Fastest Router possible? Broadband Router Reviews?

[santa]

Think about it a bit if PCs were faster and cheaper than purpose built
routers there wouldn't be any purpose built routers. A high performance
router costs hundreds of thousands of dollars when fully configured. The
instruction rate of the processor really doesn't mean much.

claus
: kony wrote:
:
:
: >
: > Now that I know this, I still have no idea how it compares to a
: > Pentium box running 'nix. Oh well.
: >
:
:
: Thanx for the info..
:
: --
:
: Stacey

 

[Stacey]

Think about it a bit if PCs were faster and cheaper than purpose built
routers there wouldn't be any purpose built routers. A high performance
router costs hundreds of thousands of dollars when fully configured.

I don't doubt a high performance router costing hundreds of thousands of
dollars will outperform a PC based one. The question here is if a $40-$100
router is going to outperform a PC based one, I kinda doubt it and until
someone posts some with and without router times that are lower than what I
got I won't believe it. Maybe in a HUGE network a $100,000 hardware router
is needed, but most home networks with 2 or 3 computers can easily be
served with a PC or a $100 hardware router, I just think the $100 hardware
router is going to be slower.

The main reason for a "purpose built" cheap home router over using an old PC
is ease of use/setup and since most routers plug and play fairly easily,
they win on that count. Most people would get frustrated trying to setup a
linux box for a router given the short attention span most people seem to
have.

 

[santa]

: santa wrote:
:
: > Think about it a bit if PCs were faster and cheaper than purpose built
: > routers there wouldn't be any purpose built routers. A high performance
: > router costs hundreds of thousands of dollars when fully configured.
:
: I don't doubt a high performance router costing hundreds of thousands of
: dollars will outperform a PC based one. The question here is if a $40-$100
: router is going to outperform a PC based one, I kinda doubt it and until
: someone posts some with and without router times that are lower than what
I
: got I won't believe it. Maybe in a HUGE network a $100,000 hardware router
: is needed, but most home networks with 2 or 3 computers can easily be
: served with a PC or a $100 hardware router, I just think the $100 hardware
: router is going to be slower.
:
: The main reason for a "purpose built" cheap home router over using an old
PC
: is ease of use/setup and since most routers plug and play fairly easily,
: they win on that count. Most people would get frustrated trying to setup a
: linux box for a router given the short attention span most people seem to
: have.
:
: --
:
: Stacey

Think again. The main reason for purpose built routers is cost. All the
logic is incorporated in one or two chips. The first one cost maybe a
million and the next million 10 cents each. I"d bet the most expensive
single part in a purpose built router is the plastic case.
Even in a pc system most of the encode/decode is done by specialized
hardware, its cheaper and faster.

I don't think intelligence span has anything to do with it. developing
router algorithms has been done and burned into silicon why reinvent the
wheel? I doubt very much if you've written any kind if driver let alone the
code necessary for a router to work properly but if you want to spend your
time developing router software for a Linux box do so by all means its just
as rewarding as playing computer games.
claus