Introduction

It was not that long ago that I started testing WiFi 6 networking solutions and the market has only just got to the point where consumer devices—phones, laptops, pre-built PCs, standalone motherboards, add-on NICs—are expected to support it. Such was the delay in widespread adoption that we have had an addendum to the same 802.11ax IEEE standard called WiFi 6E come out already. WiFi 6 (wireless ax) operates over the same 5 GHz band as WiFi 5 (wireless ac) so going with the wider, less crowded 6 GHz band with WiFi 6E presents inherent advantages not only in higher potential bandwidth but also just less obstruction from other routers and clients. But things are not as simple with regional discrepancy over the assigned channels in the 6 GHz band, and it took even longer for most countries to even allow WiFi 6E to operate in the first place. As such, I decided to wait until now to cover a WiFi 6E router for the first time and MSI won out for a few different reasons.

MSI needs no introduction, having been one of the most reviewed brands on TechPowerUp and a household name in the PC DIY space. The Taiwan-based brand has diversified galore to go outside the PC tower, covering peripherals, monitors, and much more. It was not a surprise then that MSI would get into the networking game too—at least outside of old, plausibly re-branded products—and CES 2023 saw a few different routers shown under the RadiX product line that MSI says have been in development for a few years with plenty of hard work put into both the hardware and software side of things. One of these is an interesting prototype unit for WiFi 7 networking (see what I mean about WiFi standards being wonky these days?) but the RadiX AXE660 finally made a full debut after being first teased at CES last year. This is MSI’s first proper router release in ages and was developed alongside a less expensive WiFi 6-only AX6000 sibling that this review should also give you a performance preview of. Thanks to MSI for providing a sample of the European model—please be aware that the US model, for example, may perform differently—to TechPowerUp, as we begin with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications