Hi all. I have been using a Hap AC3 for the past couple of years and being a first time user with Mikrotik.
So far so good. Have watched some videos and learned many things.
Last year I also got a Hap AC2 which I found used at a good price and got it to act mainly as switch/AP and to have it as a backup router in case the AC3 got damaged.
Lately I got some Decos X20 at a burgain to replace my Mikrotiks Wifi and it seams they do a better jod as APs.
So this got me thinking since I do not use Mikrotiks wifi anymore, to get rid both of AC2 (AP) and AC3 (main router) and just replace the main one (AC3) with an AX2 which could sit much cleaner on my desk since its smaller and I do not want it’s wifi.
But the main question is could the AX3 handle all my devices as the AC3 does ?
Which mainly are
6-7 wifi cameras
40-45 of IoT devices (switches, bulbs, sensors etc)
5 Phones
2 Laptops
5 wired PCs
Keep in mind that all the wifi stuff connect trhough the Deco’s x20.
In my opinion I do not think I will have any problem but looking for any experts opinion as well.
Have also thought about AX3 but for the price difference I do not think I can get any more out of it for my needs.
Obviously the ax series has wifi6, but per your question you’re only interested in wired performance.
In that reagard taking the ac2 as 100%, the ax2 is at 130% and the ax3 would be at 160%. So the newer devices deliver a significant but not dramatic increase in performance.
So purely from a performance perspective, yes they are suitable. You’ll get better performance but not a spectacular improvement.
The really nice thing about the ax2 is that they finally went from the tight 16MB flash to 128MB and to 1GB ram. For complex configs this matters more than raw performance.
Also, due to going 64 bit, software encryption is significantly faster.
You’re mixing up a lot of AC2 /AC3 / AX2 / AX3 … hard to follow what your are planning to do.
I do assume however you’re going to move your router functions from AC3 to AX2 (since you mentioned size).
Anyhow …
If you DON’T want to use wifi of AX2, why buy it ?
You can already use AC2 for that.
It can route almost at wirespeed. Obviously AX2 is more performant and more future safe but since your ether ports are 1Gb, not really useful to have that added power (unless you are planning for some complex configs ?).
Since you mentioned size, don’t look at AX3. It’s a lot bigger and you still have those antennae to take care of (don’t simply remove them, you’ll fry the radio circuitry).
And then … why AX2 since you do not want to use wifi ? Why not a normal router without wifi ?
I know the size of AX3 since I already own the AC2 and AC3 and yes the size of the device is a matter for me.
I thought of just going for the ax2 just because it is smaller, better than the ac3 that I already have and to have it’s wifi as a backup solution to the deco’s.
So you say that ac2 and ax2 could handle the above devices I have. Of course I realize that the ax2 should be much better.
I have not tried it as a router but as AP only. You think it could handle the above devices like the AC3 ?
I thought of selling both (ac2 & ac3) and getting just the ax2 and so I would stay in the same or a little more power as a machine and as a main router.
AC2 and AC3 have identical platforms and CPU settings so they perform the same as a router (however, test results published by MT favor AC2 a bit over AC3, strange but true).
If ac3 worked for you, the ac2 will handle the job without issues. If using FastTrack, it can handle close to 1 Gbps. What is your Internet bandwidth?
The ax2 has a bit better CPU, however, it lacks USB port that ac2 has. The official tests even show some results better for ac2, although they might have been taken on ROS6. From what I read online, people report pretty much the same performance between the two.
The weakest point of ac2 is 16 MB storage. But if you don’t need WiFi, you can remove the wireless package. I have about 2.8 MB free on my ac2. It’s not enough for something like containers (ac2 is not a good device for containers anyway, 32-bit and only 128 MB of RAM) but should be plenty enough for RouterOS core package.
My main home router is ac2. I have 5 VLANs, WireGuard site-to-site VPN, a couple of road warrior WG clients, FQ_Codel SQM, 20-25 devices. It handles everything without a sweat. My Internet bandwidth is only 100/20 Mbps, but it was working just as well when it was 250/40 with a lot of headroom.
With ax series you are really paying for the newer WiFi, so it would be mostly wasted in your scenario.
Ι am not in need for containers. I use xtra Nucs for things like that. I only need it for main routing of the house, firewall , vpn, etc. nothing else. I have 300mbps bandwidth download.
