PCE-AC68 card vs. RT-AC66U router

[Leon]

I am using a RT-AC68U router and have a PC connected to it via cable. On the PC, I run iperf server.

On another PC, I have the PCE-AC68 adapter with recently updated driver. I get ~ 150Mbits/sec running the iperf client. I then setup the RT-AC66U as repeater and connect it to the same PC using cable. To my surprised, I can get ~300Mbits/sec.

Between the PCE-AC68 and RT-AC66U as an adapter, I do not understand why the RT-AC66U can out perform the PCE-AC68 by so much. Am I missing something? Are there settings that I should check?

Update:
I chang the RT-AC66U with a RT-AC1200U router that I get for free from M1... I did the same test and I can get 900+Mbits/sec... so now I am looking at 6x speed improvements..

 

[eric3743]

Wired connection will much better than wireless.

 

[eric3743]

If you are referring to using the another router as wireless repeater and connect to the PC.
Communication between routers can achieve top speed, say 866mbps without much interference.
Most likely the repeater able to reach >300mbps and that able to provide this speed to the PC.
That is why routers are expensive than normal wireless Ethernet adapter.

 

[kashix]

I am using a RT-AC68U router and have a PC connected to it via cable. On the PC, I run iperf server.

On another PC, I have the PCE-AC68 adapter with recently updated driver. I get ~ 150Mbits/sec running the iperf client. I then setup the RT-AC66U as repeater and connect it to the same PC using cable. To my surprised, I can get ~300Mbits/sec.

Between the PCE-AC68 and RT-AC66U as an adapter, I do not understand why the RT-AC66U can out perform the PCE-AC68 by so much. Am I missing something? Are there settings that I should check?

I think if you set AC66U to media bridge, even faster speed.

 

[Leon]

Wired connection will much better than wireless.

Sorry for not being clear... Let me explain.

Setup A: PC's wireless device: PCE-AC68
Setup B: PC's wireless device: router (RT-AC66U) as repeater.

Setup B has double the speed of A and I don't understand why...

If you are referring to using the another router as wireless repeater and connect to the PC.
Communication between routers can achieve top speed, say 866mbps without much interference.
Most likely the repeater able to reach >300mbps and that able to provide this speed to the PC.
That is why routers are expensive than normal wireless Ethernet adapter.

PCE-AC68 is not cheap also, and it has 3 antenna just like the RT-AC66U.

 

[xonix]

The AC66U has onboard processing power compared to the wireless add on card. It was designed to be a router in the first place.

 

[tungsten2]

I am using a RT-AC68U router and have a PC connected to it via cable. On the PC, I run iperf server.

On another PC, I have the PCE-AC68 adapter with recently updated driver. I get ~ 150Mbits/sec running the iperf client. I then setup the RT-AC66U as repeater and connect it to the same PC using cable. To my surprised, I can get ~300Mbits/sec.

Between the PCE-AC68 and RT-AC66U as an adapter, I do not understand why the RT-AC66U can out perform the PCE-AC68 by so much. Am I missing something? Are there settings that I should check?

When you connnect to the RT-AC68U,
1. are you on 802.11n or 802.11ac ?
2. also channel width 20/40/80 mhz
3. any walls in between
4. what is the distance between the RT-AC68U and PCE-AC68 ?

 

[Leon]

The AC66U has onboard processing power compared to the wireless add on card. It was designed to be a router in the first place.

Yes but the addon card has the CPU that is for more powerful. I am not running any other application except for iperf. Can this contributes to 50% performance?

When you connnect to the RT-AC68U,
1. are you on 802.11n or 802.11ac ?
2. also channel width 20/40/80 mhz
3. any walls in between
4. what is the distance between the RT-AC68U and PCE-AC68 ?

1. 802.11ac. The drive says so. I also set RT-AC68 to channel bandwidth to 80Mhz to be sure.
2. I tried 80Mhz.
3. Yes, one wall. for position of the antenna for both setup are just beside each other.
4. About 8 meters.

 

[xonix]

Yes but the addon card has the CPU that is for more powerful. I am not running any other application except for iperf. Can this contributes to 50% performance?

You can do a hardware comparison between the 2 on wiki dev, they are hardly the same thing. Maybe for your intended usage, ac66u is more suitable.

 

[eric3743]

Sorry for not being clear... Let me explain.

Setup A: PC's wireless device: PCE-AC68
Setup B: PC's wireless device: router (RT-AC66U) as repeater.

Setup B has double the speed of A and I don't understand why...




PCE-AC68 is not cheap also, and it has 3 antenna just like the RT-AC66U.

Basically there are things to take into consideration in using PCE-AC68 adapter.

It use PCI-E interface of the motherboard.
When computer OS require to assign some resource for it to operate, hence it depend on your system.

To have a proper testing to see how far n best it could managed.
Put the computer next to the primary router.
Do the speedtest wired n wireless.
In this way you will know the limit.
You can do the test on another system to see the differences.

Whereas Router is a standalone as this is the difference.

Router to router can have speed of minimum 866mbps.
Speed is internal, not related to ISP plan.
To find the internal speed, do use Wifi Overview 360 App to do the testing.
To know the repeater best speed at that particular location, use the Wifi Overview 360 App to test.

 

[eric3743]

Am I missing something? Are there settings that I should check?

If your motherboard do come with ethernet adapter, see of you can disable it.

It may interfer with the resource.
As this happened when i used USB wifi adapter.
Not sure in your case.

 

[tungsten2]

1. 802.11ac. The drive says so. I also set RT-AC68 to channel bandwidth to 80Mhz to be sure.
2. I tried 80Mhz.
3. Yes, one wall. for position of the antenna for both setup are just beside each other.
4. About 8 meters.

1. Can you take a screenshot of your Wireless connection Status.
Just right click the wireless icon at the bottom right corner
-> select "Open Network and Sharing Centre"
-> click on "Change adapter setting"
-> right click your "Wireless Network Connection"
-> select "Status"
-> remember to use mspaint.exe to mask out information such as your SSID
-> upload to internet and post here.
I'm suspecting you are connecting to the 2.4ghz.

2. On your RT-AC68, change Channel width to 20/40/80

 

[Leon]

To have a proper testing to see how far n best it could managed.
Put the computer next to the primary router.
Do the speedtest wired n wireless.
In this way you will know the limit.
You can do the test on another system to see the differences.

I used my notebook instead. I did't use the PC as it is too much trouble moving the PC.

Wired: 900+Mbits/sec
Wireless over 5GHz: 29Mbits/sec

Whereas Router is a standalone as this is the difference.

To find the internal speed, do use Wifi Overview 360 App to do the testing.
To know the repeater best speed at that particular location, use the Wifi Overview 360 App to test.

I'll keep to iperf for testing.

If your motherboard do come with ethernet adapter, see of you can disable it.

Thanks. Tried that, and it does not make any different to me.

1. Can you take a screenshot of your Wireless connection Status.
Just right click the wireless icon at the bottom right corner
-> select "Open Network and Sharing Centre"
-> click on "Change adapter setting"
-> right click your "Wireless Network Connection"
-> select "Status"
-> remember to use mspaint.exe to mask out information such as your SSID
-> upload to internet and post here.
I'm suspecting you are connecting to the 2.4ghz.

2. On your RT-AC68, change Channel width to 20/40/80

 

[Leon]

Edit my original post with new data