Better router with worse cpu? RT-AX56U vs RT-AX58U

[DSD27]

https://www.asus.com/Networking/RT-AX56U/specifications/

https://www.asus.com/Networking/RT-AX58U/specifications/

 

I find it weird that the cheaper inferior model (56U) has a quad-core processor, while the better 58U has tri-core. Is this the case or am I missing something, different architectures?

[Falcon1986]

2 hours ago, DSD27 said:

https://www.asus.com/Networking/RT-AX56U/specifications/

https://www.asus.com/Networking/RT-AX58U/specifications/

 

I find it weird that the cheaper inferior model (56U) has a quad-core processor, while the better 58U has tri-core. Is this the case or am I missing something, different architectures?

The AX58U also supports 160MHz channel width (whereas, the AX56U does not) so it can achieve much higher potential speeds on 5GHz.

[DSD27]

4 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

The AX58U also supports 160MHz channel width (whereas, the AX56U does not) so it can achieve much higher potential speeds on 5GHz.

But that makes sense, the 58U is the better model, what about the cpu, isn't it weird?

[Alex Atkin UK]

You're right, it is confusing but then again no two ARM Cortex designs are necessarily the same.  Maybe they included some custom hardware that is offloading work from the CPU cores thus requiring less of them?

 

56U = BCM6755

 

58U = BCM6750

 

I do notice the latter supports faster RAM which would seem an odd choice of the performance of the SoC is otherwise the same.

 

The 58U also uses a dedicated WiFi chip for 5Ghz vs the 56U which has everything built-in to the SoC.  Another possible place for CPU offloading maybe?