Closer Look at the R7000 Nighthawk

As expected the R7000 accessory list is very, very plain, but still more than adequate. You get a decently appointed installation booklet, an external power adapter, and three external antennas, so all the basic bases have been covered.Once you get past the unique look of the Nighthawk, a few other points do spring to mind. This is obviously a horizontal-only design and standing it up in a vertical position would prove difficult. Of course you can still mount it to a wall, but compared to a Linksys WRT1900AC this horizontal footprint design isn’t quite as versatile.Its horizontal footprint means that the Nighthawk can be located in tight spots where a tall ASUS RT-AC68U simply will not. Whether or not you like this large but short design will ultimately come down to your particular needs.Whether you consider the dark gray and black plastic Nighthawk to be gorgeous or gauche, two items located on the R7000’s front will either reinforce or help improve your opinion of this router. Firstly, unlike most routers we have looked at in the past, there’s a well placed USB 3.0 port. This may not sound all that important but it will make connecting an external storage device a lot easier than it is on most other routers. You will not have to blindly grope around the various RJ45 network cables, and you certainly need not worry about accidentally striking the power or reset buttons while plugging in the USB cable.Even more important than the USB 3.0 front port is the inclusion of a very good LED status indicator cluster. Much like the WRT1900AC the multiple LEDS can tell you with just a glance exactly what the status of the R7000's various components are. To be precise from left to right these LEDS are: Power On, Internet Connectivity, a 2.4GHz band LED and another for the 5GHz network. Next to this is the front panel USB indicator while the USB 2 LED is linked to the rear I/O panel. Next up is the four Ethernet LEDs, a WiFi on/off button (with integrated LED) and a WPS activation button.Both sides of the R7000 are clear of obstructions and contain nothing but a generous amount of ventilation slits. Considering Netgear has opted for hotter running components than most, will come in handy.In keeping with most wireless routers, the I/O panel is located on the Nighthawk’s back and is very similar to most routers we have looked at in the past. From left to right the layout is as follows: a small reset button, the four wired 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports(black), a single color coded (yellow) WAN port, the lone USB 2.0 port, a small power button, and at the extreme right the power input connector.Because Netgear has moved a few essential components out of this area and to the unit’s front, every port is quite easy to access. Even when all are populated it is rather easy to disconnect and reconnect any device to the R7000. The only real issue with the rear layout is the fact that all these components are sharing space with the three external antennas. In most cases this will not cause any issues, but when all the various ports are in use you will be unable to swing the antennas left and right as much as you would expect. You can still fine-tune the antenna array's configuration but we do wish Netgear had repositioned the left and rightmost antennas to the side.Much like the exterior design has been fairly well thought out and executed, the R7000’s interior architecture is purpose built. As with most routers the Nighthawk makes use of a 128GB NAND IC, and a single 256MB RAM IC but instead of the typical Broadcom BCM4708 dual core controller Netgear has gone for the top of the line BCM4709 model. As with the 4708 this System on a Chip is a dual core controller that has proven to be very effective, however clocking in at 1GHz instead of 800MHz the BCM4709 does offer significant boost in performance.Unfortunately going hand in hand with this increase in performance is a nearly equal increase in heat output. While still well within the bounds of passive cooling, this hotter running chip does need good ventilation to keep from causing random disconnects. On the positive side Netgear has also opted for the potent - and proven - Broadcom BCM4360 controllers for both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz networks. This in combination with good amplifiers and three 5Dbi antennas should allow the Nighthawk to easily reach its full 'AC1900' potential with 600Mbit on the 802.11N network and 1300Mbits/sec on the 5GHz 802.11AC network.Overall the internal layout and design is very good, but not without one issue worth mentioning. Given the hotter 4709 used we were disappointed by the size and location of the single heatsink Netgear has opted for. Firstly this heatsink is no more robust than the typical heatsink found in most other manufactures’ cooler running 4708 SoC-based units.Unfortunately, the 4709 has been located on theof the unit, where any heat it radiates away from the chipset will rise…and reheat those selfsame components. Given the combination of hot running internals and poor cooling capabilities we would be hesitant to recommend the R7000 for long term application in airflow restrictive environments or even scenarios that continuously stress the hot running Broadcom controller.