DL-WRX36 specs are better: 4 core 2.2GHz QC, 1GB ram, USB 3.0, 2.5G port, 4x4 mu-mimo, similar price. Both have internal antennas so range should be similar, RF propagates fine through a plastic case. Ath11k drivers need improvement but should get better over time.
Personally I think the E8450 is much better looking with the black case and blue leds, but that's besides the point, the WRX has much better specs.
Also consider the Asus AX4200 (very performant Filogic chip) might have better range, has great OpenWrt support now too. Downside to flashing that one though is there is no SSH access or serial port, you need to touch or solder serial cable wires to the board to flash. I avoided it for that reason.
tl;dr I'd go WRX36, it's the best all around wifi 6 option for OpenWrt right now.
The DL-WRX36 gets great "press coverage" quoting its impressive hardware specifications - and they are indeed impressive, but in actual "apples to apples" tests (search this thread - I won't repeat them again here), I found the RT3200 has better 5 GHz WiFi coverage and performance as a dumb AP. Maybe future ath11k driver improvements will change that, maybe not.
If you need a gateway router with acceptable WiFi performance that will also have QoS or VPN duty for > ~400 Mbps ISP service (in other words, you really need impressive hardware specifications), or 2.4 GHz ax (the RT3200 only has 802.11n 2.4 GHz) is a critical capability for your use, I would still get the DL-WRX36. Otherwise, and especially as a dumb AP and considering it also costs a third less in my locale, I think the RT3200 is a better choice.
Yep, still sucks. DL-WRX36 is the worst out of the 3 with R7800 and WAX206 despite having the best hardware. R7800 has the best speed while WAX206 has best latency. Still a long way to go WRX36
My WRX36 outperforms my R7800 at wired ethernet, wireless performance (throughput, which is not strange as it is AX vs AC), OpenVPN and WireGuard performance.
Wish I could say the same on mine. I'm using latest 'main' builds on all 3. And QoS since my ISP is 300/10 cable. Btw should your ipq807x patch be 'qualcommax' in the path?
I'm pretty skeptical of this. The ipq807x has been said to do 700Mbits SQM (my 7 year old WRT32X can only do about 500Mbits max with SQM Cake). I've never heard of the ipq806x doing that well. Plus it has 4 cores so plenty left over for other tasks I'm sure, and 1GB ram so lots of headroom for running packages, and wifi 6 is known for a bit more throughput but especially for lower latency and TWT.
I feel like performance has gotta be much better, and would need to see benchmarks of these targets before believing this. There would have to be a major regression like with that hrtimer.
That's ok I got nothing to prove. You're right. I believe you all, that's why I bought it in the first place especially for $80 can't beat that. I'll just have to stick to my R7800 for now, since I don't need all the bell and whistle- 300/10 wan, snapshot barebone plus luci, sqm (no gigabit, openvpn, wireguard, etc. not even samba/usb)
This is consistent with my mid to long range WiFi coverage, throughput and performance experience comparing a DL-WRX36 to an RT3200 (same MT7622/7915 as the WAX206). The RT3200 clearly performs better as an AP in my benchmarks.
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