What's new

Asus TUF-AX5400 slow VPN speeds

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

D76

New Around Here
Just got the Asus TUF-AX5400, replacing an Asus RT-AC86U (which I'm now using as a node in Amish). On both the stock firmware and Merlin (Gnuton) the OpenVPN speeds on the AX5400 are much slower than the speeds I was achieving on the AC96U on exactly the same VPN servers. I would normally be able to get speeds of 150mbps+ on many ExpressVPN and Surfshark servers. Now the quickest I'm getting is around 50mbps. Are there any setting I need to change? QoS is off, as is AiProtection and Traffic Analyser.
 
RT-AC86U has faster 1.8GHz ARMv8 CPU cores with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard instructions set). It can do >200Mbps on OpenVPN. TUF-AX5400 is one of the many "gaming versions" of entry level RT-AX58U base hardware. It has weaker 1.5GHz ARMv7 variant CPU cores with no AES support. OpenVPN uses a single core. What you see is expected and normal. You have downgraded your router in regards of CPU.
 
RT-AC86U has faster 1.8GHz ARMv8 CPU cores with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard instructions set). It can do >200Mbps on OpenVPN. TUF-AX5400 is one of the many "gaming versions" of entry level RT-AX58U base hardware. It has weaker 1.5GHz ARMv7 variant CPU cores with no AES support. OpenVPN uses a single core. What you see is expected and normal. You have downgraded your router in regards of CPU.
Thanks. I’ve obviously made a mistake in not checking the CPU versus my old router. Will have to return it and look again. Wanted similar VPN performance but with Wi-Fi 6
 
@D76
The real question though is what speed are you paying for? If it's more than 150mbps then looking into gear suited for higher speeds or wireguard would be a better option than buying another Asus.

When I was on a gig plan my DIY setup hit wire speed using WG. I switched providers though and cut the bill by 50% and don't really miss the gig speed all that much. My DL's typically only hit about 50% of that anyway regardless of the speed / capacity of the line. On occasion with high bandwidth servers though I could max it out but, it was typically for drivers only and not really anything that mattered. If you really need the speed you're paying for then consider building something to handle the full speed of your connection but, I suspect since you're using consumer VPN's it's just day to day surfing and DL's which isn't the same as someone moving GB's of files between sites.
 
Wanted similar VPN performance but with Wi-Fi 6

Closest direct replacement for your RT-AC86U + Wi-Fi 6 router is RT-AX86S. A step up is RT-AX86U.

Look for 1.8GHz or 2.0GHz dual/quad core CPU in specifications. This is a good indication for ARMv8.
 
@D76
The real question though is what speed are you paying for? If it's more than 150mbps then looking into gear suited for higher speeds or wireguard would be a better option than buying another Asus.

When I was on a gig plan my DIY setup hit wire speed using WG. I switched providers though and cut the bill by 50% and don't really miss the gig speed all that much. My DL's typically only hit about 50% of that anyway regardless of the speed / capacity of the line. On occasion with high bandwidth servers though I could max it out but, it was typically for drivers only and not really anything that mattered. If you really need the speed you're paying for then consider building something to handle the full speed of your connection but, I suspect since you're using consumer VPN's it's just day to day surfing and DL's which isn't the same as someone moving GB's of files between sites.
Not looking for any heavy lifting from a VPN perspective. VPN speeds of around what I was getting on the old router will be enough
 
Closest direct replacement for your RT-AC86U + Wi-Fi 6 router is RT-AX86S. A step up is RT-AX86U.

Look for 1.8GHz or 2.0GHz dual/quad core CPU in specifications. This is a good indication for ARMv8.
Cheers. Been looking at both those now, I think they’ll be fine for what I need
 
Go for RT-AX86S, if you don't expect or need >Gigabit ISP speeds. It's basically improved RT-AC86U with Wi-Fi 6 radio. There is a cheaper one RT-AX68U with the same CPU, but it has too many connectivity issues mentioned all over Internet and it's not very popular here on SNB Forums.
 
RT-AC86U has faster 1.8GHz ARMv8 CPU cores with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard instructions set). It can do >200Mbps on OpenVPN. TUF-AX5400 is one of the many "gaming versions" of entry level RT-AX58U base hardware. It has weaker 1.5GHz ARMv7 variant CPU cores with no AES support. OpenVPN uses a single core. What you see is expected and normal. You have downgraded your router in regards of CPU.
Hi. I just bought a TUF-AX5400 because my existing Linksys MX5300 (main node of a 5 node network) can't be set up as a VPN client - now set to bridge mode, but still handling the other 4 nodes). Plus researching I decided i wanted wireguard and also like the asus FUSION (multiple VPN tunnels). Since I already have the mesh, wasn't looking for the wireless, but liked the gaming functionality for my son's gaming PC (wired). Didn't want to spend too much, AX5400 looked good for the money, but also having some issues, the LAN connection dropping off. Have been looking at maybe buying a used RT-AX86U. How would you rate the AX86U? You seem to know these models. Also, at the moment, the wireless connection from the AX5400 is running with a separate SSID, so I have 2 networks running. Anyway I can add the Linksys MX5300 nodes onto the AX5400 as nodes to it and make it one integrated network. Thanks.
 

Attachments

  • MX5300 specs.pdf
    125.8 KB · Views: 38
How would you rate the AX86U?

I have one sitting on the shelf and waiting for better firmware.


In general - toys good for people with basic requirements and not too much networking knowledge. If you start pushing advertised firmware options a bit more they either fail or you find them not working properly. RT-AX86U is under $100 hardware including Raspberry Pi type router, 5-port switch with 2.5GbE port, AX access point and somewhat working perpetual beta firmware. People believe it's an expensive router.

but liked the gaming functionality for my son's gaming PC

Pure marketing. This TUF-AX5400 router is based on entry-level RT-AX58U hardware like many other models - RT-AX82U, RT-AX3000, TUF-AX3000, GS AX3000, GS AX5400, etc. The difference between AX3000 and AX5400 models is locked/unlocked hardware features in firmware. I guess, the models with more antennas, red (yellow) accents and RGB lights are the most Gaming ones. The model you have is missing RGB lights.
 
Solution: VPN Fusion supports Wireguard so skip OpenVPN entirely because the router lacks AES-NI acceleration for that.
I would say Merlin firmware also supports Wireguard for TUF-AX5400 but there is a problem with their firmware as Wireguard slows down bandwith for everything (at least on RT-AX92U). This is only fixed in 388.2 So there is a risk TUF-AX5400 on Merlin 388.1 could suffer same fate.

I doubt it's the same on stock firmware. So go with Wireguard.
 
Last edited:
router lacks AES-NI acceleration

No home router has AES-NI. This is Intel instruction set for their x86 architecture CPUs. ARM CPUs have similar AES instruction set.

there is a problem with their firmware as Wireguard slows down bandwith for everything

Because it's NAT acceleration incompatible, but some ARMv8 models have a workaround available. Not sure about ARMv7 models.
 
No home router has AES-NI. This is Intel instruction set for their x86 architecture CPUs. ARM CPUs have similar AES instruction set.



Because it's NAT acceleration incompatible, but some ARMv8 models have a workaround available. Not sure about ARMv7 models.
Yes correction, same thing for but for ARM cpus. I am unsure if stock rom/VPN Fusion have the same type of problem as the way I read it was a specificed problem tied to the Merlin firmware. But I could be wrong.
 

Latest threads

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top