I would like to purchase a router and use OpenWrt for VPN. I use Torguard. I stream alot of entertaiment. Anyone have suggestions on an affordable router that I can purchase under $100 that will allow optimum VPN speeds? Over 50mbps? Thanks in advance for help.
You need to be more specific about your vpn tech. Most of us on openwrt use wireguard or openvpn. The later is about 3x slower than the previous.
For about 100$ you can get nanopi r4s shiped that should get you at least 100mpbs openvpn and 500mbps wireguard
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Torguard can use IKEv2. Any MT7621a device can easily do 250-300mbps of IPSec (IKEv2) with hardware offloading. You can find new devices for around $25-30 and possibly cheaper devices for less secondhand.
Other options would be something like the TP-Link C2600. IPQ806x with NSS offload will also do at least 200Mbps.
Both targets are been actively developed.
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I am fairly new to this. Been researching routers that I can possibly use with Openwrt since yesterday. My current setup is TorGuard w/wineguard. Using their app on my Nvidia Shield. I want to use my Apple TV and also have the ability to use VPN, hence my interest in Openwrt. I want to maintain decent wifi speed using VPN on router since I stream alot - TV/Entertainment/Youtube. These are the ones that caught my interest and very affordable:
Linksys WRT3200ACM - Local seller $50!
TP-Link AC1750 Smart WiFi Router (Archer A7) - Amazon $53
Due to lack of good open-source wifi drivers, OpenWrt on the WRT3200 should be considered only in a wired application. The A7 has a single core MIPS CPU-- it is not fast.
There are lots of MT7621 choices in the under $60 class, some are only about $30.
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I'm personally happy with the Linksys E8450. It's usually a bit over $100 (in Canada), but you can sometimes find it below that. The hAP ac2 is also nice, but it's a bit slower, is a bit more more difficult to get working, and is annoying for vlans without the DSA PR.
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The RT3200 is $46, used, on US eBay, usually $70-80 ($99 - discount code) at belkin.com.
Was $60 at Walmart until a couple of days ago.
Which Belkin router is this?
Linksys E8450 = Belkin RT3200
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Think I may have asked this earlier - may be the same router/different version. Checked Torguard VPN site - one of the preloaded vpn routers that they have for sale is the Linksys WRT32X. Screenshot shows it has OpenWrt 21.02.1 I can get this router locally from a seller for $50. Seriously thinking about taking this route.
Since you're going on about OpenVPN I think we can safely assume that it's going to AES-GCM crypto involved, in that case anything that doesn't do hardware accelerated crypto and is x86 or ARM64 is a terrible advice (such as MT7621).
Belkin RT3200 (Mediatek ARM64)
GL.iNet GL-MV1000 (Marvell ARM64)
FriendlyElec Nanopi R4S (Rockchip ARM64)
In terms of raw performance (in this case) it's Rockchip --> Mediatek --> Marvell and if you can about longevity all mentioned models have poor (~non existant) upstream support (uboot and Linux mainline) afaik except for the R4S however it does have some quirky design choices compared to other RK3399 platforms.
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Thank you for the info. I really appreciate it. My primary use is for video streaming; tivimate/kodi - entertainment. I use Torguard VPN/wineguard installed on my nvidia shield. I would like to have it on the router and have optimal wifi performance. I think I will need a router that has a good processor and memory. I am interested in a router that can do hardware offloading. I am staying away from the ones that have Broadcom. Trying to stay under a $100 budget, been looking on ebay, amazon and offerup. I really like the Linksys WRT32X but I see that it has some wifi issues.
Unfortunately there aren't any all-in-1 champions anymore. Most of the people around here have started the switch to a router+ap 2 devices (or mode APs) combo to accommodate their connectivity needs (myself included).
There might be some "wannabe champions" you could try like linksys e8450/ netgear rt3200 that should provide a good mix of power and features (including latest wifi6) and should give you a good few hundreds of mbps of wireguard performance.
In the end - it's your call
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Thank you. I think I am going with the RT3200
RT3200 is a good choice for now. Xiaomi AX6 or Dynalink WRX36 can be found for under $100, are based on IPQ807x and can do >400Mbps with Wireguard. Fw is still in development which means that they are currently not easy to setup. On the other hand Wireguard may be even faster once everything is settled.
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Thanks! I really like the hardware on the Linksys WRT32X; I can get this one fairly cheap - $50 right now. Perhaps if I added some U6-Lite wifi 6 APs to it?
sure that's a good idea
That Dynalink WRX36 has some killer specs!!
- CPU: Qualcomm 2.2 GHz Quad-core 64bit high-performance CPU
- Memory: DDR4L 1GB RAM and NAND 256MB Flash
I think it will work well for my purpose - Torguard/Wineguard VPN. Processor and memory should be able to handle encryption
You'll be installing an early beta fw, at best, set your expectations accordingly.
Do you know of any other routers that have similar specs?
- 2.2 GHz Quad-core 64bit high-performance CPU
- Memory: DDR4L 1GB RAM and NAND 256MB Flash
I done some more research just now and seen that I cant use Openwrt on it. It does have VPN server/client capability though.