Best router to buy

[neatcarbon]

So I'm in the market for a great router that can get coverage to my whole house which has been tricky. I also want a router that has usb ports that can turn a hard drive into a nas for local remote use at decent speeds ~100MB/s. So far the routers I have found are the Netgear nighthawk X6/x8 and the Asus RT-AC88U. I am pretty sure both have MU-MIMO except for the X6. Also one reason that the x8 is compelling is because of its pc backup software which seems helpful. Also, if one has AC wave 2 (I couldnt find out) that would be a nice feature, even though most devices now don't have it, wave 2 is good for future proofing. Anyway, I know both are uber-powerful routers, but if you have any experience using these routers or any opinion, I'd love to hear it to help me make my decision.

Thanks

 

 

Here are the links

Nighthawk x6

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Tri-Band-Gigabit-R8000/dp/B00KWHMR6G

Nighthawk x8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PD3HOC/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687602&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00KWHMR6G&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0X18T909P1TD3H597EAZ

Asus

http://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-Wireless-AC3100-Gigabit-Router-RT-AC88U/dp/B016EWKQAQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1454892310&sr=1-5&keywords=asus+router

[AMICLG]

The best you will ever see from a USB 3.0 drive on a router is between 60MB/s-80MB/s on reads and only 40MB/s to 60MB/s on writes with NTFS. The only exception here is the WRT1900ACS do to the Marvell controller.

 

At which point the only thing the multi steam AC routers will do for you is have better throughput with multiple AC devices.

 

So unless you plan to have more than 4-5 AC devices doing lots of transfers I'd just get the R7000.

[neatcarbon]

3 minutes ago, AdamIsaacLang said:

The best you will ever see from a USB 3.0 drive on a router is between 60MB/s-80MB/s on reads and only 40MB/s to 60MB/s on writes with NTFS. The only exception here is the WRT1900ACS do to the Marvell controller.

 

At which point the only thing the multi steam AC routers will do for you is have better throughput with multiple AC devices.

 

So unless you plan to have more than 4-5 AC devices doing lots of transfers I'd just get the R7000.

I won't have 4-5 devices doing large file transfers, but I will have at least >10 ac devices and >20 devices total connected to the router. 60-80MB/s is ok, but is there absolutely no range/speed/feature (such as bandwidth prioritization) I can get from a more expensive router.

By the way, my internet is ~60 down, and ~15 up, but that might be changed in the future.

[AMICLG]

7 minutes ago, aswerdlow said:

I won't have 4-5 devices doing large file transfers, but I will have at least >10 ac devices and >20 devices total connected to the router. 60-80MB/s is ok, but is there absolutely no range/speed/feature (such as bandwidth prioritization) I can get from a more expensive router.

By the way, my internet is ~60 down, and ~15 up, but that might be changed in the future.

For 10 or more AC I'd get the X6 (R8000). You don't get any better features since these are all top tier already.  But it has a better SoC so it can route more. So it's able to handle a busy network better.  Plus OpenWRT support is out of the box.

[neatcarbon]

38 minutes ago, AdamIsaacLang said:

For 10 or more AC I'd get the X6 (R8000). You don't get any better features since these are all top tier already.  But it has a better SoC so it can route more. So it's able to handle a busy network better.  Plus OpenWRT support is out of the box.

So do you think that MU-MIMO is unnecessary in a router? If that is the case, then I will get the x6, otherwise I might go for the x8 or asus because of its Mu-MIMO. Thanks a ton for the advice

[AMICLG]

2 minutes ago, aswerdlow said:

So do you think that MU-MIMO is unnecessary in a router? If that is the case, then I will get the x6, otherwise I might go for the x8 or asus because of its Mu-MIMO. Thanks a ton for the advice

Not unnecessary. The X6 is MIMO on AC just not MU-MINO. You're not pushing that much so the extra bandwidth is not really needed.

[Akolyte]

Asus.   Asus is by far the best router brand I have ever worked with, I run custom firmwares on my router, but every router that I recommend to people now is Asus.   I have had problems with every other manufacterer, and the Asus updates keep coming!

 

The big thing I like about the Asus routers is even years down the line they are STILL updating the router's firmware and still patching it.  This means you get as bug-free and as secure as possible.  Not to mention their Asus firmware is based off of Tomato.  And so it has lots of functionality you would see in DDWRT, not as much but it's as close as you are ever going to get in a router out of the factory. 

 

I think OpenWRT is great, if any routers support it it's awesome its just you should know your way around Linux and you should know how to at least edit and manipulate software you should also know how to edit your router as a whole.  OpenWRT's big point is that you can download packages for it.

 

Apparently you can even get SNORT for it, which is incredible if you know how to program it and the rules.