same deal. i sold the modem within half hr of listing it on ebay. sold price was $90

 

[kvic]

I'd rather wait for Tim to review it, so we get a more reliable baseline to compare against (as his previous tests also shared the same strict conditions).

Hope he'll have the review up soon. Would be very interesting to see and understand how the new wireless chip get 60% throughput of max link rate.

i have been able to utilise 90% of rated wifi throughput

Sir, you defeat and achieve way beyond physical limit of the commons...

I have multiple desktops and one is hardwired to the 88 the other is hardwired to the media bridge 68 and sending a file from one C drive to the other I get speeds of about 110MB/s

If I send a file from the USB 3.0 hooked up to one PC directly through the same network to the desktop the speeds are 88-90MB/s

With my ac3100 from bestbuy, on 5ghz auto AC mode using channel 149/80, using r7000 running xvortex merlin firmware connected as media bridge using 3x3 1300 ac mode to the asus, I was getting 90Mbps [EDIT: 90MB/s] out of 112Mbps [EDIT: 112MB/s](gigabit connection) wireless copying files to a desktop PC hard wired gigabit into r7000 from my server a QNAP TS251 hard wired gigabit into asus router.

Uploading file using windows explorer from desktop on r7000 wireless to asus router then hardwired to Qnap box, 112Mbps [EDIT: 112MB/s]maxing out gigabit hardwired connection wirelessly between r7000 and asus router with a 3x3 1300 solid link with 12 feet of space between both routers LOS.

Thanks. Two more people see the same outstanding performance on 5GHz..

 

[kvic]

According to posts (in Simplified Chinese) from this early adopter, the stock firmware allows users to switch "regulatory region".

http://www.chiphell.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1414275&page=1#pid31304018

With different region setting, he found the below txpwr_target_max values:

US 24
Singapore 14.75
Asia, Australia, China, Europe, Korea, Russia 10.5​

Apparently he is only checking 2.4G txpwr values, might be indicative of what happening on 5GHz though. This perhaps explains why the other user saw poor 5GHz performance.

Seems the firmware at the moment is only polished for US.

There are pics comparing the size. I thought AC68U is huge for a home wifi router. AC88U raises the bar...too big for my taste frankly.

 

[sm00thpapa]

So is this a 4x4 MU-MIMO router or is it just 4x4 ready like they say the dud AC87U is?

 

[Embattle]

Hasn't it generally been agreed that so far smart connect sucks.