All builds are beta including those from the router database.
This is a loaded question and it really all comes down to what you plan on using the router for and what "extra" packages within DD-WRT you are planning on using.
The most basic answer is that the latest build is always the best built to start off with as it will have the most up-to-date drivers (Or best working drivers known at the time) for the particular device. That said, the newest build might, still, have bugs which leads in nicely to...the next place to look and watch are the specific build release topics that are intended to bring up any issues for a particular build, a particular router, and specific settings/features being used and which are working or not. Those are formatted to appear like this:
New Build - ##/##/20## - r#####
One final thought on all this- Sometimes today's latest release may not be the best in terms of performance because a lot might have been stripped out to make way for newer features. This is both good and bad. With new features come new bugs and/or increased CPU & Ram usage which may cripple the router under heavy loads. This is especially true on very old 4mb flash space routers. For those one's, it might be best to really dig through the search features and find builds that are closer in date to the release date of the router than today's latest and greatest. This is especially true if the Linux Kernel started off on 2.4 or 2.6 and then migrated to 3.x kernels. Newer kernels mean more resource consumption and might actually slow down your Wan-Lan performance.
Beyond that, you should take a look at my signature for the best wifi settings and read the qca wifi wiki to eek out the most from your router.
Realize that posting a new topic asking what's the best build is very amateurish and likely won't get any good responses. Most people will say try the newest build...and in part they are right. Otherwise use this search engine link as your precursor to search these forums. Make sure the search leads off with the "site:dd-wrt.com" and then use AND or + to help hone in on what you are looking for. _________________ FORUM RULES
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 Posts: 2146 Location: All over YOUR webs
Posted: Sat May 14, 2022 4:37 Post subject:
Only the latest build will:
Include the latest security fixes and patches.
Include updated libraries and components.
Include the latest bug fixes.
Only the latest build is supported for reporting bugs or issues against.
When reporting bugs with older builds, the very first thing the reporter should be asked to do is, to reset the router to factory defaults, upgrade to latest build and reconfigure manually.
What is the latest build and what do you mean by it?
When we say latest, we mean the greatest revision number of DD-WRT firmware to be made publicly available for download.
I have the latest build installed.
When users say they have the latest, it doesn't actually mean the same since latest is not a specific revision. When reporting issues a specific revision is required.
It is also important to note, that only by installing the latest will you benefit from the points above and ensure the issue still persists.