since old, pre WPA3 hw works with WPA3, it got to be a SW thing, right ?
I think that's right... 
off-topic, no-wrt-related question: Maybe there are some manufactors, they implement it in a FPGA or something like that?
I am using Tp-Link 1043nd and dir-825b1 with WPA3. They are very old.
It depends on drivers. mvebu doesn't work because wireless drivers are not developed any more.
still a sw thing, no matter what, right ? 
It is a software feature. It is correct. But in some cases it is impossible to make a software solution without knowing how hardware works.
WPA3 itself is a software feature (depending on a recent enough host OS/ kernel, hostapd/ wpa_supplicant), but it depends on IEEE 802.11w to be available (and work). Ideally this is supported in hardware, but most mainline kernel drivers can fall back to the generic mac80211 implementation in software, if that is missing (at a considerable performance reduction). Then there are the fullmac('ish) chipset designs, which do handle large parts of the connection handling in hardware (firmware), in many of these cases the drivers can't fall back to the generic mac80211 implementation anymore, meaning the firmware either works (ath10k/ arth11k) or it doesn't (brcmfmac (802.11w not available), mwlwifi (hard crash)).
With mac80211's (software-) fallback for 802.11, even ancient 802.11g chipsets (ath5k/ b43) can do WPA3 with 802.11w, but with more CPU requirements than would be needed without it (and relying on hardware accelerated encryption) - this is generally not be an issue on the client side (fast x86 hardware, even old hardware is comparatively 'fast'), but would be for chronically underpowered WiSoC designs (aka plastic routers).
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Back to the topic: The Western Digital N750 seems to have a serious (irreversible?) problem after playing with current OpenWRT release - because of that i ask my self why it is in the TOH compatbility list:
-> So i saw, Linksys had some (official) compatible devices from the "WRTxxx" series - somebody has experiences with that devices?
The Marvell devices have semi broken 802.11n wifi, and WPA3 makes them crash.
Not sure if the WPA3 issue applies to both radios, or not.
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Thank you for your fast feedback!
It does, WPA3/ 802.11w crashes mwlwifi (2.4- and 5 GHz). Plus all the fun with client interoperability (esp8266/ esp32) and the drivers being abandoned for years now; avoid at all costs, this is a dead end.
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I recently bought a 2nd hand Wavlink Quantum D6 for ~ 20€ that works with current release and was easy to reflash. Even branded for big electro chains they are easy to spot by their looks...
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Thank you for your feedback.
(But that brand does not seem to be "mainstream" and difficult to get... my question is more related to mainstream/big brands)
but you can look up the chipset in the ToH and search it for a "premium brand" device with the same chipset - as this is the relevant thing for WPA3 support.
Thanks!
I use a raspberry 3 .. works fine with a 100 mbit uplink.
(theoretically you can have any usb network device there is a driver for.)
so an wlan usb dongle with sma connector and a good antenna should be an option if the onboard wifi lacks..
pi and powerbrick + an ax88179 usb network (I use cable utill the exit node) card set me back 60 bucks..
mine runs very stable (OpenWrt 21.02.3 r16554-1d4dea6d4f / LuCI openwrt-21.02 branch git-22.167.28411-ee8170b)
Xiaomi Redmi Router AC2100 works just fine. But not every client has support for WPA3. Be aware of that.
WPA3 only mode breaks many clients that only support WPA2, like most smart TVs and even laptops with intel older wireless NIC 8265 or 7260...
Even WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode can make some clients fail to connect, tried myself.
Besides, no obvious gain to switch to WPA3 atm as WPA2 is robust enough IMO.
Another thing is WPA3 tends to have lower throughput even with same handshaking speed shown. Just google to see answer. U really need it now?
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Thank you very very much for your feedbacks!!