“Asus AC 3100 Black vs AC3100 88U Whats the difference between the two? besides the color of the antenas? I've read the 88U was designed for gamers and has 1024-QAM technology... would the 3100 black also match the hardware? or as a gamer, should I buy the 88U. Thanks”
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The biggest difference is that the 88U has an 8 port switch in it and supposedly some kind of additional gaming optimizer - not sure what though as the 3100 also has gaming quality of service features. Honestly those are mostly marketing fluff anyway - your latency is going to come once the traffic hits the internet, not on your internal network, unless you are truly bottlenecked by your home internet connection speeds and need to prioritize gaming traffic over streaming video and such. The radios and processors are identical between the two. Personally the extra ports and added cost just aren't for me - and this thing is already big enough and unique enough looking without red highlights on the antennas.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The only difference is that the 88u has 8 ports on the back and the 3100 has 4. If you have the ability to hardware in more than 4 devices, the 88u could be worth the small bump in price.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Other than the color the only difference is the amount of Ports in the back. Both provide the same performance. The 88U is for the inner geek who wants to add flare. If you have a PS4/XBone use the ports, the current consoles don't fully support the 5GHZ band at this time. Now it's up to you. 8 ports or 4. Everything else is just color.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.AC3100 (black) is technically exact same thing as 88U (red antennas). The only difference has to do with gaming mode. 88U (red) has a boost mode for gaming which is not available on the black edition. This appears to be software-based not really a hardware advantage. So if your primary use it not game focused, you can careless and will not notice any difference.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The 88U is basically the same router with 8 switch ports instead of 4 on the unit from what I can tell in specs.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The ONLY difference is that the rt-ac88u has 8 output ethernet ports whereas the rt-ac3100 has 4 output ethernet ports, THAT'S it. Same hardware, same software, same featutes, oh but the rt-ac88u has Asus' ROG red color scheme. For $30 cheaper I went with the 3100 because I didn't need 8 ports
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The AC88U also has 4 extra gigabit ports in the back. I play Battlefield 4, Grand Theft Auto Online and Star Wars Battlefront through wi-fi without any lag with my AC3100, and that's while my sons are watching youtube videos on their wi-fi devices and my wife is on Netflix. If you want to spend the extra money for the additional 4 ports and the 1024-QAM technology, go for it...
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Only difference is 88u has 8 gigabit ehternet ports in back versus 4. Other than that the red accent colors on 88U antenna. But I would steer clear of this modem. I just tried and it has signal drops. Firmware button to update does not work have to do manually. Not that big of deal. WTFast is in this one but only get on one computer. More than that have to pay for service. This has the all the same as the 88U. To include gaming etc. Ping goes up too high on this one. My old ASUS 68U works better than this. Mu MIMO is a farce right now for all routers.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.This router is made for gaming
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The 88U is a Tri-Band and the AC3100 is a Dual Band. I do not recommend the Tri-Band as I only had problems with it dropping connections. Was informed that it is an internal problem with all tri-band routers at this time and manufacturers are working on it but still selling them at seriously outrageous prices.
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