Wireless Reviews

Introduction

Buffalo sent us both its AC class routers to take a look at, the WZR-1750DHP and WZR-1166DHP. First up is a look at the Broadcom-based WZR-1750DHP.

The WZR-1750DHP has plenty of lights and ports with four Gigabit Ethernet LAN, one WAN and a USB 2.0 port and USB 3.0 port. Buttons include power, mode, and AP/bridge, but No wireless on/off.

Buffalo WZR-1750DHP front panel callouts

The front panel "Buffalo" and rear-panel USB LEDs use color and blink codes, so keep the manual handy. The front and rear callouts can be seen on the images above and below.

Buffalo WZR-1750DHP rear panel callouts

Inside

We didn't take apart the 1750DHP and instead relied on the FCC ID photos that had closeups of all the key components. The large plate in the top cover is a heat spreader that is thermally coupled to the ceramic heat spreader on top of the second-generation Broadcom BCM4708A SoC that forms the heart of the router. There is another plate on the other cover with thermal pads that serve as heatsinks for other components.

Buffalo WZR-1750DHP case and board

Removing the shielding reveals the key Broadcom devices.

Buffalo WZR-1750DHP board

The WZR-1750DHP's key components are summarized in Table 1 beside the D-Link DIR-868L—the only other AC1750 class router we've reviewed so far using Broadcom's second-generation BCM4708A SoC. The designs are pretty much the same except for more RAM in the Buffalo.