Mediatek Or Qualcomm Which Is Better
Vilma Steiert
I think it's because ultimately, most routing devices are developed from reference boards that pair CPU and Wi-Fi chips obtained from the same company (e.g. Qualcomm ath10k & ipq808x; MediaTek mt76 & ramips). This results in the average Atheros device having access to a much more powerful CPU than their MediaTek counterparts, since Qualcomm manufactures some pretty beefy CPUs in their IPQxxxx lineup. Thus ultimately, QCA devices (on average) have much better routing throughput for NAT/VPN/SQM/Adblocking. Coupled with the fact that the majority of OpenWrt forum members are power users with higher end WAN speeds and play around with VLANs, this usually means CPU spec is more important than anything else.
When viewed with a scope of only looking at the level of open-source support for wireless drivers (WiFi AC), MediaTek's mt76 is actually better than QCA's ath10k because less of the functions are in the proprietary binary blob. However, in the past, QCA was king with their ath9k (WiFi N) driver.
CPU drivers don't really exist on Linux (barring frequency scaling/PMIC). Unless you're talking about microcode updates or the like. As far I know however, only x86(-64) processors come with microcode requirements in the kernel, and even then microcode is usually a closed source binary for most, if not all cases. Ultimately, the stability of the CPU is decided by the stability of the specific Linux kernel version you're using and if it has the necessary workarounds if your CPU has errata.
The length of issues/bugs list shouldn't really be a factor. Most on the list that you have provided on the bottom of the page are edge/uncommon cases and configurations for the average user or, things that don't actually affect device operation (only affect device status reading). I also wouldn't look into the wiki, I'd probably look into a git/svn issue tracker for a more up to date snapshot on the current number of issues plaguing a specific driver.
For example, look at the repo for mt76. It has more issues than ath10k-ct (what the future OpenWrt 19.XX release will use). This could have arisen from the fact that mt76 devices are more affordable, thus more accessible for people and not because the mt76 driver is inherently more unstable. More users = many more variations in configuration = higher probability of discovering bugs.
MT devices will have better support for wireless functions and features. Their stability with OpenWrt is also increased in part due to one of the driver devs being a keystone OpenWrt dev as well (Felix Fietkau). Bugs are addressed quickly in part due to how transparent the code is and how the devs operate.
Mediatek mt76 wireless devices need a smaller firmware than their Qualcomm Atheros ath10k counterparts. Qualcomm Atheros even went so far as to replicate a lot of standard wireless functionality and lock it in their firmware blob.
The number of antennas doesnt count in terms of been better as wireless extender? For example the Archer C6 - ath10k with 5 shouldn't be better than Netgear r6220 -mt76 with 2 as extender because of the number of antennas?
If you're looking for a range extender, you should understand that if it is a single-band device that you'll have half (or less) of the bandwidth available to you; get a packet, send that packet in the next time slot.
True three-radio devices, such as the EA8300 (or a couple others already available on master), can have two, independent 5 GHz radios which don't have this halving "problem" as one can be repeating while the other is accepting the next packet.
True three-radio devices, such as the EA8300 (or a couple others already available on master ), can have two, independent 5 GHz radios which don't have this halving "problem" as one can be repeating while the other is accepting the next packet.
You'd need to check these devices for their capabilities, including if the third radio is fully functional, but the ones that suggest (from the DTS source) that they have three radios that are already on master (EA8300 is at the PR stage) include
One thing, I don't understand, if I have a router not tri-band but dual band instead, and 2 antennas are in same frequency, lets say 2.4 GHz, can not 1 antenna only receive and the other antenna only emits so will be no slow packets working as extender?
In here Support ea8300 (Dallas), its the mac80211 working already?
And, its jeffsf ea8300 the updated snapshot with the last commits? If yes, it works with the EU model?
Finally, the device can be unbrick in case anything goes wrong?
No, you would need a dedicated radio for that (a third radio), on a different channel - after all the receiving channel is congested and your can only send once the air is clear again (WLAN is half-duplex).
Like many other high(er) end Linksys devices, the EA8300 comes with a dual-boot setup (meaning you can switch to the previously working partition after invoking three failed reboots). Recovery via serial console and tftp is available, if there is something like a push-button tftp recovery method is something you'd have to ask someone with the device, e.g. jeff.
Yes, all three radios are working well for me. There's some more information on the device at _ea8300 (which I will need to update at some point soon). Note that the two, 5 GHz radios operate on different portions of the band (probably a good idea anyways).
The device should work with the EU variant, though I don't have one that I can try with myself. I can try to find the GPL drop for the EU version (or if you do, let me know where you downloaded it from) and confirm that the partitioning is the same.
The PR is presently set up for the FCC "cal" data which should provide reasonable performance with the EU model. I have already packaged the EU (and IC and AP) variant cal data in the PR. If you build your own firmware, at the bottom of target/linux/ipq40xx/files-4.14/arch/arm/boot/dts/qcom-ipq4019-linksys_ea8300.dts you'll see three sections that look like
If you change that to linksys-ea8300-eu in each, it should pick up the EU cal data. I don't have the "magic decoder ring" for that Qualcomm/Atheros format, but it would surprise me if it dramatically alters the wireless performance. Note that this is the "generic" data for the radios and that each unit has its own specific data that is combined with this for "fine tuning" of the radio. At some point I was going to look into "device-tree overlays" to allow a single ROM to be used for any of the variants, but haven't gotten there yet to evaluate the possibilities further.
The factory images built will flash through the factory GUI. There are ways to avoid signing up for a Linksys Smart Router (?) account when you boot the router. As I recall, not plugging in the WAN cable makes it easier. Even if you do, you can still reset to OEM defaults and start fresh.
MediaTek's announcement comes weeks after Qualcomm revealed its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which is set to bring on-device generative AI to phones it powers, starting with the just-launched Xiaomi 14. This pits the two chip companies in a race to see which phonemakers will be excited enough by either chip's features. MediaTek expects the first phones with the Dimensity 9300 to launch soon.
As far as the chip's capabilities go, MediaTek isn't as bullish as Qualcomm on generative AI. Though the Dimensity 9300 seems to be in the ballpark of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, MediaTek's chip takes less than a second to generate a Stable Diffusion image and can run 7 billion parameter AI models at 20 tokens per second. It can also run 13 billion parameter models and up to a maximum 33 billion parameters with reduced tokens per second. Ultimately, this gives the chip a bit more longevity as more robust language models come into use.
Instead, MediaTek touted the Dimensity 9300 for its 46% better peak performance and 40% lower power needed to meet the performance on last year's Dimensity 9200 chip. The new silicon also has 46% better ray tracing than its predecessor. MediaTek made a direct comparison to Qualcomm's just-launched chip, saying the Dimensity 9300 scored over 7,600 in a real device on the benchmark Geekbench 6.0 compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 scoring 7,501 in what MediaTek called a "lab environment." CNET ran Geekbench 6 test on a sample smartphone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and found similar results.
One difference between the two chips is architecture. MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 is a 4-nanometer plus TSMC with eight total cores: four X4 performance cores (one at 3.25GHz, three at 2.85GHz) and four Cortex A720 efficiency cores running at 2 GHz. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a 4-nanometer TSMC and has eight cores as well: one ultra performance core at 3.3GHz, five large performance cores (three at 3.2GHz and two at 3GHz) and two small efficiency cores at 2.3GHz.
Another difference is which phones end up using either chip. Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and Vivo have used Dimensity chips in their premium handsets, but those selling devices in the US, like Samsung and Motorola, typically use Snapdragon chips for higher-end phones. While that could always change, MediaTek isn't expecting to land big in the US this year, though it does see more opportunity for markets in Europe.
"We certainly feel we can deliver everything that a flagship needs and to meet the needs of US carriers," said Finbarr Moynihan, lead of corporate marketing at MediaTek. "For the near term, we're going to see China is going to be the most important market for these devices in the near term."
In addition to overall performance improvements, the Dimensity 9300 adds to camera capabilities with 16-object segmentation (changing lighting and focus for up to 16 objects), pixel-level autofocus, standalone optical image stabilization and more to help phones take better photos.
For foldables, the chip supports dual active displays at 4K up to 120Hz, along with Google Ultra HDR display support in Android 14. Connectivity improvements with MediaTek's UltraSave 5G give 10% more power efficiency as well as extra range for Wi-Fi connectivity.
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