Hi, I need a router working as wireless AP with OpenVPN and Asterisk. Would an EA7500v1 (ipq8064, dual-core, 1400mhz) or EA8300 (ipq4019, quad-core, 717mhz) be a better choice for my purpose? Thanks for comments.
This would be an easier decision for ipq8065+qca9984 vs ipq4019+qca4019, as ipq8054+qca9982+qca9983 is a slightly older (early wave2) chipset and doesn't have that much attention from QCA in terms of firmware support anymore… But technically ipq8064 is the faster and higher-end device (just be aware that ea7500v2 is mt7621 based).
That is a good argument - newer ipq8064 chip vs. older ipq4019 chip. EA8300 caught my attention because of its larger flash (256mb vs. 128mb) and three radios.
ipq4019+qca4019 (2x2 wave2) is newer (but lower-end) than ipq8064+qca9982+qca9983 (3x3 wave2, but very early wave2 silicon).
On paper, the ea7500v1 would be considerably faster (SOC and wireless) - it also works better with VLANs, should you need those.
The ea8300 has the more modern wireless chipset (which still gets firmware support from QCA) and a third radio (two 5 GHz radios covering different parts of the 5 GHz spectrum), which would be beneficial for repeater/ mesh usage, but the SOC is slower and has some issues with custom VLAN configurations.
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So, I got which is newer and which is older backward.
I am thinking of having the Linksys router wirelessly connected to the main router (AT&T fiber gateway) so EA8300's extra 5 Ghz radio may help (one talks to the main router and another serves local clients). I guess it is a toss-up between EA7500v1 and EA8300. I think I will just try out whatever I can get my hands on cheap first. If it doesn't work out, I will try the other model. Thanks for the good information.
I run an EA6350v3 (ipq4018 2x2 wave 2) AP on the lower floor of our house and an EA8500 (ipq4064) AP on the upper floor, with multiple VLANs configured on both.
Since you're considering running OpenVPN, I would choose the ipq8064 SoC for its greater processor capability. I can also report my EA8500 (ipq8064) has been far more stable over the years running OpenWRT then the lower end EA6350v3 (ipq4018) (similar to ipq4019)-mainly due to the VLAN peculiarities already mentioned.
The EA8300 has been stable release for a long time. The MR8300 is just going stable with 21.02.rc, however I have been running with EA stable before, as hardware is same except for more RAM.
The EA7500 is just starting stable cycle with 21.02.rc, so maybe more issues still lurking.
One important factor is flash is 256MB on 8300's, which is cut in half to 128MB by dual boot partitions. The 7500 is 128MB, cut in half to 64MB by dual partition also.
The big question here is how much free space the 7500 will leave for optional packages and future upgrades, my EA/MR's have 68MB free flash as dumb APs with Theme 2020 and Advanced Reboot package.
Sound to me like the 7500v1 is limited for future expansion/upgrade/repurpose etc...
EA8500 was on my mind at one point of time before I read that DD-Wrt would not recommend it any more because of missing serial port components. I think EA7500v1 has similar situation but units sold in US are ok. Fingers cross.
Yes, Linksys' dual-partition scheme makes EA8300 more desirable than EA7500v1. I have a TP-Link Archer A7 that has enough overlayfs partition for my installation with 19.07.7 but would run of it with 21.02.0-rc1. And it will only get worse going forward.
EA7500v1/ EA8500 both have a dual-firmware setup as well (the rather hard limit of the kernel partition to 3 MB can become a problem in the not so distant future though, we're already scratching at 3 MB with kernel 5.10).
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Is there a hard kernel space issue with the EA/MR8300 ?
Too late for me to know this. An EA7500v1 is already on its way (scheduled to be deliver today). 
Yes, saw that afterward.
Meanwhile maybe you should check out Linksys E8450 ?
Going for CAD $140 at Best Buy
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