The RadiX series of gaming-oriented wireless routers marks MSI's re-entry into a crowded scene dominated by brands such as ASUS and TP-Link.

Mention the brand MSI and chances are, images of graphics cards, motherboards and other PC components would come to mind. No surprises here, seeing as networking products have never been a mainstay of MSI's product line-up - in fact, the last wireless networking product from MSI hailed from the halcyon days of WIFI 4 (also known as Wireless N), which dates back to 2008 or so. In February 2023, MSI announced its return to the fray that is the wireless networking scene with the launch of the RadiX series of tri-band wireless gaming routers. First available in regions such as the Americas and Europe, the RadiX AX6600 and AXE6600 have since made their way to Southeast Asian shores, and for Singapore in particular, the AX6600 is now available to purchase from major PC hardware retailers.

Summary of Specifications

• Supported WIFI Standards: WiFi 6 (802.11ax), WiFi 5 (802.11ac), WiFi 4 (802.11n), 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a
• Max Data Rates:
  • 2.4GHz AX: 2x2(Tx/Rx) 1024/256-QAM 20/40MHz, up to 574 Mbps
  • 5GHz-L AX: 2x2(Tx/Rx) 1024/256-QAM 20/40/80MHz, up to 1201 Mbps
  • 5GHz-H AX: 4x4(Tx/Rx) 1024/256-QAM 20/40/80/160MHz, up to 4804 Mbps
• Antenna Type: 6x adjustable external antennae, non-removable
• Ports: 1x 2.5 Gbps WAN/LAN port, 1x Gigabit WAN/LAN port, 3x Gigabit LAN ports, 1x USB 3.0 port
• Buttons: 1x reset, 1x power button, 1x LED Off button, 1x WIFI button, 1x WPS button
• Official MSI product page: https://www.msi.com/Networking/RadiX-AX6600-WiFi-6-Tri-Band-Gaming-Router/Overview

Packaging & Contents

The RadiX AX6600 comes in a black-coloured box with blue accents that features an image of the AX6600 router unit on the front. Over on the rear, we get the usual writeups on the router's features and specifications.

The following accessories come included with the AX6600:

• 1x Ethernet cable
• 1x quick start guide
• 1x support leaflet
• 1x MSI Reward Program leaflet
• 1x power adapter

Aesthetics

The RadiX AX6600 has a chassis that is made of black and grey plastic with a matte finish - with its sports car-like aesthetic, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the AX6600 resembles the bonnet of a Lamborghini.

Near the top edge of the router, we get a button that allows end-users to enable and disable the router's LEDs, a WIFI button, a WPS button, as well as a series of activity LEDs.

Six adjustable antennae come included with the AX6600 - do note that the antennae are non-removable.

The underside of the router reveals numerous elongated hexagonal ventilation openings, where we do also get two wall-mount openings.

Over on the rear of the router, we get a reset button, three Gigabit LAN ports, a single Gigabit WAN/LAN port, a 2.5 Gigabit WAN/LAN port, a USB 3.0 port, a power button as well as a power adapter connector.

Setup & Usage Experience

Setting up the RadiX AX6600 was a breeze, where after hooking up the router to the mains and an internet source via the 2.5 Gbps WAN port, you can either connect your PC via a wired Ethernet connection or wirelessly, and thereafter navigate to http://msirouter.login via your browser to begin configuring the router's various settings. The default login credentials (which have been deliberately blurred out in the images above for security reasons) can be found on a sticker located on the underside of the router.

Alternatively, one can also choose to setup the router via a mobile app that is available for both Android and iOS devices - the MSI Router app allows end-users to tweak commonly-used router settings; power users may want to use the web-based user interface for access to advanced router features.

The router firmware that powers the RadiX series of routers has a clean user interface and was a cinch to use - accessing the said user interface requires navigating to "192.168.10.1" or "https://msirouter.login" via one's web browser. Interesting features worth highlighting include the ability to setup multiple SSIDs within a WIFI band (pictured above), as well as AI QoS.

AI QoS is a Quality of Service feature by MSI that employs the use of Artificial Intelligence to detect traffic types (e.g. gaming, movie streaming etc), thereby allowing the router's behaviour to be optimised accordingly so as to deliver maximum performance.

Test Setup & Benchmarking

To do a quick connectivity test of the router, I hooked up the RadiX AX6600 to a 1 Gbps fibre internet connection, and used the web version of Speedtest by Ookla on 1) a desktop PC with a Gigabit Ethernet port that was connected directly to the AX6600's 1 Gbps WAN/LAN port and 2) a laptop sporting a Realtek RTL8852AE WIFI 6 module, where the said laptop was used to run the speed test while placed about five meters away from the router. During the wireless test, there were no physical obstructions in between the router and the said laptop.

During the entirety of testing, no other devices (other than the test desktop PC/laptop) were connected to the AX6600. In addition, the router was left on the default out-of-box settings, with QoS disabled. The router was also running firmware version 720348.

Wired Connection Test Results (1 Gbps fibre internet connection)

As can be seen above, a download speed of 930.36 Mbps and an upload speed of 946.11 Mbps was obtained on one of the several test runs that were done - the router achieved results of around +/- 20 Mbps for both the download and upload speeds on other test runs.

Wireless Connection Test Results (1 Gbps fibre internet connection)

It's worth noting that the RadiX AX6600 has two 5GHz bands, 5GHz-H and 5GHz-L. The 5GHz-L band has a maximum channel width of 80MHz and a maximum transfer speed of 1201Mbps, whereas the 5GHz-H band has a maximum channel width of 160MHz with up to 4800Mbps of bandwidth - when connecting a device, the H band should be used as much as possible so as to maximise your device's internet connection speed.

On the 5GHz-H band, a download speed of 592.17 Mbps and an upload speed of 807.02 Mbps was obtained on one of the several test runs that were done - the router achieved similar results of around +/- 50 Mbps for both the download and upload speeds on other test runs.

On the 5GHz-L band, a download speed of 491.16 Mbps and an upload speed of 491.93 Mbps was obtained on one of the several test runs that were done - the router achieved similar results of around +/- 20 Mbps for both the download and upload speeds on other test runs.

Finally, on the 2.4GHz band, a download speed of 137.60 Mbps and an upload speed of 111.15 Mbps was obtained on one of the several test runs that were done - the router achieved similar results of around +/- 20 Mbps for both the download and upload speeds on other test runs.

Pricing & Conclusion

With that, the RadiX AX6600 marks MSI's re-entry into the wireless router market in a good way, where it performs decently well and was easy enough to set up. It's worth noting though that there's no shortage of competition for the AX6600, where the WIFI 6 wireless router segment is replete with offerings from more established brands that have been in the wireless connectivity market for longer. Granted, while the AX6600 and AXE6600 are but the first two wireless router offerings that mark MSI's return to this segment of the industry, it would have been great had the RadiX line-up come with mesh support, which would have been an added competitive advantage.

As of end-May 2024, the RadiX AX6600 is available to purchase for a price of around $365 in Singapore; international folks can purchase the AX6600 for around $99 US dollars from e-Commerce sites such as Amazon.

Get this wireless router from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3VemIYg (affiliate link)

Get this wireless router from Shopee Singapore: https://shope.ee/2q8pJpTtAK (affiliate link)

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The wireless router featured in this article was a review unit provided on loan from MSI.