Redmi AX5400 Gaming Router Review: Range is Unbelievable

Xiaomi has been responsible for the high-end, and Redmi is responsible for the ultimate cost-effectiveness, which has become the norm for the Xiaomi router product line. The various Redmi AX5 and Redmi AX6 series launched by Redmi following the flagship also set the record for the most cost-effective Wi-Fi 6 routing time and time again and became the hot choice at that time. Today, the AX6 is still a cost-effective machine, and it is hard to find one.

For the next orthodox sequel to the Redmi AX series, everyone has been waiting for a long time, and until today, the answer was officially announced.

The new Redmi AX5400, as Redmi’s first gaming router, came to us, not only adhering to the consistent extreme cost-effectiveness but also with the mission of popularizing high-end gaming routers, vowing to become the next hottest model in the gaming market.

From the configuration point of view, the Redmi AX5400 references the product of the Xiaomi AX6000. Compared with the latter, it reduces an AIoT antenna and adds a Gigabit Ethernet port, which is the biggest difference between the two at a glance.

In terms of appearance design, the Redmi AX5400 is also more e-sports. The dark shell, the traditional box shape, and the more compact antenna design make it more compact and easy to put away. At the same time, there are gamers’ favorite gaming atmosphere lights to meet the demand for a cool appearance further.

The advantages of Xiaomi AX6000 are inherited by Redmi AX5400 one by one. It supports 4×4 MIMO + 160MHz full power; no need to tangle between the number of antennas and bandwidth, the fastest connection speed, and the largest number of connections can be at the same time.

With the support of the Wi-Fi 6 enhanced version, the Redmi AX5400 not only supports full-blooded wireless but also further supports the 4096-QAM modulation protocol, increasing the wireless rate by another 20%. 5G wireless has a connection speed of up to 2882Mbps, and even after passing through the wall, it can still have a very high network connection speed.

In addition, the Redmi AX5400 is also equipped with a 2.5Gbps WAN/LAN adaptive network port. When the current ultra-gigabit broadband is gradually rolled out, you can use it to achieve large “seconds”; you can also connect additional 2.5G routes to obtain the ultimate intranet connection speed, which is convenient for various intranet devices NAS. Use.

And the most important point is that the Redmi AX5400 makes up for the biggest regret of the Xiaomi AX6000. The 2.5G port is connected to the 1G port without the bottleneck limit of 1Gbps. It can be said that the Redmi AX5400 is the complete body of the IPQ5018 platform router!

Next is the detailed evaluation experience of the Redmi AX5400.

Appearance

Since it is no longer a cheap positioning but an e-sports route, the packaging of the Redmi AX5400 is also much taller. The color box adopts a pure black background, and the product rendering also highlights its e-sports lighting effect, which looks very cool.

Taking out the router body, the shape of the Redmi AX5400 is still the traditional “box type”, supports suspension, and has four external antennas (two of which are 2.4G+5G), which is generally smaller and more space-saving than the Xiaomi AX6000.

In addition, the router is very heavy, and it feels even thicker than the Xiaomi AX6000, which is also due to its extremely high heat dissipation specifications, which will be further introduced in the disassembly section later.

The black shell and various sharp line decorations are very e-sports. There is also a large heat dissipation grid on the top of the Redmi AX5400, with the Redmi logo printed in the middle. There is also a row of indicator lights hidden under the grid to identify the machine’s operational status.

The front face is a unique place. The shape is similar to the engine. There are decorations in the shape of heat sinks. There is also a circle of gaming atmosphere lights on the periphery.

The Redmi AX5400 has one more Gigabit LAN port than the Xiaomi AX6000, and the rest of the interfaces are the same. One 2.5G WAN/LAN port, one Gigabit WAN/LAN port, you can choose the working mode according to your needs, get the highest external or internal network speed, and the remaining three are Gigabit LAN ports. There are also Mesh keys and Reset keys.

The bottom is densely packed with openings, which ensures the heat dissipation effect of the Redmi AX5400. As mentioned earlier, the Redmi AX5400 supports suspension, so the bottom is also equipped with suspension holes.

The Redmi AX5400 also comes with a Category 5 cable, this time in terms of accessories.

Dismantling

The Redmi AX5400 uses the same solution as the Xiaomi AX6000, but the weight is higher. This is mainly because the former has worked harder on heat dissipation and uses two oversized heat sinks.

Remove the bottom case; you can see the inside of the Redmi AX5400; the huge heat sink is impressive.

The Redmi AX5400 supports 6 antenna connections but only 4 antennas. From the disassembly, it can be seen that the two outer ones use a 2.4G+5G composite design.

Remove the heat sink; all chips are covered with shielding cover + phase change silicone grease, avoiding interference and improving thermal conductivity.

After removing the circuit board, the heat sink on the other side is heavier and larger, with fins extending upward to increase the heat dissipation area. At least in terms of heat dissipation, the Redmi AX5400 has nothing to worry about.

Disassemble the shields one by one to see the chips inside. The processor is Qualcomm’s IPQ5018, which is the same as the processor used by Xiaomi AX6000. Next to it is a 512MB memory chip.

The 5GHz Wi-Fi chip is Qualcomm QCN9024. This chip is available in 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz versions. At 5GHz, it supports 160MHz bandwidth under Wi-Fi 6 and simultaneous opening of 4×4 MU-MIMO and 4K-QAM modulation technology.

Four external 5G Wi-Fi power amplifier chips, the model is also the familiar QPF4588. A 128MB (1Gb) flash memory chip is in the upper left corner.

Two 2.4GHz power amplifier chips, the model is QPF4288, and the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi chip directly uses the built-in wireless master chip of IPQ 5018. The PHY chip of the 2.5G network port, the model is QCA8081.

ECONET’s EN8850DHE has replaced the switch chip of the Gigabit Ethernet port. The parameters of this chip are unknown, and no relevant information can be found at present.

Although there is no chip on the other side of the circuit board, a lot of heat dissipation design has been done to dissipate heat from the back of the chip, quickly transferring the heat to the top heat sink with the largest area.

In general, through dismantling, it can be confirmed that the Redmi AX5400 adopts the same solution as the Xiaomi AX6000. It can be said that the signal strength and transmission rate are the same.

There are only two differences between them. There is no AIoT antenna, so there is a lack of corresponding chips. The other is an extra Gigabit Ethernet port, and another type of Gigabit switch chip is used.

Rate test

The Redmi AX5400 is equipped with a full-blooded wireless solution this time, which supports 4×4 MIMO and 160MHz bandwidth at the same time. Whether it is a mobile phone, tablet, host, or notebook, you can enjoy the full-blooded rate of 160MHz, which is still guaranteed. The maximum under 4 antennas is not the capacity.

In addition, some Snapdragon 888 flagships and Snapdragon 8 flagships can be further improved. Those that support the stronger Wi-Fi 6E standard can obtain 120% higher speed with the help of the 4096-QAM modulation mode.

The theoretical transmission rate is as high as 2882Mbps. Even if the signal through the wall is mostly lost in daily use, it can still provide a speed of more than 100M.

What we used in this test is the best partner of Redmi AX5400, Redmi K50 e-sports version, equipped with Snapdragon 8; it supports the new Wi-Fi 6E wireless and can successfully obtain a theoretical connection speed of 2882Mbps.

The first test is to use a server with a 1G network port to simulate the situation of a gigabit network. Under the gigabit network, with the help of the wireless intranet connection speed can reach 895Mbps, you can make full use of the gigabit intranet bandwidth.

Since the Redmi AX5400 also comes with a 2.5G network port, it can also directly use the extremely high bandwidth of the 2.5G network port to the wireless end to obtain higher speeds.

Due to interference, there must be some loss of wireless, but it can also reach extremely high speeds of 1.7Gbps.

In addition, with the dual-network concurrent function of the mobile phone, you can further increase the speed. However, the speed gain of 2.4G wireless is limited, and everyone still regards it as a guarantee of network stability.

In the previous generation, the biggest regret of Xiaomi AX6000 was the bottleneck problem between the 2.5G network port and the 1G network port.

To put it simply, the full speed of the connection from the 2.5G port to the 1G port will be limited to less than 1Gbps. If there are 1G ports involved, they will share the bandwidth equally, making the Xiaomi AX6000 a pity.

However, on the new Redmi AX5400, this problem has finally been fixed!

The author uses a 2.5G device as the terminal, and the two notebooks simultaneously measure the speed through the 1G network port. The two speeds are 948Mbps and 923Mbps, respectively, and the total speed is as high as 1.87Gbps. This is not an error and has greatly exceeded the upper limit of 1Gbps.

Previously, follow-up products were equipped with an improved version of the IPQ5018 processor, and there was no 1Gbps bottleneck problem. It can be seen that the Redmi AX5400 also uses an improved version of the chip, and finally, there is no regret of the cross-port 1G bottleneck limit.

Signal test

The test environment is shown in the figure. The six independent signal amplifiers on the Redmi AX5400 are the same as the Xiaomi AX6000, so the signal performance is also excellent.

We selected four test points. Points 1 and 2 simulate the unobstructed situation of a large room, point 3 is for the other wall, and points 4 and 5 are for extreme long-distance penetration.

Thanks to the flagship signal amplifier and extremely high wireless speed, even at the theoretical worst point 5, the Redmi AX5400 can still provide a throughput speed of 87.58Mbps (10.9MB/s), and the delay is controlled at about 10ms. You will not feel any lag when watching videos or swiping Weibo at this speed.

The 2.4G wireless, which has always been known for its good signal, is only good here, and the throughput rate has dropped in a mess, which can only barely meet the needs of web pages.

Therefore, we also recommend turning off the dual-band integration function and separating 2.4G wireless and 5G wireless in daily life. The former does not require high connection throughput and needs to be kept online for smart homes, while the latter is designed for high-performance tablets, PCs, mobile phones, etc., terminal use.

Under the same configuration, the signal coverage capability of Redmi AX5400 will naturally not lose to Xiaomi AX6000. For everyday families who want high-standard wireless, Redmi AX5400 is the best candidate.

Read Also: Redmi K50 Series Leaked with Snapdragon 870 SoC

Verdict

Unlike the previous products, the Redmi AX5400 does not have a big price difference with the Xiaomi AX6000, and the two are also very similar in performance configuration. However, after the experience, I am still more willing to award the title of the most cost-effective 500 yuan to the former.

Let’s talk about the advantages that both have in common.

The 4×4 mimo+160MHz full-blooded 5G wireless will greatly improve the Internet experience of daily mobile phones, tablets, and other devices. The Redmi AX5400 supports these two features simultaneously, which can guarantee the speed and device capacity at the same time, and perfectly solve the shortcomings of the previous generation without having to struggle too much.

The new 4096-QAM encoding is a bonus. When the Snapdragon 888 has been popularized, most users can enjoy a wireless rate of up to 2882Mbps. The extremely high wireless rate can offset the signal loss and still provide a 100M network speed under the condition of extreme wall penetration.

In addition, both have a 2.5G network port, which is also a huge advantage compared with other products in the same grade. You can use it to connect additional 2.5G routers to achieve higher intranet speeds. What’s more, ultra-gigabit broadband is also being promoted, you may not need it, but you can’t live without it.

With such similar advantages, the Redmi AX5400 lacks an unnecessary AIoT antenna (after all, ordinary 2.4G wireless can also be replaced) and gives an extra Gigabit Ethernet port. In addition, it has the strongest cooling configuration in the same grade and a better-looking design. More importantly, the bottleneck between the 2.5G port and the 1G port has finally been solved. I think the Redmi AX5400 is more practical and perfect in terms of product power.

The Redmi AX5400 is priced at 599 yuan, and the first release can start at only 549 yuan. The Xiaomi AX6000 has become a hit at a similar price, and the Redmi AX5400 with more powerful products will naturally have more potential. It is the right choice to buy a route.