Testing & Methodology
Testing a router’s performance is a pretty straight forward process from my point of view. Normally, I would test the wired network performance first, but we can’t really do that here. Instead, I’ll just perform the wireless testing as I normally would with any network device. While it really isn’t intended for indoor use, it gives us a foundation for comparison.
When testing the wireless performance, I will adjust the distance between the router and the receiving WiFi connection from short over medium to long distance throughout my apartment.
To test the outdoor capabilities, I’ll connect my mobile phone to the access point and go for a walk in order to find out how far I can keep my connection.
Hardware
- Supermicro C7Z97-OCE
- Intel Xeon E3-1230Lv3
- Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1866MHz
- Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD
- Sapphire R7 240 2GB
- be quiet Dark Power Pro 11 850W
- Thermaltake Water 3.0 Performer
- Asus PCE-AC88 AC3100 Dual-Band PCIe Wi-Fi Adapter
- D-Link DXE-820T 10GBASE adapter
- Lian Li T60
We would like to thank our sponsors for supplying us with the equipment needed to perform these tests.
Software
- PassMark PerformanceTest Suite
I will be testing the router using both static and variable package sizes as well as TCP and UCP connections to get the broadest view of the device. While it’s easy to test and give you comparable view on the wired connections, we need to keep in mind that environmental factors can’t be avoided with the wireless signals. I live in a pretty big apartment complex where many of the residents have multiple WiFi networks. This will have a natural impact on the shown performance, but at the same time give a great view of how the device can handle itself in a heavy traffic area.
