RT-AX88U Hardware Revision A1 vs A1.1

[sanke1]

Well, I have 3 of these routers with me. Two of them are A1.1 and the remaining one is A1 revision. I tried to set them up in different permutation and combinations in AiMesh but all of them behave exactly the same way. They all slow down a bit after few days. This is on the latest firmware available as of today 3.0.0.4.384.7968.

PS: They are rock stable on firmware 3.0.0.4.384.6436 but I miss out on WPA3, OFDMA and Let’s Encrypt bug fix. I have 3 AX capable devices at home.

For maximum compatibility reasons, I am keeping both A1.1 versions at home for AiMesh and A1 version will be at my office where there is no need of mesh.

So I am wondering what might be the difference between them?

 

[matthew johnson]

From doing a little research it looks like
A1 was assembled in China
A1.1 was assembled in Vietnam

 

[sanke1]

All three variants I have are assembled in China.

 

[dosborne]

So I am wondering what might be the difference between them?

Sorry, I just have to say it ....... .1

 

[pilot04]

I ordered an AX88U from Amazon a week before Christmas and received an A1 revision unit(Made in China). It had issue with 5GHz not being available and LED for 5GHz went dark as soon as I loaded a merlin 384.14 FW on it. Had to manually assign 5GHz channel to get 5GHz back online. A friend also purchased an AX88U from Newegg around same time and he received A1.1 hardware revision(Made in Vietnam and higher S/N).

Be interested in knowing differences between A1.1 and A1 since I'm still in the return/exchange window. I saw the Wifi 6 certification listing A1.1 hardware revision so hope it's applicable to A1 as well. I have no pressing need to upgrade 68U to new AX88U and only sprung for it b/c of the $249 price around Black Friday. Just didn't want to find out later that I should've gone with an A1.1 for better AX experience and compatibility.

 

[sanke1]

I

I ordered an AX88U from Amazon a week before Christmas and received an A1 revision unit(Made in China). It had issue with 5GHz not being available and LED for 5GHz went dark as soon as I loaded a merlin 384.14 FW on it. Had to manually assign 5GHz channel to get 5GHz back online. A friend also purchased an AX88U from Newegg around same time and he received A1.1 hardware revision(Made in Vietnam and higher S/N).

Be interested in knowing differences between A1.1 and A1 since I'm still in the return/exchange window. I saw the Wifi 6 certification listing A1.1 hardware revision so hope it's applicable to A1 as well. I have no pressing need to upgrade 68U to new AX88U and only sprung for it b/c of the $249 price around Black Friday. Just didn't want to find out later that I should've gone with an A1.1 for better AX experience and compatibility.

I think just get yours exchanged for A1.1 to be on safer side if that bothers you.

 

[RMerlin]

Newer hardware revision does not systematically imply better. Sometimes, a newer hardware revision could in fact be a cost cutting measure...

End users shouldn't worry about what hardware revision they have, unless someone has actual proof of a significant change (in this case, nobody does).

 

[pilot04]

Thanks for the explanations. I'll stick with my A1 revision of AX88U as I've migrated from AC68U this morning and it's running well so far.

 

[pilot04]

All three variants I have are assembled in China.

Hi Sanke1, can you post or PM me a picture of your white router label or box label that shows H/W A1.1 made in China? You can block out the S/N and MAC. Thanks.

 

[sanke1]

Hi Sanke1, can you post or PM me a picture of your white router label or box label that shows H/W A1.1 made in China? You can block out the S/N and MAC. Thanks.

I will post soon. BTW one clear difference between A1 and A1.1 is the thermals. A1 CPU idles at 75° C and both my A1.1 CPUs idle at 58° C. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[L&LD]

My RT-AX88U A1.1 (China) model is idling at 67C, much cooler than any other router I've used in my home (usually 80C+).

 

[sanke1]

My RT-AX88U A1.1 (China) model is idling at 67C, much cooler than any other router I've used in my home (usually 80C+).

Mine is in an extremely well ventilated area which comes under ceiling fan. So 58° C idle temp is incredible for a router. I wish I could exchange my other 6 months old A1 model to get A1.1 because that one idles at
75° C.

 

[neil0311]

My RT-AX88U A1.1 (China) model is idling at 67C, much cooler than any other router I've used in my home (usually 80C+).

Same. Previous routers (AC1900P, AC86U) have typically been in the 75-85 C range. The AX88U is sitting at 58 C.

 

[pilot04]

Thank you. My A1 AX88U China unit is idling ~76 deg C.

 

[sanke1]

Thank you. My A1 AX88U China unit is idling ~76 deg C.

Yup A1 units have poor thermals compared to A1.1.

 

[Hawk]

@sanke1, Can you share details about ambient temperature of router location and if router is passive or active cooled. The one I had cpu temperature hoovered around 73 Celsius with room temperature 23.

 

[sanke1]

@sanke1, Can you share details about ambient temperature of router location and if router is passive or active cooled. The one I had cpu temperature hoovered around 73 Celsius with room temperature 23.

Both routers are passively cooled. No fan apart from room’s ceiling fan. Both are in open space which is well ventilated. Ambient room temperature is 30 C as Mumbai is hot even in Winters. Both A1.1 routers idle at 58 C. I kept the A1 in same place for 2 days and it was idling at 75 C. I have kept the A1 in my office and plugged in a USB fan and kept on top grille. Temp dropped from 75 to 66 C. Decent improvement. Same fan brings down temps of A1.1 to 51 C.

 

[Hawk]

Both routers are passively cooled. No fan apart from room’s ceiling fan. Both are in open space which is well ventilated. Ambient room temperature is 30 C as Mumbai is hot even in Winters. Both A1.1 routers idle at 58 C. I kept the A1 in same place for 2 days and it was idling at 75 C. I have kept the A1 in my office and plugged in a USB fan and kept on top grille. Temp dropped from 75 to 66 C. Decent improvement. Same fan brings down temps of A1.1 to 51 C.

Oh I see, that is indeed big improvement. It would be interesting to see in summer when temperatures sore to 50 C in some cities. I myself have lived in region where 50 C or higher common with dry heat.

 

[neil0311]

Same. Previous routers (AC1900P, AC86U) have typically been in the 75-85 C range. The AX88U is sitting at 58 C.

Mine is A1.1 made in Vietnam. Sounds like they did something to improve the cooling in the 1.1 rev.

 

[Arct1c0n]

Yup A1 units have poor thermals compared to A1.1.

Based on what evidence to support that claim? My A1 hardly gets warm at all but unfortnunately, the telnet and the SSH commands do no work


RT-AX88U login: admin
Password:
admin@RT-AX88U:/tmp/home/root# cat /proc/dmu/temperature
cat: can't open '/proc/dmu/temperature': No such file or directory
admin@RT-AX88U:/tmp/home/root#