Setup and Customization

Setting up the MSI RadiX AXE6600 can be done on a compatible smart phone or a PC, and I recommend the latter here. Simply power on the router and connect to the default WiFi network generated—should you be using this wireless, else wired over Ethernet is self explanatory—using the login credentials provided on the underside of the router. Then head over to http://msirouter.login on your preferred browser wherein you will be greeted to a second log in screen seen above. This one is for the admin panel although MSI makes it simple by using the same password as the WiFi network to get things started. This is also provided on the router itself so you need not worry about having missed something. The setup process itself is simple enough as seen above, and you will note the router takes some time at each relevant step to save the settings on board the device.


I'll be honest and say I am not the biggest fan of MSI drivers based on my experience thus far with the brand's motherboards and peripherals. The UEFI is clunky and has some illogically placed elements, whereas MSI Dragon Center is a resource hog that I try to stay away from. So imagine my surprise to see one of the cleanest and well-organized router firmwares from a brand that is only just taking its networking products seriously. The MSI rep in charge of the new router product line mentioned how this was the result of lots of hard work and time spent, and it certainly shows. Everything scales well with your display size and resolution as well as any OS scaling applied and the colors used highlight the various elements properly too. Indeed, the one mishap here in my books is not from the user interface point of view but rather what happens when you first try to change the operating mode.


We see that the AXE6600 mode defaults to MSI's AI-Auto QoS but you can see there are four others including a traditional QoS mode you will see below. When you click on any of the other three modes that are part of the AI QoS feature—gaming, streaming, WFH—a window pops up to make sure you agree to MSI's privacy/information sharing. Most people are likely to clicky yes here but I recommend going through this page first. MSI uses GT Booster, a third-party that has developed a patented AI QoS software in addition to working generally on end-to-end network acceleration and private networks too. There are other companies who use GT Booster in their networking solutions too, so it's hard to just fault MSI here. However, the wording on the privacy page is quite poor and arguably breaks GDPR by talking about collecting and storing personal information in a foreign country even if they don't intend to do so. As of the date this review is written, nothing has changed after my communication about this to MSI to where either an updated privacy policy is still in the works or there won't be anything happening. While not necessarily a dealbreaker if you are the type to concede that pretty much everyone reads your data anyway, it does leave some questions about how the so-called private AI QoS is handled and whether the press were given the correct information about this at CES 2023.

Seen above is a video going over the various options you get with the MSI RadiX AXE6600 admin panel. The whole privacy rant above is because of the different QoS modes available here which MSI maintains is from packet sniffing of sorts to see what type of data it is rather than reading the actual data going back and forth. For example, a sustained downstream from Steam would be logically expected to be a game download but I am not sure how that in itself would change in the different modes aside from prioritizing traffic to a certain client over others, that you can do via traditional QoS too. Do try out the different modes although I imagine most people will stick with the default AI-Auto mode itself. Outside of this we get many other features too and I was pleased to see quite a few things here which the more established networking mainstream brands tend to put behind paywalls and paid subscriptions. Do take careful note of the 2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz WiFi network settings though, especially since the channels available will differ based on your region. This is the part where I need to clarify again I have the European model here which unfortunately has fewer channels on the 6 GHz band than others. Blame your governments for this if you must, but it does mean that the eventual signal attenuation and throughput performance I get here may be worse than on the other models. I was pleased to see multiple network USB server options though, so that is worth going through if you want to have your own NAS. You can even set up the LEDs associated with the antennas to be coordinated with anything else controlled via MSI Mystic Light too, which is hilarious to me.


MSI doesn't publicize its router app yet, which makes sense given the AXE6600 is its first device to use it. I had to go search for it manually to find the installer available for Android at least, and I imagine the iOS version is on the way. The QR code on the underside of the router next to the login credentials comes in handy here if you wish to set up the router using the app as you can simply scan it and connect to the router immediately. It will then prompt you to go through the same steps as we saw on the desktop before.


The app is not as polished and comes off more as a work-in-progress. It is effectively the same as the admin panel on your desktop except with the elements scaled down and re-oriented to fit a portrait aspect ratio. Otherwise you get the same options here too and it means going through a lot of nested options to get to what you want. As such, at least for now, I would highly encourage you to just stick with the desktop to setup and customize / monitor the RadiX AXE6600.