RT-AX88U FCC Docs all posted.

[thiggins]

Internal pix are posted.

Confirms it is Broadcom based.

Radio SoCs: BCM43684KRFBG
CPU: Broadcom, but no clear photo. WikiDevi says BCM49408 (1.8 GHz, 4 cores)
Switch: BCM53134
RAM: 1 GB
Flash: 256 MB

The switch appears to have only gigabit ports. It has one SGMII 1G/2.5G port to support higher internal bus speed.

 

[RMerlin]

CPU is probably a bcm4906, because Asus reports this model as having a dual-core CPU:

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/RT-AX88U/

 

[Internet Man]

CPU is probably a bcm4906, because Asus reports this model as having a dual-core CPU:

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/RT-AX88U/

There was some discussion about the RT-AX88U's CPU in this thread: ASUS Expands 11ax Lineup And Sets Ship Date

While the ASUS product page claims it is dual core, an admin on the ASUS ROG forums says it's quad-core and the press release says, "the RT-AX88U is controlled by a potent quad-core processor." The Talk Page for the device at WikiDevi has links to these various sources.

I would be surprised if it actually has an enterprise-class BCM49408 instead of the consumer-grade BCM4908 with identical specs.

 

[RMerlin]

There was some discussion about the RT-AX88U's CPU in this thread: ASUS Expands 11ax Lineup And Sets Ship Date

While the ASUS product page claims it is dual core, an admin on the ASUS ROG forums says it's quad-core and the press release says, "the RT-AX88U is controlled by a potent quad-core processor." The Talk Page for the device at WikiDevi has links to these various sources.

I would be surprised if it actually has an enterprise-class BCM49408 instead of the consumer-grade BCM4908 with identical specs.

I guess we'll have to wait for the product release then. There's always a chance Asus might have changed things during development, possibly based on intel received about their competitor's own products. Just surprised the ROG team would comment on this, since it's not one of the (also planned) GT-AXxxxxx models. Personally, I would expect Asus to do the same thing they did with the RT-AC86U and GT-AC5300: use the dual-core part for the mainstream device, and go with the quad-core part for the GT device.

Unless someone is a master at picture sharpening and could extract the part number out of that blurry photo on the FCC

Agreed on the 49408 part, historically Asus never went for these parts for their high-end enthusiast routers.

 

[Odkrys]

It looks bcm4908 quad-core.
There are "4 white things" on the left side of cpu.
Nothing on bcm4906.

 

[Chas1723]

I am very interested in this router.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[sfx2000]

Unless someone is a master at picture sharpening and could extract the part number out of that blurry photo on the FCC

Agreed on the 49408 part, historically Asus never went for these parts for their high-end enthusiast routers.

One of the crazy things to consider - at 28nm, the actual Broadcom B53 CPU cores are probably about 1 square millimeter each... maybe 1.5 mm2

Rest of the chip is switch fabric, SRAM/DRAM, various physical interfaces, power distribution across the entire chip, etc...

Looking at the design - keeping in mind my past experience, it's going to be a balanced design to meet performance goals - if Broadcom is ok with 2 B53 cores, that's ok - much of the performance of the platform is not in the cores themselves...

 

[thiggins]

I am very interested in this router.

Why?

 

[clvk07]

release date seems September.

https://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tec...st-world-get-asus-new-rt-ax88u-80211ax-router

Singapore seems to have a higher TX rate than Europe. Does it mean that if you buy the router in Singapore the wifi range will be better than buy it in Europe or US?

 

[RMerlin]

Does it mean that if you buy the router in Singapore the wifi range will be better than buy it in Europe or US?

Don't use a device configured for the wrong region. It's illegal, and can also have compatibility issues with your local clients.

 

[Grisu]

Singapore seems to have a higher TX rate than Europe. Does it mean that if you buy the router in Singapore the wifi range will be better than buy it in Europe or US?

To answer your question, yes, much higher but less possible channels than EU.

 

[maxbraketorque]

Why?

From my perspective, when I was trying to make one wifi router work for my entire house, I was curious about the AX88U because I thought there might be some range improvement with the AC radio, but now that I have started using two routers and no longer have a need for a max range router, I'm merely curious about the AC performance.

 

[thiggins]

AX's focus is capacity, cramming more bits into transmit slots. Range (point at which signal disappears or throughput is unusable) is determined primarily by RF propagation, which hasn't changed.

In other words, if you look at a Rate vs. Range plot like this one, AX is likely to move the curve up and perhaps lengthen the flat area at the top. But is is unlikely to extend the endpoint very much.

A higher, flatter curve improves effective range by increasing bandwidth at the same physical point.

Maybe that would work for your home, maybe not. At any rate, it's going to be rough going for early draft 11ax adopters. This stuff is no way fully baked at this point.

 

[RMerlin]

Maybe that would work for your home, maybe not. At any rate, it's going to be rough going for early draft 11ax adopters. This stuff is no way fully baked at this point.

And if history has taught us anything, for months we'll have 802.11ax APs, with no client whatsoever to connect to them except for another AP/router.

 

[Internet Man]

It looks bcm4908 quad-core.
There are "4 white things" on the left side of cpu.
Nothing on bcm4906.

BCM49408 has a similar appearance in the Internal Photos from https://fccid.io/WBV-AP650X

The BCM4908 and BCM49408 probably look the same though.

 

[Odkrys]

https://www.cnbeta.com/articles/tech/767147.htm

GT-AX11000 : 4999元 ~ $730
RT-AX88U : 2999元 ~ $438

 

[Sinner]

wow! The hardware is nice but they srsly need to clean up the firmware still imo. I realize most of us bought these because we do like the advanced functions and like to tinker but to make thngs better not struggle to get features actually working in the 1st place. Id love to go buy one but its just not worth it yet imo.

These routers are like owning a ferarri that u cant get the engine running.

 

[maylyn]

I guess we'll have to wait for the product release then. There's always a chance Asus might have changed things during development, possibly based on intel received about their competitor's own products. Just surprised the ROG team would comment on this, since it's not one of the (also planned) GT-AXxxxxx models. Personally, I would expect Asus to do the same thing they did with the RT-AC86U and GT-AC5300: use the dual-core part for the mainstream device, and go with the quad-core part for the GT device.

Unless someone is a master at picture sharpening and could extract the part number out of that blurry photo on the FCC

Agreed on the 49408 part, historically Asus never went for these parts for their high-end enthusiast routers.

Hi RMerlin,

It's have been a while (MIA due to work commitments and other stuff) and i'm back

Let me find out more whether the AX88U is 1.8GHz dual or quad core and the actual CPU where possible.

This Thursday, ASUS TW HQ/ASUS SG will be launching their 802.11ax networking event in Singapore, stay tuned.

PS ~> GT-AX11000 has ASUS Aura

 

[RMerlin]

Asus updated their product page, confirming the CPU as being quad-core:

https://www.asus.com/Networking/RT-AX88U/specifications/

 

[Balance]

B&H has the RT-AX88U up for pre-order, $350 with expected availability Oct 26, 2018.