[Asus RT-AX88U] Experiences & Discussion

[WiFiSeeder]

You can refer to this post about expected "real world" speeds. 1.24 Gbits/sec was the best I was able to achieve under ideal conditions on a 2 stream AC client w/ 160MHz channels.

Wow. That's impressive!

Out of curiosity, what's your setup for the test? RT-AX88U in router mode -> RX-AX88U in Media Bridge Mode -> Wired Client?

 

[Adamm]

Wow. That's impressive!

Out of curiosity, what's your setup for the test? RT-AX88U in router mode -> RX-AX88U in Media Bridge Mode -> Wired Client?

Testing was done with first my laptop using its Intel 9560 w/ 2 AC streams (160MHz) directly connected to the AX88U.

The second test was done with my AX88U as a router with my old AC86U in a media bridge configuration using 4 AC streams (80MHz).

Both had almost identical results, unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of two AX88U's to test with, but the results were still the highest I'd seen at the time using consumer hardware. Exciting times now we have officially broken the 1Gbit barrier.

 

[WiFiSeeder]

I didn't have the luxury of two AX88U's to test with, but the results were still the highest I'd seen at the time using consumer hardware. Exciting times now we have officially broken the 1Gbit barrier.

Tell me about it. I'm definitely pulling the trigger on a AX88U. I hope that my Killer 1550 can come close to the results of your 9560.

I also wonder what can I get from my old AC68U in media bridge mode. Out of curiosity, assuming that you took the time to test it, how well the AX88U does using 80 MHz channels under the same ideal conditions?

 

[Adamm]

Tell me about it. I'm definitely pulling the trigger for a AX88U. I hope that a Killer 1550 can match the 9560 results.

IIRC both are almost identical, Killer products are just re-branded Intel chips w/ their software baked in, so I assume the results will be pretty much identical. The router is rock solid though, I've been using it as my daily driver for about 3 months now without any major issues (running AsusWRT-Merlin ofcoarse )

I also wonder what can I get from my old AC68U in media bridge mode. Out of curiosity, how well the AX88U does in 80 MHz channels under the same ideal conditions?

Off the top of my head I don't remember to be honest as at the time I was focused on 160MHz, next time I have a chance to mess around with iperf ill report back.

 

[WiFiSeeder]

Thanks @Adamm, your posts are very encouraging.
If it can reach at least 700 MBps downstream over a 80 MHz channel I'm going to be a happy man (My current AC68U peaks at around 550 MBps for uploads, but 300 to 400 MBps is far more likely for downloads).

 

[AdrianSz]

Hi guys,

Sorry to bother. Anyone using this router with 1 Gbps or more WAN speed?
Just wondering what kind of speeds you are getting on 5Ghz AC - 80 / 160 MHz at close range (i.e., up to 3 meters / no walls).

Kind regards,

7 meters: 5G wifi linux client to wired machine over 80 mhz channel. 400 mbit over NFS v3.

 

[WiFiSeeder]

7 meters: 5G wifi linux client to wired machine over 80 mhz channel. 400 mbit over NFS v3.

Thanks! I assume that the WiFi Adapter is currently using two streams (i.e., 867 Mbit/s negotiated speed) right?

 

[AdrianSz]

Thanks! I assume that the WiFi Adapter is currently using two streams (i.e., 867 Mbit/s negotiated speed) right?

yes. its 2x2 Intel AC 7260 chip.

 

[Adamm]

Thanks @Adamm, your posts are very encouraging.
If it can reach at least 700 MBps downstream over a 80 MHz channel I'm going to be a happy man (My current AC68U peaks at around 550 MBps for uploads, but 300 to 400 MBps is far more likely for downloads).

7 meters: 5G wifi linux client to wired machine over 80 mhz channel. 400 mbit over NFS v3.

Keep in mind that there is a significant overhead involved when comparing Samba speeds (around %20 in my testing) to something like iperf. It will also be highly dependent on the hardware on either end of the transfer.

 

[WiFiSeeder]

Keep in mind that there is a significant overhead involved when comparing Samba speeds (around %20 in my testing) to something like iperf. It will also be highly dependent on the hardware on either end of the transfer.

Yeah, I totally understand. Still, I'm slightly worried about @AdrianNZ results since NFS generally behaves better than SMB and his tests results are very close to what I get with an AC68U (although he is testing at almost twice the distance). Looks like, at 876 Mbps theoretical speeds, the practical cap is around ~400 Mbps / 450 Mbps... The 50% rule still applies.

[RANT]By the way, SMB support is one of the major pain points of ASUS Stock firmware. I know that the router's CPU is busy enough as it is and everything other than a NAS is just NASty (Ok, I'll take my pills...). I also do understand that Samba 4 / SMB 3 + is not happening any time soon. Having said that: God damn it Sharon! Just merge Merlin's support for SMBv2 and be done with it. The RT-AX88U has a Quad-Core 1.8 GHz CPU. Why oh why we are still using insecure software written in 2003? If users want SMB1 to reduce protocol overhead just give them the choice to select between SMBv1 and SMBv2.[/RANT]

Well, my router will be here tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have great results to report .

 

[Dave in NM]

I just lost Port 2 on this router (RT-AX88U), anyone else get this? I can plug into Port 3 or 1 (or any other ethernet port) but spontaneously today Port 2 (of 8) just quit right in middle of the day by itself. Pretty miffed about it. I'll probably reboot router, see if it comes back but even if it does, its not giving me confidence it will not disappear again.
(I just rebooted this guy a few days ago (this last Saturday morning) on a reboot schedule at 4 am.)

So i checked Port 2 and definitely not working. I can plug into another port, works, that one, no. So i rebooted the router, and its now working. Pretty odd huh.

 

[Dave in NM]

Runner is the new branding for Flow Accelerator / Level 2 acceleration which has been described like this by Asus;

Level 2: Level 1 (CTF) + FA (Flow Accelerator): Hardware NAT acceleration mechanism design for accelerating wired DHCP and Static IP connections.
You will need Flow Accelerator option to fully take advantage of internet provider’s Gigabit service is offered.

Flow Accelerator is achieved through special hardware related designs.

EDIT:

Both CTF and FA / Runner acceleration is on by default. But Level 2 (FA/Runner) will be disabled when you activate certain functions like Ai Protection or QoS as those require additional inspection of the NAT traffic in order to function so the acceleration can't be used.

I don't see anywhere in the UI to set this. Where is it?

 

[Marin]

I don't see anywhere in the UI to set this. Where is it?

You can view the status of your Runner and Flow Cache under Tools tab (and then under the SysInfo tab-->Network section).

 

[Dave in NM]

You can view the status of your Runner and Flow Cache under Tools tab (and then under the SysInfo tab-->Network section).

Thanks must be Merlin cause I don't see that in Asus UI.

 

[doczenith1]

If I remember correctly stock fw shows the NAT acceleration under LAN>Switch Control.

 

[Marin]

For some reason I am thinking it used to be under WAN tab (NAT passthrough) in the my previous routers (pre-AC86U) but I may be wrong

 

[Marin]

If I remember correctly stock fw shows the NAT acceleration under LAN>Switch Control.

I think @doczenith1 is correct - it used to be there (in the same place with the "enable jumbo frames" option). Perhaps in AC68U?

 

[doczenith1]

My recollection of LAN>Switch Control is from my old 68U. My 86U went directly to Asuswrt-Merlin. It is possible that the new HND models may have it in a different location.

 

[Adamm]

I just lost Port 2 on this router (RT-AX88U), anyone else get this? I can plug into Port 3 or 1 (or any other ethernet port) but spontaneously today Port 2 (of 8) just quit right in middle of the day by itself. Pretty miffed about it. I'll probably reboot router, see if it comes back but even if it does, its not giving me confidence it will not disappear again.
(I just rebooted this guy a few days ago (this last Saturday morning) on a reboot schedule at 4 am.)

So i checked Port 2 and definitely not working. I can plug into another port, works, that one, no. So i rebooted the router, and its now working. Pretty odd huh.

Port 2 is used for LACP, make sure you don't have that enabled by accident if you aren't using the feature.

 

[RMerlin]

Also do an electrical power cycle. Unplug the power from the router, turn it on and off while unplugged, plug back in, try again.