Thanks for the article, nice looking router. I am betting though that "The can be purchased for RT-AC86U 249 Euro and $199 USD" should read "The RT-AC86U can be purchased for 249 Euro and $199 USD".

IF that is the price looks like I might be replacing my AC66U

tsunami231:

IF that is the price looks like I might be replacing my AC66U

Right, I might even replace my ac68u with it. I prefer Asus over Netgear, even though they go head to head with router's of similar performance for the fact that Asus provides a recovery mode on all of their high-end routers which are softbrick-proof for even the most amateur of user. Only way to really brick it is screwing up/modifying the CFE that the router boots from. I'll personally wait till its supported by DD-WRT as it will be able to run a gigabit WAN connection over IPv4 without the need for NAT acceleration (by pure CPU speed it has alone..)

I mostly looking at cause dual core 1.8ghz cpu and apdative qos, this should be able to handle 500mbit and beyond with QOS enabled, that and for some reason my AC66U which I only have bandwidth limiter on, cause Traditional QOS will turn off CTF/NAT HW and limit my speed to 100mbit that and just lmiting my wireless clients to 15/15 for some reason is hit my router with 75-90% if not more cpu usage any time any of those wireless clients limited to 15/15 is download at or near those speeds which dont sound right. A non limited wireless client doing 100mbi which only 1 or 2 wireless clients can actual do, only put 25% cpu load and 200mbit wired barely pulls 60% so 75-90% load on just 15/15 limiting seems way wrong, it almost like bandwidth limiting is by passing CTF/NAT HW in the current fw builds, and when that kind usage is hiting router everyone feel it the slow down, which one reason i limited the speeds in first place. I hoping this bug in asus fw that went into RMerlin FW that sorta out. I been using RMerlin FW I am hoping he will support the router, last time i used DD-WRT was probably 10+ years ago if not more, and i found it ridiculously hard and confusing to kept track of what FW was for what router., I did like the fact I could have QOS and Limiting at same time, not sure that still true though, Asus/RMerlin dont really support both at same time I need QOS ( perfered ) or Bandwidth limiting that isnt broke and hammering the cpu

I was curious how it used 512 GB... turns out it only have 512 MB per the product page: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC86U/specifications/

tsunami231:

I mostly looking at cause dual core 1.8ghz cpu and apdative qos, this should be able to handle 500mbit and beyond with QOS enabled, that and for some reason my AC66U which I only have bandwidth limiter on, cause Traditional QOS will turn off CTF/NAT HW and limit my speed to 100mbit that and just lmiting my wireless clients to 15/15 for some reason is hit my router with 75-90% if not more cpu usage any time any of those wireless clients limited to 15/15 is download at or near those speeds which dont sound right. A non limited wireless client doing 100mbi which only 1 or 2 wireless clients can actual do, only put 25% cpu load and 200mbit wired barely pulls 60% so 75-90% load on just 15/15 limiting seems way wrong, it almost like bandwidth limiting is by passing CTF/NAT HW in the current fw builds, and when that kind usage is hiting router everyone feel it the slow down, which one reason i limited the speeds in first place. I hoping this bug in asus fw that went into RMerlin FW that sorta out. I been using RMerlin FW I am hoping he will support the router, last time i used DD-WRT was probably 10+ years ago if not more, and i found it ridiculously hard and confusing to kept track of what FW was for what router., I did like the fact I could have QOS and Limiting at same time, not sure that still true though, Asus/RMerlin dont really support both at same time I need QOS ( perfered ) or Bandwidth limiting that isnt broke and hammering the cpu

Thats why i also use DD-WRT is for its granularity of QoS control. One of few if any custom firmwares that allows you to select traffic shaper queuing discipline like fq_codel or pie. You can still traffic shape (limit bandwidth) and prioritize at the same time, yes. Their FTP site is where you find the latest firmware (its all beta thats up to date since making a stable firmware version for all the routers it supports would be a big undertaking in its popularity). ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/ QoS/traffic shaping will disable ctf nat acceleration because it needs to read the part of the linux network stack that CTF bypasses, to prioritize bandwidth/applications so thats unfortunately normal.

If it's not RGB then it"s not gamer

GALTARAUJO:

If it's not RGB then it"s not gamer

the RGB fade need to die it add no functionality to anything, well less your petty and only care how things look 😱

tsunami231:

the RGB fade need to die it add no functionality to anything, well less your petty and only care how things look 😱

Pretty sure it was sarcasm by him. This RGB phase does need to die already.

I still think you can purchase better quality wired router + Wi-Fi access point for lower price.

sverek:

I still think you can purchase better quality wired router + Wi-Fi access point for lower price.

That can be said about lot things, I just use to Asus GUI so i dont really feel like learn mre GUI from another brand. call me lazy

Agonist:

Pretty sure it was sarcasm by him. This RGB phase does need to die already.

it does, RGB fade need to die and die faster, I tired to this RGB this RGB that, I dont want RGB on my gpu or my psu or my fan, I dont give ratz azz about what they stuff look like it just need to do it job, I purposely burn out that stuff or block it with electrial tape. But yah sarcasm fails on forums less one say they being sarcastic

Mda400:

Thats why i also use DD-WRT is for its granularity of QoS control. One of few if any custom firmwares that allows you to select traffic shaper queuing discipline like fq_codel or pie. You can still traffic shape (limit bandwidth) and prioritize at the same time, yes. Their FTP site is where you find the latest firmware (its all beta thats up to date since making a stable firmware version for all the routers it supports would be a big undertaking in its popularity). ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/ QoS/traffic shaping will disable ctf nat acceleration because it needs to read the part of the linux network stack that CTF bypasses, to prioritize bandwidth/applications so thats unfortunately normal.

While DD-WRT offers more settings, an RT-AC3200 still performs better with it's own firmware, I would guess the same goes for this model.

Give me pfsense and a good wireless AP anyday.

The RGB fad allows people to easily shift the look of their build. I for one am glad it's here to stay. Every one of them allows you to shut the lights "off" (unless you went dirt cheap) so I'm not sure why people take issue with it simply existing on high end gear. It's also been mostly a freebie as the pricing models have stayed basically the same for a decade.

Mineria:

While DD-WRT offers more settings, an RT-AC3200 still performs better with it's own firmware, I would guess the same goes for this model.

Depends on what you mean by 'performs better'. If relating to NAT acceleration, then of course the stock firmware will out-perform the custom firmware that lacks that feature (which there is one being worked on for DD-WRT: FAST NAT QCA SFE ( similiar to CTF) coming soon). Otherwise, they have access to the same wireless and SoC drivers (with exception of broadcom's proprietary Cut-Through Forwarding module) as the stock firmware contains, sometimes even gets updated sooner than the stock firmware does. Now if you go turning on all those extra features a custom firmware has, then it may hog resources more than the stock firmware's feature set provides.

Mda400:

Depends on what you mean by 'performs better'. If relating to NAT acceleration, then of course the stock firmware will out-perform the custom firmware that lacks that feature (which there is one being worked on for DD-WRT: FAST NAT QCA SFE ( similiar to CTF) coming soon). Otherwise, they have access to the same wireless and SoC drivers (with exception of broadcom's proprietary Cut-Through Forwarding module) as the stock firmware contains, sometimes even gets updated sooner than the stock firmware does. Now if you go turning on all those extra features a custom firmware has, then it may hog resources more than the stock firmware's feature set provides.

Performance as highest throughput and lowest latency. I can't remember which review of the AC3200 I saw a full test and comparison between DD-WRT and the firmware ASUS releases, would have linked if I remembered. On a side-note, one should avoid SMART connect, especially when it comes to movie streaming and gaming.