TP-Link Archer C2600 vs D-Link DIR-882 as an AP

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

So i've been using a couple of Archer C2600 for a long while as an access point. I always used vanilla openwrt standard builds for it. Now with the latest release of openwrt, i wasn't able to upgrade while keeping my config, so this would mean i would have to re-setup the device, which meant that it was just as much work to possibly change to different devices. Why u ask?

The c2600 is a great device, but from the beginning it lacked NSS core support in vanilla openwrt builds, so i was never able to fully utilize the devices full potential. So when i would choose for NSS enabled openwrt, i had to go for a custom build. Now i noticed that with DSA becoming a common thing (and apparantely it won't go away), not only would i need to run a custom build for it's NSS cores, i also need an extra "custom" build for NSS enabled with swconfig. This is just too much away from vanilla openwrt for me. I want to keep things simple and feature proof.

So now i have these C2600 devices which can be used, but not optimal, and not with all hardware features enabled in vanilla openwrt.

Now i had the opportunity to buy a couple of D-Link DIR-882 devices for real cheap. And i'm wondering if they would make a good candidate to use instead of the archer c2600. Since the DIR-882 is mediatek based, i assume it has real good openwrt support.

To compare both devices:
TP-Link C2600 (ac2600 class):
-cpu: Qualcomm IPQ8064 1.4ghz dualcore arm v7 with two nss cores (unusable)

D-link DIR-882 (ac2600 class):
-cpu: Mediatek MT7621AT 880mhz dualcore with multithreading (4hw threads) mips 1004KEc

So both are ac2600 class wifi 5, have multiple gigabit ethernet ports, have dualband wireless.

So in features they really are alike. My question would be: will the DIR-882 give me about the same performance as the tp-link c2600? I have no idea how i would compare those qualcomm arm v7 cores to the mediateks mips cores, do they differ in performance (being completely different architectures)?

As @apccv pointed out in his post, the archer c2600 really underperforms when it's NSS cores aren't enabled. So one of my questions would be: will the DIR-882 perform about the same as the Archer C2600 with it's nss cores enabled?

Another question would be: if i'm considering going to different devices to use as an openwrt enabled accesspoint, will Wifi 5 (ac) suffice or is it recommended to make the step to AX wifi 6? I currently don't own anything that is wifi 6 compliant and to me the ac2600 class really is more then i will need for the fortcoming years? Or does wifi 6 have other benefits that i'm not familiar with? Because making the jump to wifi 6 would probably mean going something filelogic 830 based, which isn't available in the used market thus making things pretty expensive.

So basically, to round things up: will the DIR-882 make a good openwrt accesspoint with good openwrt support for the fortcoming years without the need to run custom builds, and have good performance, comparable to the archer c2600 with nss cores enabled? Thank you.

2

As APs, NSS or not, shouldn't make any difference?

I was able to reach 650mbit (give or take) via wifi, wouldn't expect the D-Link to beat it.

3

Apparantely it does. Please look at the link i posted from @apccv . The difference appears to be huge, really hundreds of megabits.

Screenshot from 2023-05-19 20-32-15
Screenshot from 2023-05-19 20-32-15692×446 33.8 KB

4

Where's the speed on that diagram?

Like I said, I reached 650mbit with non-NSS builds on C2600s.

5

I've been very thorough, it's a matter of clicking the link i provided.

6

Look... apologies for all the contention..

When I ran my test (and I added tons of caveats on that post) it was with 22.03.5. With my very peculiar build (repo still there if you are curious). I had no clue what I was doing (could argue I still don't). Plenty people had said NSS did nothing for an AP. I found NSS for an AP made a difference so I posted the results. For a C2600. On my network. With my client (oldish Ubuntu). With a 8086:9df0 Wireless adapter (Wireless-AC 9560, it says) on a (now) 6y Intel i5 old laptop). Did a few runs... results were consistent.

That's water under the bridge. 24.10 or Snapshot have much better kernels and process schedulers. Maybe newer board drivers. Newer firmware. Vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. Heck, what do I know?

@dipswitch Maybe you could retest... if you have time to play with the C2600. Just SpeedTest (or something better) w/vanilla and repeat with latest NSS builds. There are some "RRUL graphs" that I never quite figured out how to get (let alone understand) that could show if indeed NSS cores are up to hype. Nice science experiment if you're up to it.

Ultimately, shared my two cents on my humble opinion. Summarizing:

  • Don't replace the C2600 if you don't need better WiFi. It is a good router. Not as good as the R7500 (that has marginally better WiFi due to a better wireless chipset) but good nevertheless.
  • C2600 (for me) saw a benefit of using NSS when used as an AP.
  • Still with that benefit, the hassle of not using vanilla builds and spend hours pampering my own build was a deal breaker to me

Besides... throughput is nice. But latency probably matters more.

Anyhow... to each their own. This is probably a good thread to compare two 11ac devices, one Qualcomm the other MediaTek. Let's see what comes up.

1 Like
7

Thank you. This is exactly what put me of going on with the c2600. I'm trying to make things in my life being as simple as possible. Messing for hours with openwrt doesn't fit that goal. So this is why i'm hoping the DIR-882 wil make a good candidate to move forward with.

8

bump. nobody? I was under the impression that mediatek was the way to go these days? Especially after felix's "rant"....