MSI Teases RadiX AXE6600 Router at CES

[TheLostSwede]

Although not much is known about MSI's upcoming router, the company was teasing the RadiX AXE6600 during its virtual CES event. It's said to be a WiFi 6E router based on an unspecified 1.8 GHz Qualcomm SoC. The AXE6600 in the model name should break down to 600 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band, 1200 Mbps in the 5 GHz band and 4800 MHz in the 6 GHz band, if routers with the same speed rating are anything to go by. In fact, the specs seem to be similar to the Linksys Hydra Pro 6E, as it seems to be based on the same or at least a similar SoC from Qualcomm.

The one thing that is obvious, especially from MSI's teaser on Twitter, is that the router will have plenty of RGB bling built into the antennas. The MSI dragon logo on the router, is a button according to Tom's hardware, that is said to cycle through various "AI" QoS presets. How useful or practical this will be in reality, is up for debate. The router is still a good few months out, with an expected launch sometime in the second half of this year. And if you're wondering, yes, MSI have made routers before, but it was quite some time ago and they weren't particularly popular.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[TheLostSwede]

MSI's most recent router, if anyone's interested...

 

[zlobby]

MSI's most recent router, if anyone's interested...
View attachment 231589

 

[jimmyxxx]

I would love manufacturers to start making high end routers with a bolder look and hidden antennas. All I can think of the high end home routers is a upside down spider.

 

[zlobby]

I would love manufacturers to start making high end routers with a bolder look and hidden antennas. All I can think of the high end home routers is a upside down spider.

This one looks like a huge spider bit the dust on a Lambo's hood.

 

[5 o'clock Charlie]

This one looks like a huge spider bit the dust on a Lambo's hood.

What about the replicators from Stargate?

 

[TheLostSwede]

This one looks like a huge spider bit the dust on a Lambo's hood.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1479401586459820032

 

[zlobby]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1479401586459820032

Great minds think alike!

What about the replicators from Stargate?

Could work but I think the dead oversized spider on a Lambo's hood is spot on.

 

[Soul_]

Is it me, or this looks just like AX88U from Asus?

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

What with how expensive routers are getting these days, why wouldnt most people like us just get something like a Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro, a switch, and an AP? Can be had on Ubiquiti's website for less than $950 shipped.

 

[5 o'clock Charlie]

Could work but I think the dead oversized spider on a Lambo's hood is spot on.

A hood ornament that is wifi capable

 

[Makaveli]

Is it me, or this looks just like AX88U from Asus?

I own a AX88U and it does look like a copy but looks worse lol.

 

[zlobby]

I own a AX88U and it does look like a copy but looks worse lol.

View attachment 231609

Yeah, their has LED on the antennas... And yours has vent ports there. Probably for better cooling of the aerials!

I wonder which manufacturer will first implement massive MIMO for home WiFi? 64x64 as a minimum.

 

[Zmon]

I have one of these in my closet, Netgear XR500. Design seems awfully familiar.

 

[Tigerfox]

The AXE6600 in the model name should break down to 600 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band, 1200 Mbps in the 5 GHz band and 4800 MHz in the 6 GHz band

I don't understand Tri-Band Routers like this at all. You have one band 5GHz with 4x4 160MHz @4,8GBit/s to connect as a Wifi-Bridge as fast as possible, but then you only have one 2,4GHz Band at 2x2 wit 574MBit/s and one 5GHz Band at 2x2 with 80MHz only at 1.2GBit/s. Why would I buy an expensive Router as a high speed WiFi-Bridge, when it ony offers sub par WiFi to clients? I get it that very view clients use more than 2x2, but at least offer 160MHz on 5GHz 2x2, as even Intel AX2xx supports that. I can only think of it serving as a WiFi-Bridge to LAN-Clients with added mediocre WiFi for other Clients, but than I would prefer a smaller, less costly Dual-Band device with only one 5GHz-band 4x4 160MHz.

That said, the above configuration is only an asumption of the author based on whats labeled as AX6600 up till now. The text itself doesn't even state it's a Tri-Band Router an the only WiFi 6E-capable Router I know of (Netgear Orbi) ist AX1100, offering one 2.4Ghz 4x4 @1.148MBit/s, two 5GHz 2x2 160MHz @2.4GBit/s each and one 6GHz 4x4 160MHz @4.8GBit/s.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I don't understand Tri-Band Routers like this at all. You have one band 5GHz with 4x4 160MHz @4,8GBit/s to connect as a Wifi-Bridge as fast as possible, but then you only have one 2,4GHz Band at 2x2 wit 574MBit/s and one 5GHz Band at 2x2 with 80MHz only at 1.2GBit/s. Why would I buy an expensive Router as a high speed WiFi-Bridge, when it ony offers sub par WiFi to clients? I get it that very view clients use more than 2x2, but at least offer 160MHz on 5GHz 2x2, as even Intel AX2xx supports that. I can only think of it serving as a WiFi-Bridge to LAN-Clients with added mediocre WiFi for other Clients, but than I would prefer a smaller, less costly Dual-Band device with only one 5GHz-band 4x4 160MHz.

That said, the above configuration is only an asumption of the author based on whats labeled as AX6600 up till now. The text itself doesn't even state it's a Tri-Band Router an the only WiFi 6E-capable Router I know of (Netgear Orbi) ist AX1100, offering one 2.4Ghz 4x4 @1.148MBit/s, two 5GHz 2x2 160MHz @2.4GBit/s each and one 6GHz 4x4 160MHz @4.8GBit/s.

Neither does anyone else, except the router manufacturers, because they can put a higher number on the box, which sells to consumers that don't know better. If you know what you're buying, AXE6600 seems to be a very poor choice out of the manufacturer speed grades. Also, higher numbers sells, as I see a lot of people saying they wouldn't buy a router unless it's 6E, yet they have no or very few clients to connect to the 6GHz range.

And 6E isn't a 5GHz band, it's a 6GHz band, which isn't even legal in most countries. US and Canada allows the use off all frequencies, with Europe and the UK allowing a limited range and the rest of the world not allowing it at all so far.

List of WLAN channels - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

5GHz is actually a real mess too, once you go outside of the lower frequencies, aka UNII-1.

List of WLAN channels - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There are still a lot of devices out there that can't take advantage of 160MHz channels, so it's mostly useful for mesh setups or wireless bridges.

Yes, I don't know what MSI's AXE6600 rating will be, but there aren't all that many other configurations that can work out to that exact rating than the one I put in the news post. If you can come up with an alternative solution, please go ahead.

@Tigerfox here you go, a real reason for AXE6600, they're most likely using the IPQ6000-series from Qualcomm, which has integrated 2x2 WiFi on the 2.4 and 5GHz band, with the 6GHz band being an external chip. As such, you have very fixed hardware limitations on the lower frequencies. It also adds up with the 1.8GHz SoC clock speed.

高通IPQ6000、IPQ6010、IPQ6018、IPQ6028 SoC硬件介绍 datasheet

功能特性：1.Highly integrated 2x2 + 2x2 11ax SoC with Quad-core A53 and dedicated network offload, full featured 11ax support 2.Audio and ML/AI dedicated Hexagon DSP core for compute at the edge app…

zhuanlan.zhihu.com