Quick general router question

[Applelad]

I want to set up a wireless router with the maximum thoughput for networking a NAS drive. I'm looking at specs of different routers (specifically trying to compare AirPort Extreme with other new brands) and I'm struggling to get my head around what they are actually capable of.

Basically, one of the routers I'm looking it is the TP-Link AC1900 - the specs state that it's got a potential throughput of 1900 Mbps due to the combined 600 Mbps of the 2.4GHz and 1300 Mbps of the 5GHz. Does this mean that it will literally combine these on the go. I know the actual throughput depends on many factors but lets say I buy a monster wifi card for a PC that has sufficient Mbps capability and sit it right next to this router (with a very fast NAS attached say). Do you think I would possible get 1900 Mbps throughput? If not then am I right in thinking that the TP-Link AC1900 would offer no advantages now or in the future over the Airport Extreme (in terms of througput anyway)?

Thanks

 

[belvdr]

No, you would only get one of the two speeds, as the WiFi client only attaches to the network on one band. There are other APs that go faster than 1300 Mbps, but I wouldn't recommend wireless for a NAS anyway.

 

[Applelad]

No, you would only get one of the two speeds, as the WiFi client only attaches to the network on one band. There are other APs that go faster than 1300 Mbps, but I wouldn't recommend wireless for a NAS anyway.

Ahh, thanks, that's what I thought.

I thought it wouldn't be a great idea but I'm just really trying to learn about it for the future. I'm a photographer and generally work on my laptop moving lots of images around backing up etc to my rack of disks but I hate being tied to my desk - I like working on the sofa and kitchen table etc. The holy grail is to have wireless reliable access to my rack of disks giving me over 60MB/s transfer speeds - I just want to see how close I can get now and understand the bottlenecks for the future.

 

[winston1236]

As already stated, no. Your laptop will connect (hopefully) to the 5Ghz band which is the faster of the two but you will never get close to 1300, thats a theoretical speed, but it will be plenty fast for what you are doing. The bottleneck I see will be your NAS setup.

 

[techwarrior]

Most routers and NAS have 1Gbps ethernet interfaces.

Given standard 500-550MB/s SSD read\write speeds (roughly 4-4.5Gb/s), or 200MB/s HDD (1.6Gb/s), your network will be the bottleneck, ethernet or wireless. WiFi generally doesn't achieve and sustain advertised speeds, so ethernet is generally going to be more reliable as belvdr suggests.

Your actual transfer transfer speeds will be restricted by the lowest speed in the path.

If you require fast read\write, better to have onboard storage. Onboard drives will reach the above speeds if you have SATA 3 drive interfaces, and PCIE x16 a bit faster. Similarly, Thunderbolt and USB3 connected drives will be faster than ethernet.

AP Extreme and AC1900 both have 1Gbps ethernet ports, so no real advantages there. AP Extreme and AC1900 should be roughly equal on 5Ghz 802.11ac wireless connections if wireless is the only option. And, while there may be faster wireless routers, most likely the NAS will connect via 1Gbps ethernet and not wireless, so no matter how fast the PC\Mac to router link is, the 1Gbps ethernet from the router to NAS would be the bottleneck.

 

[Applelad]

Most routers and NAS have 1Gbps ethernet interfaces.

Given standard 500-550MB/s SSD read\write speeds (roughly 4-4.5Gb/s), or 200MB/s HDD (1.6Gb/s), your network will be the bottleneck, ethernet or wireless. WiFi generally doesn't achieve and sustain advertised speeds, so ethernet is generally going to be more reliable as belvdr suggests.

Your actual transfer transfer speeds will be restricted by the lowest speed in the path.

If you require fast read\write, better to have onboard storage. Onboard drives will reach the above speeds if you have SATA 3 drive interfaces, and PCIE x16 a bit faster. Similarly, Thunderbolt and USB3 connected drives will be faster than ethernet.

AP Extreme and AC1900 both have 1Gbps ethernet ports, so no real advantages there. AP Extreme and AC1900 should be roughly equal on 5Ghz 802.11ac wireless connections if wireless is the only option. And, while there may be faster wireless routers, most likely the NAS will connect via 1Gbps ethernet and not wireless, so no matter how fast the PC\Mac to router link is, the 1Gbps ethernet from the router to NAS would be the bottleneck.

Thanks for the detailed response

1Gbps roughly = 125MB/s which would be fantastic. I see the bottleneck is the wireless bit. I already have a rack of JBOD disks in a USB3 housing that works perfectly wired (goes as fast as the disks go). The thing is I really would like reliable wireless over around 60MB/s. As I understand though, I can't connect my JBOD directly to the router using USB3 as it will only recognise the first disk - so that's why I said NAS as I would be prepared to buy a NAS if need be. However, an alternative method (again, as I understand) is to set up a network using a mac mini (I have spare one kicking about) that I can connect my JBOD to. I'm in no real rush though - just thought it's about time I dipped my toe in and did the research - just (as of about half an hour ago) won a TP Link C8 on ebay so will hopefully be starting on some benchmarking soon and will update.