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What are some of the fastest OpenWRT-compatible wifi routers out there? (In terms of general processing power)

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Are you sure OpenWRT is what you want? I think if you were actually using OpenWRT, you wouldn't need to ask this question. No offense... just wondering if maybe DD-WRT is better for you. In that case, I've had pretty good luck with my WRT600n, but you may want to check into the WRT610n. – churnd May 30 '10 at 16:58
Please clarify why I wouldn't need to ask this question. I currently use OpenWRT on a WRT54Gv4. – marienbad Jun 2 '10 at 17:01
because flashing your router's firmware, isn't exactly something some computer literate would do. However, that doesn't change the legitimacy of your question. It's fine for me. – Ivo Flipse♦ Jun 3 '10 at 6:30
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don't listen to @ivo, i'm rather computer literate and i flashed my router's firmware about 5 minutes after pulling it out of the box. :) – quack quixote Jun 11 '10 at 20:46
@quack quixote: Reminds me that I've flashed my router some time ago after 4 years in which it was working...I wanted a new one anyway. ;) – Bobby Jul 21 '10 at 11:55
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To the best of my knowledge, the OpenWRT table of supported hardware (or the older version) is the place to start. There's also a DD-WRT version if you want to compare. These tables list supported devices and detail their hardware capabilities, including CPU platform, CPU frequency, amount of RAM and flash memory capacity.

Most devices in these tables are older and will have a CPU speed of ~200MHz. Glancing through the OpenWRT table, a few more recent devices jump out at me as having potential. This is a cursory look, though, and it's hard to tell how one CPU stacks up against another without more detailed research.

Additionally, the Work-in-Progress section of the table lists some other interesting devices:

  • Linksys WRT400N, 680MHz CPU (Atheros AR7161), 8MB flash, 32MB RAM (watch out for useless template info at the link)
  • Linksys WRT610N, 300MHz CPU (Broadcom BCM4705), 8MB flash, 64MB RAM (WIP)
  • Mikrotik RouterBoard RB-450G, 680MHz CPU (Atheros AR7161), 512MB flash, 256 MB RAM (!! ... awww, no wireless... )
  • Netgear WNDR3700, 680MHz CPU (Atheros AR7161), 8MB flash, 64MB RAM

Those seem to be the beefiest devices listed, but I'm not familiar with any of them off the bat. It's a start for your research, though. From here, you might look into the capabilities of the Atheros CPU that the fastest of these devices use, and see how it compares with the Marvell CPUs used by the others.

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Right, I've seen the Table of Hardware of course, but I realize that 600MHz CPU A and 600MHz CPU B might be vastly different -- that's why I have this question. Thanks, BTW. – marienbad Jun 11 '10 at 20:34
@marienbad: you might want to touch up your question to specify what you're looking for; an example like "I realize that 600MHz CPU A and 600MHz CPU B might be vastly different, how do these CPUs compare" would give answerers something more to bite into. (name specific CPUs, of course, not just "CPU A" and "CPU B". feel free to grab CPU names from this answer if you like.) – quack quixote Jun 11 '10 at 20:50
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Fastest OpenWRT wifi router in regards to what?

Startup time? How quickly it trains to the signal on the line? Switching traffic? Processing power? Encrypting data for a VPN?

If you're an internet techie moving from house-to-house testing ADSL connections then you don't want something that trains to the line for 5 minutes.

If you're using it to copy large files between computers on your network you probably want something that can switch traffic quickly.

Do you want OpenWRT so you can run a web server on your router? In that case you might want processing power.

Is this router going to be part of a hub and spoke VPN and it will have to encrypt traffic? In that case you probably want something with hardware that can accelerate encryption.

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No, I guess I wasn't clear in my question. I'm only concerned with processing power for general purpose applications. – marienbad Jun 2 '10 at 17:05
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