Hello everyone, I recently got a Wi-Fi 6 wireless router.
I heard that this NX54 is very powerful, basically dominating its price range.
So I snagged this H3C NX54 on a certain platform.
I also want to know what the differences in speed and other aspects are between Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6, so let's take a look.
Introduction#
Hardware Configuration#
First, let's take a look at the hardware configuration of this H3C NX54 Wi-Fi 6 router.
- CPU: Qualcomm IPQ5018
- 512M RAM
- 128M Flash memory
- 5G chip QCA9074
- 2.4G chip integrated processor
Supported Technologies#
The H3C NX54 supports the following technologies:
- 2.4GHz 2x2 MIMO
- 5GHz 4x4 MIMO
- MU-MIMO
- Beamforming directional antenna technology
- 4KQAM
- EasyMesh
- IEEE 802.11k/v
Testing Environment#
The testing location is an 88 square meter house;
The comparison object is the replaced Xiaomi AC2100;
They are indeed not in the same price range, but we can compare the differences between Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6.
Here, the H3C NX54 is set to use a 160MHz wireless bandwidth on the 5G band and a 20MHz wireless bandwidth on the 2.4G band, with MU-MIMO and OFDMA enabled.
The Xiaomi AC2100 is set to wall-through mode for testing.
Next is the speed test on the 5G band; first, let's look at the Speedtest results from the Xiaomi 10.
Oh, did I get it wrong? Actually, it's not that the results are different from what you think; their speed test results on the external network are completely consistent.
It's because my home only has a 300Mbps broadband plan, and the speed test on the external network cannot reach full speed; it only shows the real performance on the internal network.
So we set up an internal speed test using Docker.
5G Band Testing#
Laptop Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6#
Next, we will use the NX54 with a Wi-Fi 5 card (8822ce) laptop and a Wi-Fi 6 card (ax200) laptop for the following comparison tests.
These two are quite common wireless network cards for laptops, representing typical configurations for Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6.
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 866 Mbps | 682 Mbps | 489 Mbps | 2.0 ms | 0.68 ms |
| B | 520 Mbps | 461 Mbps | 155 Mbps | 3.70 ms | 6.02 ms |
| C | 585 Mbps | 504 Mbps | 215 Mbps | 3.70 ms | 2.58 ms |
| D | 866 Mbps | 641 Mbps | 493 Mbps | 3.90 ms | 0.84 ms |
| E | 325 Mbps | 166 Mbps | 37.8 Mbps | 5.20 ms | 2.23 ms |
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 2402 Mbps | 968 Mbps | 722 Mbps | 1.60 ms | 0.16 ms |
| B | 1922/432 Mbps | 883 Mbps | 281 Mbps | 1.60 ms | 0.20 ms |
| C | 1922/432 Mbps | 887 Mbps | 356 Mbps | 1.70 ms | 0.87 ms |
| D | 2402/2162 Mbps | 921 Mbps | 631 Mbps | 1.70 ms | 0.55 ms |
| E | 865/245 Mbps | 517 Mbps | 138 Mbps | 1.70 ms | 1.07 ms |
At the same location, the Wi-Fi 5 card achieved a download speed of 682Mbps, while the Wi-Fi 6 card achieved a download speed of 968Mbps, approaching the level of a wired gigabit card.
The H3C NX54 wireless is no longer a bottleneck; instead, the gigabit port is limiting.
In the far living room, there is also a download speed of 887Mbps, and in the kitchen, the download speed is nearly three times higher than that of Wi-Fi 5.
There are no significant differences in other rooms; it basically covers the common points in the house and achieves relatively fast speeds.
Using the Xiaomi AC2100 with the Wi-Fi 5 card (8822ce) laptop, the speed is actually slightly lower than that measured with the NX54's Wi-Fi 5 card, so I'll just briefly mention it here.
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 866 Mbps | 585 Mbps | 409 Mbps | 2.20 ms | 1.56 ms |
| B | 320 Mbps | 350 Mbps | 154 Mbps | 2.30 ms | 0.21 ms |
| C | 866 Mbps | 525 Mbps | 365 Mbps | 2.20 ms | 0.26 ms |
| D | 520 Mbps | 585 Mbps | 407 Mbps | 2.20 ms | 1.56 ms |
| E | 325 Mbps | 274 Mbps | 61.9 Mbps | 2.40 ms | 0.35 ms |
Mobile Phones#
Next, let's take a look at the wireless performance testing for mobile phones.
The AC2100 and NX54 also show a significant gap,
Even the Xiaomi 10's upload speed is showing a trend of surpassing the laptop's ax200.
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 866 Mbps | 589 Mbps | 680 Mbps | 3.60 ms | 2.07 ms |
| B | 195 Mbps | 125 Mbps | 88.9 Mbps | 4.00 ms | 13.4 ms |
| C | 866 Mbps | 498 Mbps | 383 Mbps | 3.40 ms | 1.26 ns |
| D | 390 Mbps | 246 Mbps | 163 Mbps | 3.90 ms | 4.35 ms |
| E | 65 Mbps | 25.3 Mbps | 14.1 Mbps | 7.20 ms | 23.5 ms |
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter | dBm |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 1200 Mbps | 972 Mbps | 888 Mbps | 2.90 ms | 5.41 ms| -30 dBm |
| B | 626 Mbps | 505 Mbps | 221 Mbps | 3.20 ms | 2.63 ms| -55 dBm |
| C | 1200 Mbps | 970 Mbps | 863 Mbps | 3.70 ms | 2.76 ms| -33 dBm |
| D | 1200 Mbps | 941 Mbps | 845 Mbps | 3.30 ms | 0.66 ms| -36 dBm |
| E | 144 Mbps | 103 Mbps | 32.4 Mbps | 2.90 ms | 1.75 ms| -69 dBm |
Using the NX54 at point A, I achieved a download speed of 972Mbps, compared to the AC2100's 589Mbps, which is nearly double.
When testing with the Wi-Fi 6 supported iPhone SE3, there was also a noticeable difference.
Using the NX54 at the same point A, I achieved a download speed of 912Mbps, while the AC2100 only reached 433Mbps. The performance achieved with the NX54 should be considered good for the iPhone...
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | - Mbps | 912 Mbps | 465 Mbps | 3.00 ms | 4.65 ms |
| B | - Mbps | 538 Mbps | 265 Mbps | 3.00 ms | 2.65 ms |
| C | - Mbps | 651 Mbps | 318 Mbps | 2.00 ms | 0.47 ms |
| D | - Mbps | 897 Mbps | 460 Mbps | 2.00 ms | 2.36 ms |
| E | - Mbps | 120 Mbps | 32.2 Mbps | 3.00 ms | 2.12 ms |
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | - | 433 Mbps | 396 Mbps | 7.00 ms | 27.4 ms |
| B | - | 249 Mbps | 35.4 Mbps | 3.00 ms | 0.21 ms |
| C | - | 285 Mbps | 346 Mbps | 5.00 ms | 3.08 ns |
| D | - | 221 Mbps | 63.8 Mbps | 7.00 ms | 3.24 ms |
| E | - | 4.10 Mbps | 0.30 Mbps | 5.00 ms | 30.1 ms |
2.4G Band Testing#
The performance on the 2.4G band is not very ideal, especially for the Xiaomi AC2100, with latency and speed fluctuating significantly, making comparisons meaningless.
Moreover, the 2.4G band generally has better compatibility, with smaller differences across different platforms.
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 300 Mbps | 26.9 Mbps | 54.3 Mbps | 4.10 ms | 111 ms |
| B | 300 Mbps | 17.6 Mbps | 7.07 Mbps | 9.40 ms | 132 ms |
| C | 300 Mbps | 24.3 Mbps | 18.6 Mbps | 4.10 ms | 159 ms |
| E | 60 Mbps | 1.21 Mbps | 0.31 Mbps | 10.4 ms | 214 ms |
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter | dBm |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 286 Mbps | 84.4 Mbps | 135 Mbps | 6.80 ms | 6.09 ms| -13 dBm |
| B | 286 Mbps | 54.3 Mbps | 54.3 Mbps | 5.50 ms | 463 ms| -44 dBm |
| C | 286 Mbps | 80.6 Mbps | 45.9 Mbps | 4.10 ms | 9.76 ms| -38 dBm |
| E | 206 Mbps | 9.00 Mbps | 0.47 Mbps | 6.00 ms | 18.3 ms| -59 dBm |
First, let's look at the Xiaomi 10 testing with the NX54, which achieved a download speed of 84.4Mbps at point A.
The AC2100 only managed 26.9Mbps...
Seeing this gap, using the NX54 even with a 20MHz wireless bandwidth is acceptable, while the AC2100's 2.4G is quite a struggle. Although both are connected to devices that do not support the 2.4G band, stability is key.
For other actual test data, please refer to the tables in the blog post; I won't elaborate further here.
The comparison tests between the iPhone and the laptop are similar to the previous data from the Xiaomi 10.
I won't write them out here; due to the small differences and the unstable performance on the 2.4G band.
Overall, the NX54 has a slight advantage because the AC2100's 2.4G band is unstable. The NX54 can adjust the frequency in the official firmware to achieve higher connection speeds, although the AC2100 can also flash third-party OpenWrt firmware for adjustments.
Here, I will just provide the 2.4G band testing data for the Xiaomi AC2100 for reference.
| Location\Result | Connection Speed | Download | Upload | Latency | Jitter |
| :------: | :-----: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :-: | :-: |
| A | 300 Mbps | 79.2 Mbps | 6.26 Mbps | 3.50 ms | 235 ms |
| B | 300 Mbps | 11.7 Mbps | 0.90 Mbps | 3.80 ms | 77 ms |
| C | 300 Mbps | 17.7 Mbps | 2.99 Mbps | 3.30 ms | 222 ms |
| E | - Mbps | - Mbps | - Mbps | - ms | - ms |
Wireless Signal Coverage#
Regarding signal coverage, I also did a simple test.
I tested the wireless signal coverage using the Xiaomi 10 phone with the WiFiMan app.
You can see that the NX54's signal coverage is also quite good; the points correspond to the table for your reference.
It's a hand-drawn comparison, so don't mind the details.
Links#
Some may wonder why I'm testing a router that has been on the market for two years. Indeed, I'm not a hardcore router review enthusiast.
I won't spend idle money to buy a wireless router just to make dedicated review videos.
To supplement some of the content for the viewers, I also recommend a few links to fill in the gaps in this article.
This time, it's a detailed comparison test of the disassembly and review of the NX54 by acwifi and Kaka's tinkering diary.
acwifi - H3C Magic NX54 Disassembly and Review
Conclusion#
In conclusion, this H3C NX54, after testing its wireless performance, is definitely worth considering for purchase, especially given that it is a mid-range product. I see that in Kaka's group, you can get the NX54 for around 300 yuan, and even when purchased on JD, it still has competitive pricing, at least at the time this video was released.
However, the downside of H3C routers is that the firmware has limited playability. Although SSH can be used (R006 firmware), it is clearly inadequate as a main router. This is also the reason I chose it, as I use it in conjunction with a J4105 soft router for its powerful and stable functionality.
As for the new firmware, H3C is considering a new version in the fourth quarter of 2022, which has a more beautiful and practical interface. I sincerely hope they can address this shortcoming. Furthermore, the difficulty in producing the OpenWrt system is another topic I won't delve into; currently, there is no firmware available for flashing, but there are rumors that a non-dead firmware has been released.
However, considering that some novices may not care about these complicated issues; they just need strong wireless performance, it can indeed be purchased as a wireless router for home use.
When I was making this video blog, my NX54's power supply broke, and I contacted H3C's Magic Family, who directly replaced it with a new NX54 for me. Regardless of whether you've heard of H3C, as an established manufacturer in the commercial sector, their after-sales service is commendable.
Purchase Recommendations#
Finally, here are my purchase recommendations:
If your current wireless testing broadband can reach the speed of your subscribed broadband plan, you can temporarily avoid upgrading.
If you are currently using a mid-range router and are looking to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6, I highly recommend this H3C NX54. However, the 2.4G band is really just usable; for 2.4G wireless signals, you might want to consider the XDR 6088 and XDR 6080.
Although this content is not very in-depth, for detailed comparisons, you can refer to the linked content. This is also my first time making a program related to wireless routers, and I appreciate everyone's understanding and communication.
If you like my videos, don't forget to like, comment, and follow me. See you next time.
Video Credits:
BGM:
This article was synchronized and updated by Mix Space to xLog. The original link is https://www.miaoer.net/posts/network/h3c-nx54