Upgrading from an RT-AC68U to RT-AX88U AX6K

[Zakalwe]

Grabbed a mint con. one on ebay for £142.10, seems like a good deal when they are £315 on amazon.

Do I full wipe it and slap merlin on there? Any posts about suggested settings or anything for increasing performance?

I've a direct fiber line and local plex server streaming 4k / lossless audio, and sometimes one or two people use the server remotely.

I have a GS105 switch and a GS108Ev3, does it matter where either of those might be on the network in terms of port speed and such? Sorry for the dumb questions.

What's the diff between the GS305? Gonna be getting a ton of these cables. Look good?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Gonna be getting a ton of these cables. Look good?

You asked about this in your other thread. They're cheap generic cables from a no-name Chinese company. Ignore all its claims about being Cat8 and 40Gbps which are almost certainly false. Notice how all the one, two and three star reviews have been struck out by Amazon. But it's probably adequate as a Cat5e/1Gbps cable up to 10m, which is what you're after.

 

[Zakalwe]

Thanks for the heads up. Will UGREEN cables be fine you think? Theyre chinesium but they're like good chinesium, anker etc.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thanks for the heads up. Will UGREEN cables be fine you think? Theyre chinesium but they're like good chinesium, anker etc.

UGREEN seem to have earned a better reputation.

Do I full wipe it and slap merlin on there?

Yes, full wipe. As you don't know its history it could contain malware. Do a hard factory reset.

[Wireless Router] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset - Method 2 | Official Support | ASUS Global

You might want to just run a basic, default installation of the current stock firmware for a few days just to make sure that it's working properly. If you start installing third party firmware and addon scripts it could make identifying fundamental problems more difficult.

Any posts about suggested settings or anything for increasing performance?

Leave everything at the default values to begin with. They're chosen for a reason. If you have problems tweak as necessary. Don't enable things you don't intend to use, e.g. media servers, AiCloud, QoS, etc.

 

[Zakalwe]

Is this the right RT-AX88U AX6000?

And i'm getting cat8 cables because they don't turn out that much more expensive than cat5-6 and so on, so might as well.



>Yes, full wipe. As you don't know its history it could contain malware. Do a hard factory reset.
Yeah this is what I was thinking, I always do hard resets on anything that could have trojans etc.

>If you start installing third party firmware and addon scripts it could make identifying fundamental problems more difficult.
Ah yeah good point. Don't know if anything will be wrong with it.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I have a GS105 switch and a GS108Ev3, does it matter where either of those might be on the network in terms of port speed and such? Sorry for the dumb questions.

They both have 1GbE ports, so they're the same in that respect. There could be problems if you're connecting to AiMesh nodes through them.

What's the diff between the GS305?

Apart from one having 5 ports and the other 8, the GS105 is unmanaged (dumb) whereas the GS108Ev3 is managed. The latter allows you to configure things like VLANs, port mirroring and link aggregation.

Is this the right RT-AX88U AX6000?

Look at the label on the bottom which shows the FCC ID, model number, hardware revision, etc.

Looks identical to the picture on Asus' website: https://www.asus.com/media/global/gallery/a9sLCNdu5vgBnDG3_setting_xxx_0_90_end_1000.png

 

[Zakalwe]

I was just confused because there seems to be a 5 port version which I think is better? or is that just another model altogether?

I know the S is managed, but I searched difference in the amazon questions and one reply said the GS103 is newer and has better internals etc?

 

[Ripshod]

8 lan ports, gold antenna accents, gold heatsink - that's definitely an RT-AX88U (unless someone has managed to shoehorn the heatsink into an RT-AC88U).
The price point is about right too.
H/W A1. 1 too.


EDIT: 5 port version would be the pro model. A little bit more than you actually need right now.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I know the S is managed, but I searched difference in the amazon questions and one reply said the GS103 is newer and has better internals etc?

I have no idea what you're talking about now.

 

[OzarkEdge]

View attachment 55954

Warranty Status Inquiry | Official Support | ASUS USA

You have the RT-AX88U... a non-Pro model.

OE

 

[Zakalwe]

Info - Testing 4 popular Gigabit networking switches - Results are interesting!

So, 3 weeks ago, I asked you guys if different gigabit switches would perform differently based on their spec or manufacturer. Consensus was, it doesn't and all will perform the same! Being locked down with COVID, I went about testing that (too much time on my hand I guess)... so bought FOUR...

forums.tomshardware.com

Talking about this with the switches. They're both unmanaged. Looks like I'd wanna get the GS105s, returned the 103 for one (amazon) and replacement just arrived incidentally.

View attachment 55955

Warranty Status Inquiry | Official Support | ASUS USA

You have the RT-AX88U... a non-Pro model.

OE

Alright, so don't pay?

8 lan ports, gold antenna accents, gold heatsink - that's definitely an RT-AX88U (unless someone has managed to shoehorn the heatsink into an RT-AC88U).
The price point is about right too.
H/W A1. 1 too.


EDIT: 5 port version would be the pro model. A little bit more than you actually need right now.

Any idea what the pro model is actually called? because just adding pro on my searches keeps giving me the non-pro, unless the pro is the TUF one? but I've never heard anyone call it the TUF AX88U etc so I thought it was irrelevent.

 

[Ripshod]

Info - Testing 4 popular Gigabit networking switches - Results are interesting!

So, 3 weeks ago, I asked you guys if different gigabit switches would perform differently based on their spec or manufacturer. Consensus was, it doesn't and all will perform the same! Being locked down with COVID, I went about testing that (too much time on my hand I guess)... so bought FOUR...

forums.tomshardware.com

Talking about this with the switches. They're both unmanaged. Looks like I'd wanna get the GS105s, returned the 103 for one (amazon) and replacement just arrived incidentally.



Alright, so don't pay?



Any idea what the pro model is actually called? because just adding pro on my searches keeps giving me the non-pro, unless the pro is the TUF one? but I've never heard anyone call it the TUF AX88U etc so I thought it was irrelevent.

"RT-AX88U Pro", but as it's a recent release you'll struggle to find it on the likes of fleabay.

RT-AX88U Pro｜WiFi Routers｜ASUS Global

ASUS gaming routers provide the very best gaming experience, with an arsenal of features and tools designed to improve online gaming performance and give you the competitive edge you need to win.

www.asus.com

I never worried about warranty when buying off fleabay as the previous owner likely would have registered it anyway.
As an aside, I got my AX88U as a bricked "parts only" unit for £25. It only needed flashing from recovery and has been good for nearly 2 years now.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Alright, so don't pay?

You should pay for what you agreed to buy.

My post was to help confirm the model by its seriel number.

OE

 

[Tech9]

And i'm getting cat8 cables because they don't turn out that much more expensive than cat5-6 and so on, so might as well.

They won’t work any better than quality 6 cable. May be worse. False advertisement most of the time for mediocre products. You just pay more.

 

[glens]

RT-AX88U-Pro is nominally US$ (I recall seeing somewhere that the "dollar" symbol was originally a U and an S superimposed, thus self-explanatory) 250. Have seen maybe $229. "List" like $279. Full warranty. The 2.5GbE port for LAN would be more valuable (to me) than 4 extra 1Gb ports, even if they were all reliable. Most-current Asus AX router vs. AX-88U (only) as what (?), the /first/ Asus (or anyone's?) AX router.

Just food for thought...

 

[aex.perez]

Having the same router, I pretend to use two of the 8 ports for the two aimesh nodes, all on Merlin, never have had a problem. The rest, I've got Media devices. Everything else WiFI, scross both radios.
Good advice to wipe it and start fresh, stay with defaults unless you need to change due to environment or needed capabilities. Go slow, stay with the basics before messing with QoS, Schedueling, Parental Controls, AIProtection and so on. Get the basics working reliably in your envronment first.

When you feel comfortable with the basics and want to turn on extras there's plenty on the Forums, a treasure trove, for you to reasearch on what will work best for you and how.

Best advice, there is no one size fits all, your environment is unique and will define what to set things, to tweak to your needs, but get the basics working solidly and reliable first.

 

[Zakalwe]

They won’t work any better than quality 6 cable. May be worse. False advertisement most of the time for mediocre products. You just pay more.

The ugreen cat 8 cables are right now actually 20% cheaper than their cat7s, and I just checked.. and the cat6s aswell. So not really paying more. I can crimp and have the tools / box of connectors but i'm too lazy to buy a reel and do it.

I need to buy other crap right now too so I think the 88U Pro is out, what's the next best one down in terms of price? like, I want a really good one, just not £300 good.

 

[Tech9]

The ugreen cat 8 cables are right now actually 20% cheaper

My advice - get good quality CAT6 cables. CAT8 is mostly marketing and the cables are usually lower quality.

what's the next best one down in terms of price?

Check the price for RT-AX86U Pro. The same hardware, but with one 2.5GbE WAN port and more compact size. Perhaps the most popular around model.

 

[Zakalwe]

Thanks