This was posted 1 year 2 months 11 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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ASUS RT-AX86S AX5700 Wi-Fi 6 Router $329 Delivered @ Amazon AU

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ASUS RT-AX86S AX5700 Wi-Fi 6 Router $329 Delivered @ Amazon AUAffiliate
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Khazidhea on 18/02/2023 - 12:39 amazon.com.au (311 clicks)
Last edited 18/02/2023 - 16:31 by 1 other user
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Very capable and reliable WiFi 6 router at a good price.

Similar to the popular Asus RT-AX86U.

Note: This is the ASUS RT-AX86S. This is not the ASUS RT-AX86U. The differences are in the CPU, RAM, 2.5Gb LAN port and USB ports. The Wi-Fi on the ASUS RT-AX86S and ASUS RT-AX86U is the same.

ASUS RT-AX86S
Dual-Core CPU @ 1.8GHz.
512MB RAM.
2.5Gb WAN/LAN = removed.
1x USB 3.2 Gen 1x1 + 1x USB 2.0.

(Note: I've copied the description above from the last time this router was on sale, hope that's okay. I know very little about routers myself, wasn't sure what to include otherwise.)

Also saw discounts for the following, I think UK stock only (which I gather is a bad thing, substandard specs, but you might be able to price match somewhere?):

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.
Computing ASUS Wireless Router

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closed Comments

    • Romper Stomper on 18/02/2023 - 14:38

      From the first link: "my take is the S in the RT-AX86S is short for “stripped-down.”".

  • s3n on 18/02/2023 - 12:55
    +11

    $300 is too much to pay for a dual core when $400 gets you quad core which gives you a bit more flexibility and a few years more future proofing

    $200 max for a dual core

    • mrtee on 18/02/2023 - 13:01
      +1

      Agreed

    • HardQuiz on 18/02/2023 - 13:23

      Indeed.

    • teddiebear on 18/02/2023 - 14:00

      This is true. Would expect a couple more features for this price.

    • ihfree on 18/02/2023 - 14:12

      What benefit does the extra CPU power provide?

      • Romper Stomper on 18/02/2023 - 14:32

        possibly for gaming?

      • PlaunsJanus on 18/02/2023 - 14:55
        +2

        Someone please correct me if I am incorrect about this but;

        Processing packets faster

        Faster interface once you login and navigate settings or telnet etc

        Likely to have better user interface, QOS settings and data logging

        HDD USB input performance

        Less heat from running cpu at maximum which can cause throttling

        Better for running multiple protocols, process like VPN etc

        Less failures

        • ihfree on 18/02/2023 - 15:20
          +3

          Thanks. To address a few points

          Processing packets faster

          Dependent on load - I doubt you'd see a difference in many or even most cases.

          Faster interface once you login and navigate settings or telnet etc

          No noticeable difference ( I have a AX6000 and AX86S)

          Likely to have better user interface, QOS settings and data logging

          It's the same interface and firmware.

          HDD USB input performance

          This has a single USB 3 port, so I think this is considered. I'm not sure if there are any benchmarks between the two models, though that might be interesting if considering running USB storage.

          Better for running multiple protocols, process like VPN etc

          This would be the main thing I could think of.

          Less failures

          No issues with failures reported with either model. If the hardware is well designed, this shouldn't be ann issue.

          I guess the question might have been better phrased as "what scenarios would the quad core CPU be beneficial?"

      • scotty on 18/02/2023 - 16:19
        +1

        Flush Merlin wrt, and you'll be able to run a chroot Linux & other services. Extra CPU would be quite useful in this case.

      • garage sale on 18/02/2023 - 19:24

        yep comes, comes down to combination of all the chips in the unit ….if you look at the size of the firmware, it’s small, the other chips are doing a lot of the work.
        future proof …. they bring out new models as the supporting chip sets adopt to new standards …. doubt the reason they don’t offer code update from 1800M unit to 3000M is dual core vs quad core …..

    • weebok15 on 18/02/2023 - 15:06

      Any quad core recommended which has been as good and as reliable as the Asus AC86U? I moved from a Netgear Nighthawk to the Asus and haven't looked back. The reliability and speed of boot up has been phenomenal.

      • Twix on 18/02/2023 - 15:31

        Asus RT-AX86U and RT-AX86U Pro.

      • ihfree on 18/02/2023 - 15:38

        In addition the the AX86U/pro, the GT-AX6000.

        You may even find that you're fine with the AX86S.

      • garage sale on 18/02/2023 - 19:27

        moved from tplink to 4g ax56 which i have when nbn is head and i’m on 4g , and now use rt ax56 as it’s smaller ….really liking asus compared to tplink for features and coverage ….

    • shellshocked on 18/02/2023 - 21:33
      +1

      The people complaining about it being a dual core don't know what they talking about. It´s a 64bit Broadcom BCM4906 Cortex A53 CPU dual core CPU. There are plenty 32 bit quad core CPU´s like BCM6755 in a lot of other routers which simply can´t match it for performance.

      It´s one of the few CPU´s, in a router, which supports hardware-accelerated AES. So it can significantly reduce the overhead on tasks such as a VPN, compared to routers that don´t have AES acceleration.

      • Horacio on 19/02/2023 - 02:24

        And if you're using OpenVPN, it is single-threaded, so dual core will perform just as fast as quad core. BTW I am wondering, is there a catch beyond the UK plug type - the Amazon UK version is presumably otherwise identical and $30 cheaper.

      • s3n on 19/02/2023 - 18:40

        If you use this router to it's full capability ie. gigabit internet, multiple device-specific outgoing VPN's on wireguard etc. plus incoming VPN, plus main AiMesh router, IPS etc. I think dual core would just about handle it with fairly high CPU usage due to the chipset offloading of some AES plus routing but it doesn't leave you much room for added features or flexibility and you'd be dropping performance sooner rather than later.

        Not sure about dual core but the 28nm chipset is known to overheat on quad core and there are reports of random death.

        If you're using it to its full capability the added $100-200 for the AX86U Pro or GT-AX6000, both which have the exact same chipset same firmware at the moment and a 16nm die shrink over the original versions and hence run cooler without fans, doesn't even warrant a mention for the time you spend setting all this up for work and play only to find it dropping speed on a hot day or after a firmware update adds some new features.

        Granted though even the AX68S chipset is a huge improvement over the older models.

        • Horacio on 19/02/2023 - 21:37

          Hadn't about the smaller die models. I agree the potential for overheating is a real concern, my current AC68U was salvaged from someone who ditched it because it always overheated and shut down wifi within a few mins of startup. I replaced heatsink compound, removed strategic chunks of the casing and added a big fan to pull air through, works fine this way but really, how do they get away with selling so many duds overheating wise?

          • s3n on 19/02/2023 - 22:31

            @Horacio: That’s quite extreme must be a very old model

            I’ve had a range of ac66, ac68’s and none of them have had issues overheating but they did run hot ie. 65 degrees and over

            My ac68 was fine for 100mbit but I was using a separate switch to off load some of the work and had most devices on ethernet

          • ihfree on 21/02/2023 - 08:02

            @Horacio: Sounds faulty.

            I had two TM-AC1900s(AC68U with a weaker CPU) - first one ran for about 5 years with out issue. Including through hot summers.

            Second one was added in AiMesh about a 1.5 years ago and functioned reasonably well over that time period.

  • Twix on 18/02/2023 - 13:10
    +3

    I wrote the note. I don't mind that anyone copies it for new deals.

  • teddiebear on 18/02/2023 - 13:58

    Hmmmm no 2.5Gbps port 😯

    • garage sale on 18/02/2023 - 19:30

      at work we run 600 people in our office going to office365, internet ,etc on 1G ….numbers on wired full duplex ethernet for throughput of actual data is much better then 3g of 2.5/5g wireless.

  • SAU on 18/02/2023 - 14:36

    Looks like another year of AC68U for me

  • zephrux on 18/02/2023 - 16:40

    Any recommendations for AussieBB Gigabit FTTP NBN? Would this be enough without compromising speed or should I get the Asus GT-AX6000

    • ChargerV6 on 18/02/2023 - 21:42

      I'm also the same as you. I recently got a ASUS ax53u and it's been constantly dropping wifi. Dozens of times a day devices disconnect.

      Whirlpool has a few threads about Asus and ABB having issues across various models.

      I'm about to return it and I'm trying to find a good router for the setup.

      • insertusernamehere on 19/02/2023 - 11:01
        +1

        I have an ASUS router and was plagued with constant dropouts to the point I was gonna bin it. I’d tried everything to fix it. I then ran a wifi scan of the area to find the least used wifi channels and made mine use those. Haven’t had a single dropout since so it might be worth a try.

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