Preface
Wi-Fi 7 wireless routers, we have already evaluated several Bank of China products, but due to policy and regulatory reasons, Bank of China's Wi-Fi 7 products have removed the 6G frequency band at the hardware level, but in fact, the 6G frequency band is the biggest part of Wi-Fi 7, which is really regrettable. In line with the principle of not tossing and feeling uncomfortable, in order to get a glimpse of the full blood Wi-Fi 7 wireless router, we also brought back this blockbuster product from overseas this time, Netgear Nighthawk RS700, which is the first Wi-Fi 7 wireless router launched by Netgear. Compared with WiFi 6, WiFi 7 has the advantages of high throughput, low latency, anti-interference, and wide coverage, Nighthawk RS700 is equipped with a powerful new antenna array, which can bring better signal coverage, and the hardware fully supports 6G frequency bands, and the following brings you the evaluation experience of this Wi-Fi 7 wireless router
▲The Nighthawk RS700 wireless router is equipped with two 10GbE ports and four 1GbE ports, and the wireless specifications are 2.4G 1.4Gbps + 5G 5.8Gbps + 6G 11.5Gbps
Unboxing
▲The packaging box is blue and black, and the characteristics of this router can be seen in the lower left corner, with a coverage range of 325m² and 10G WAN + 10G LAN
▲Open the outer package, and inside is a guide book for quick configuration using the APP
▲The inner packaging box adopts the upper and lower layer design, and the upper layer is the accessory box
▲There is a power adapter, a network cable, and two plugs in the accessory box
▲The power output specification is 19V 3.16A, which can output 60W of power
▲From left to right, there are 6 types of unshielded flat network cables, British standard plugs, and Australian plugs
▲The bottom of the inner box is the Nighthawk RS700 body
▲The top of the front is the Nighthawk logo, the bottom is the IO indicator panel, the bottom one is the WPS button, and the other is the LED indicator switch (the power indicator cannot be turned off)
▲The side adopts a closed design, and a vertical air duct is used for heat dissipation
▲List of back IO interfaces: From top to bottom, there are Reset button, power switch, 10G LAN port, four Gigabit LAN ports, USB3.0 interface, 10G WAN port, and DC jack
▲The bottom is made with a grille opening for cold air to enter. Leave two screw holes for mounting specific brackets
▲The top is also made with a grille opening for hot air escape. The top cover is pasted with a QR code, which is convenient to use the APP to scan the configuration
firmware
▲ The main page has the same black and white color scheme as before
▲Internet access can use 10G WAN port, and also support simultaneous access of two 1G ports
▲The wireless region can be switched to Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the Middle East
▲When the 5G rate is set to 5.8Gbps, the 160MHz bandwidth is enabled by default, and only the channel between 36 and 64 can be selected, and when the 5G rate is set to 1.4Gbps or 2.9Gbps, channels above 149 can be used
▲When the 6G rate is set to 11.5Gbps, the 320MHz bandwidth is enabled, and when the rate is set to 5.8Gbps, the 160MHz bandwidth is enabled
▲When the 6G rate is set to 11.5Gbps, the channels that can be selected are shown in the figure, and when some Wi-Fi 6E clients are used, if the 6G signal of the router cannot be found, the PSC channel can be selected
▲QoS setting, the automatic QoS policy of netgear is better
▲Mu-MIMO, OFDMA and other functions can be enabled in the wireless advanced settings
▲RS700 has two access point modes, which can be set as a wireless router or AP
▲LED control setting: Even if the LED is turned off, only the LED indicator except the power light can be turned off
▲ debug page, you can see CPU core occupancy, memory occupancy and other information, Telnet is still blocked
Performance testing
#吞吐量测试
Hardware part of the test platform:
PC1 网卡:Intel X710 T2L,Intel BE200,Intel AX210
PC2 网卡:Intel X710 T2L,Intel BE200,Intel AX210
Software:
Windows 11 Pro (23H2) Install all required patches and turn off the system firewall
Endpoint 9.50
IxChariot 6.70
The following test script was used in this test: High_Performance_Throughput.scr. This script is used to test the maximum transmission bandwidth
First, let's understand a few related terms of routing test results: Throughput, that is, route throughput, which indicates the amount of data that a route can process per second. The higher this data, the better
Test environment: The test was selected at home to simulate the real situation of everyone's daily use
Note: Use the V1.0.7.80_2.0.79 firmware to enable WPA2 encryption for 5G and WPA3 encryption for 6G
▲Test topology diagram
Wired throughput testing
▲NAT single-threaded and ten-threaded
▲LAN to LAN单向单线程和十线程
▲LAN to LAN双向单线程和十线程
5G 2x2 160MHz 802.11be throughput test
▲5G to LAN上行单线程和十线程
▲5G to LAN双向单线程和十线程
▲5G to LAN下行单线程和十线程
▲5G to 5G单向单线程和十线程
▲5G to 5G双向单线程和十线程
6G 2x2 160MHz 802.11ax throughput test
▲ Use Intel AX210 to connect to the 6G frequency band of RS700, at present, it is not possible to use Intel BE200 to connect to 6G in China, and the 320MHz bandwidth cannot be tested
▲6G to LAN上行单线程和十线程
▲6G to LAN双向单线程和十线程
▲6G to LAN下行单线程和十线程
▲6G to 6G单向单线程和十线程
▲6G to 6G双向单线程和十线程
▲Data summary
▲ Chart summary
USB3.0 interface performance test
▲10G LAN port wired read speed 363MB/s
▲10G LAN port wired write speed 137MB/s
▲Using Intel BE200 network card, 5G wireless read speed is 195MB/s
▲Using Intel BE200 network card, 5G wireless write speed is 71.4MB/s
▲Using Intel AX210 network card, 6G wireless read speed 183MB/s
▲Using Intel AX210 network card, 6G wireless write speed is 97.2MB/s
▲ Chart summary
Signal testing
▲In order to test the maximum performance of RS700, a speed test server is built with DS1821+ on the intranet
▲The RS700 wireless region is selected as Australia and New Zealand, and the location has been shown on the chart
The approximate area of each room is explained
A: 11 square meters
B: 15 square meters
C: 15 square meters
D: 40 square meters
E: 12 square meters
F: 5 square meters
G: 7.5 sq.m
▲2.4G, 5G signal strength and Speedtest test at position 1
▲2.4G, 5G signal strength and Speedtest test at position 2
▲2.4G, 5G signal strength and Speedtest test at position 3
▲2.4G, 5G signal strength and Speedtest test at position 4
▲2.4G, 5G signal strength and Speedtest test at position 5
▲2.4G, 5G signal strength and Speedtest test at position 6
▲2.4G, 5G signal strength and Speedtest test at position 7
▲Data summary
▲ Chart summary
power consumption
▲In the state that dual 10GbE ports are occupied, 13 units are belted, the IO indicator is on, and the USB interface is occupied
▲The power consumption is about 17W
summary
▲As the first Wi-Fi 7 wireless router with full hardware in our evaluation, Netgear Nighthawk RS700 is equipped with a 4-core 2.6GHz processor, with two 10G network ports and four 1G network ports, and the wireless specifications are 2.4G 1.4Gbps+5G 5.8Gbps+6G 11.5Gbps. After entering the Wi-Fi 7 era, Netgear Nighthawk has undergone a new design, with a more simple and fashionable appearance, and it is easier to integrate into home life. There is no news from the Bank of China about this top-of-the-line product, and enthusiasts can only buy it through overseas shopping at present, hoping that Netgear China can be introduced to China as soon as possible.