ASUS Intros TUF Gaming AX3000 V2 Gaming Router

[btarunr]

ASUS today introduced the TUF Gaming AX3000 V2 wireless router. The Wi-Fi 6 router offers not just characteristic TUF Gaming product design, but also durability, in the way of multi-level heatsinks for the various hot components underneath, with a "nano-carbon coating." As a router, its specs are pretty mainstream—you get up to 2.4 Gbps in the 5 GHz band, up to 576 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band (which add up to the "AX 3000" nameplate). The wired networking consists of a 2.5 GbE WAN port, and four 1 GbE LAN ports, from which two ports can be aggregated to a 2 Gbps link when paired with a machine that has two 1 GbE ports. You also get a 5 Gbps USB 3.x type-A port that can turn any USB mass-storage device into a network share, or be used to share a printer; and security in the way of the latest WPA3. The company didn't reveal pricing.



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[TheLostSwede]

2.5 Gbps WAN without 2.5 Gbps LAN is pointless imho.
And link aggregation sadly doesn't work as claimed by these companies. A single system will not see more than 1 Gbps throughput when used with an aggregated connection, it's meant for servers that has a lot of clients attached to them, not between a router and a PC.

 

[Makaveli]

My ISP just started offering 3Gbps fiber connections where are the 5Gbps wan routers lol

And agree with you 1Gbps Lan connections need to go.

 

[TheLostSwede]

My ISP just started offering 3Gbps fiber connections where are the 5Gbps wan routers lol

And agree with you 1Gbps Lan connections need to go.

5 Gbps seems to be a mostly dead standard, although Netgear has a few routers with a single 5 Gbps port.
10 Gbps is much more common, even if it's hardly what you'd call common on consumer routers as such.
This year we should se a lot more 2.5 Gbps products at least, hopefully with more than two ports as well.

 

[zlobby]

Gather around, y'all! A fresh new batch of overpriced security-risk is here!

5 Gbps seems to be a mostly dead standard, although Netgear has a few routers with a single 5 Gbps port.
10 Gbps is much more common, even if it's hardly what you'd call common on consumer routers as such.
This year we should se a lot more 2.5 Gbps products at least, hopefully with more than two ports as well.

With WiFi speeds above 1Gbps you NEED 2.5Gbps ETH ports!
And even if WAN and high-speed WiFi 6 (and above) are routed through 2.5Gbps, the LAN can also use wire speeds above 1Gbps, e.g. for a decent NAS. Many NAS boxes have 2.5Gbps NIC as standard, and they can actually utilize this speed.

 

[TheLostSwede]

With WiFi speeds above 1Gbps you NEED 2.5Gbps ETH ports!
And even if WAN and high-speed WiFi 6 (and above) are routed through 2.5Gbps, the LAN can also use wire speeds above 1Gbps, e.g. for a decent NAS. Many NAS boxes have 2.5Gbps NIC as standard, and they can actually utilize this speed.

And exactly what did I write that contradicted that?

My DIY NAS has a 10 Gbps NIC and so does my PC.

 

[zlobby]

And exactly what did I write that contradicted that?

My DIY NAS has a 10 Gbps NIC and so does my PC.

Nothing? It was an elaboration/confirmation of your post. Ain't the word mighty, eh?

And please, let's not measure our... network speeds!

 

[chrcoluk]

Another spaceship design router lol.

 

[bonehead123]

Specs aside, hopefully it will work better than it looks, 'cause that's one fugggggly-assed design, especially those stupid orange strips on the antennae... but yes, I do understand that it is supposed to be a GAMMERER kit, and therefore has to appeal to their childish, epeen-centered aesthetics and all, but still....

 

[TheLostSwede]

Nothing? It was an elaboration/confirmation of your post. Ain't the word mighty, eh?

Sorry, the exclamation marks just made me feel like I wrote something wrong.

And please, let's not measure our... network speeds!

Always got to measure the e-p....

Another spaceship design router lol.

Expect this or worse to be the norm from now on.

 

[mechtech]

5 Gbps seems to be a mostly dead standard, although Netgear has a few routers with a single 5 Gbps port.
10 Gbps is much more common, even if it's hardly what you'd call common on consumer routers as such.
This year we should se a lot more 2.5 Gbps products at least, hopefully with more than two ports as well.

Yep. Best I can get is 900/50 or 900/10. Currently 250/30 and 350/10 is what’s about best bang for $$

give me a 5 or 10 Gbps Lan with 4-8 ports

I could care less about a 2.5G wan

 

[Durvelle27]

it sucks because ATT fiber in my area offers 5GBs but I can't find any switches with multiple 2.5GB or higher ports

 

[TheDeeGee]

Could be a nice replacement for my Netgear R7000 Nighthawk, though that still works fine for now with Xwrt-Vortex on it.

 

[zlobby]

it sucks because ATT fiber in my area offers 5GBs but I can't find any switches with multiple 2.5GB or higher ports

Ehm, MT offers switches and routers with SFP+ and QSFP+. Granted, these are expensive and so are the modules themselves.

 

[Makaveli]

Could be a nice replacement for my Netgear R7000 Nighthawk, though that still works fine for now with Xwrt-Vortex on it.

Considering he isn't going to be working on that port anymore and 386.5_2 maybe the last firmware drop it might be time for you to switch to Asus hardware so you can get the firmware directly from merlin.

 

[TheLostSwede]

it sucks because ATT fiber in my area offers 5GBs but I can't find any switches with multiple 2.5GB or higher ports

Really? QNAP, TP-LINK, Trendnet and Zyxel all have them.

 

[5 o'clock Charlie]

2.5 Gbps WAN without 2.5 Gbps LAN is pointless imho.
And link aggregation sadly doesn't work as claimed by these companies. A single system will not see more than 1 Gbps throughput when used with an aggregated connection, it's meant for servers that has a lot of clients attached to them, not between a router and a PC.

I wonder how much 10Gbps chips cost in comparison to 1/2.5Gbps to manufacture? I honestly do not know hence the question. I also guess there are other parts of the product that up the cost as well. There seems to be a price premium when comparing the end product of each speed standard the last I checked. I would prefer to skip 2.5/5Gbps standards and go straight to 10Gbps, but that looks like it is still really prevalent in the business/enterprise products than consumer.

 

[zlobby]

I wonder how much 10Gbps chips cost in comparison to 1/2.5Gbps to manufacture? I honestly do not know hence the question. I also guess there are other parts of the product that up the cost as well. There seems to be a price premium when comparing the end product of each speed standard the last I checked. I would prefer to skip 2.5/5Gbps standards and go straight to 10Gbps, but that looks like it is still really prevalent in the business/enterprise products than consumer.

1:4 in terms of cost but that of course are list prices. When OEM are purchasing in bulk it sways wildly.

 

[bonehead123]

$10 retail/list for 1 unit generally = $1.00 OEM Bulk purchase price, since there is no advertising, fancy packaging or promo costs involved...this is just a rough example, and will of course vary with each product and the size of the OEM order.....

 

[TheLostSwede]

I wonder how much 10Gbps chips cost in comparison to 1/2.5Gbps to manufacture? I honestly do not know hence the question. I also guess there are other parts of the product that up the cost as well. There seems to be a price premium when comparing the end product of each speed standard the last I checked. I would prefer to skip 2.5/5Gbps standards and go straight to 10Gbps, but that looks like it is still really prevalent in the business/enterprise products than consumer.

A fair bit more, as they're a lot larger chips, for whatever reason. I'm afraid I'm not a chip designer, so I don't fully understand why some ICs end up being a lot larger, when in theory, the two things are quite similar. Technically a chip company pays for the wafers they have produced, so if you can squeeze in more ICs per wafer, you're getting a lower cost per chip.
Then there's the actual chip packaging, where you have an increased cost too, as the 10 Gbps chips require more advanced packaging techniques, partially due to the higher heat output, but they're as far as I'm aware, mostly BGA type chips as well, which is more pricey to make.

Regardless, 10 Gbps chips are bigger, so they cost more to make and as the demand is much lower, the price ends up being higher due to that as well.
The 2.5 Gbps chips are only marginally bigger than 1 Gbps chips and seem to be produced using similar technology, whereas the only 5 Gbps chips I've seen, are cut-down 10 Gbps parts.

I went 10 Gbps for my PC and NAS years ago. You can get Marvell/Aquantia cards for well under $100. The downside is that you need a PCIe x4 interface to use them.
The issue is switch costs, but you can get something with a pair of 10 Gbps ports for under $200 now. QNAP has an even cheaper product with two 10 Gbps and four 2.5 Gbps ports for around $160. TP-Link also has a passive 5-port 10 Gbps switch for around $375.

1:4 in terms of cost but that of course are list prices. When OEM are purchasing in bulk it sways wildly.

The list price is actually more like 10-15x, if we're just talking the controller. Intel's list price has gone up a bit, but an I225-V PCIe controller is listed for $2.71 and the cheapest 10 Gbps controllers seem to be around $30.
2.5 Gbps PCIe cards are surprisingly pricey for what they are though.

 

[Durvelle27]

Really? QNAP, TP-LINK, Trendnet and Zyxel all have them.

Both WAN and LAN

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

My next network upgrade is just going to be Ubiquiti. For as much as these routers are getting, might as well just build an enterprise network.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Both WAN and LAN

You said switch, not router...
Asus has a pair of routers with two 2.5 Gbps ports, but more will come this year, for just about everyone.

 

[Durvelle27]

You said switch, not router...
Asus has a pair of routers with two 2.5 Gbps ports, but more will come this year, for just about everyone.

Yes switcg

 

[TheLostSwede]

Yes switcg

So I suggested several models and then you start talking about WAN ports, which switches don't have...