Few things are more frustrating than packet loss or high ping causing in-game lag. It always seems to happen at the worst possible moment, when you’re about to snipe an unsuspecting opponent or screech into a hairpin bend. While there are other potential causes, your substandard router could be doing you dirty. The best gaming routers promise rock solid connections and can usually prioritize game-related traffic to reduce the risk of issues. They also frequently feature fancy designs and customizable lighting to fit your gaming room.
Now, you don’t necessarily need a special gaming router. A good router is a good router, and you’ll find tons of them in my guides to the Best Routers and Best Mesh Systems. You can also get a better connection simply by running an Ethernet cable from your router to your gaming PC. That said, I have tested several gaming routers, and my top pick is the fastest router I have ever tested.
Love WIRED? Add us as a preferred source on Google to see more of us.
Table of Contents
Best Asus Gaming Routers
The brand I recommend as the best for gamers is Asus. The Taiwanese company has a long gaming history and dedicated sub-brands like Republic of Gamers (ROG). It produces fast, highly configurable routers with free security software and many gaming extras. Ports are usually generous, there’s no need for a subscription, and you can combine different Asus routers that support AiMesh into a mesh system to extend your coverage. The potential downsides are the relatively high prices, occasionally buggy firmware, and the need to dig into configuration settings to get the best performance.
Asus
ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro
Topping my testing charts, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro is a supremely capable, quad-band Wi-Fi 7 gaming router. In terms of raw speed, this is the best router I have tested to date. That alone makes it feel worthy of the “gimmick” of being designed explicitly for gaming. It is very similar to the RT-BE96U in my regular router guide, but with the ROG model, Asus has added a second 6-GHz band on top of the existing 2.4-GHz, 5-GHz, and 6-GHz bands. This massively increases the available bandwidth, affording you plenty of space for multiple gaming streams, or giving you an extra band for wireless backhaul if you decide to set up a mesh using Asus’s AiMesh connectivity. It also has an extra 10-Gbps LAN port, giving you one 10-Gbps WAN/LAN, two 10-Gbps LAN, four Gigabit LAN, one USB 3.2, and a USB 2.0 port. The USB ports come in handy for NAS devices. You must pay extra for these additions, so if you don’t have multiple gaming streams or a NAS, you can save money with the RT-BE96U and still get great performance.
This is also easily the biggest router I have ever tested at nearly 14 inches across, with eight huge antennas, and it weighs 4.4 pounds. It is far from subtle, won’t blend in, and could prove tricky to place due to its size. Because it’s a gaming router, Asus has included Aura RGB lighting, so you can pick the colored lighting you want and make it a feature.
AiProtection Pro security software and parental controls, powered by Trend Micro, are bundled into the cost. This comprehensive security combo includes a firewall, intrusion prevention, malicious site blocking, automatic updates, and more. Parental controls include scheduling, website filtering by age, and usage stats. You also get VPN support with the option to connect remotely when you are out and about. You can redeem a free year of NordVPN service with this router. Naturally, there are some gaming-focused features, with game acceleration enabling you to prioritize gaming-related traffic through ports and packet analysis. If you have Asus’ ROG gear, it can be prioritized with a click, and Asus includes server acceleration to minimize latency through the third-party WTFast service.
Apart from the size and cost, there isn’t much to complain about here, but it is worth considering that the range on the 6-GHz band is limited and struggles to penetrate through walls, so you will need Wi-Fi 7 devices nearby to take full advantage of this router. Ideally, have it in the same room as your gaming PC or laptop. This router was originally touted to get Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) support, but it never did (look at the next pick if that’s something you want).
Asus ROG Strix GS-BE12000 for $400: If you don’t want to spend as much, but you’re set on a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router, and you want lots of ports, this model could make sense. I found it stable and seriously speedy on the 6-GHz and 5-GHz bands. It boasts 320 MHz channels on the 6-GHz band, Multi-Link Operation (MLO), and 4K-QAM (read my How to Buy a Router and Wi-Fi 7 guides for a breakdown on these terms). It has a 2.5 Gbps WAN and seven 2.5 Gbps LAN ports, two of which are dedicated gaming ports, and a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port. You get mostly the same excellent software and gaming options as my top pick. This is a scaled down version of the BE18000 ($530), and has 2 x 2 MIMO on the 6-GHz band instead of 4 x 4, but I think it’s a better buy for most folks, especially if you see it on sale. It’s worth noting that both models have official Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) support, which extends the range of the 6-GHz band to make it more comparable to the 5-GHz band range. I can’t test this here in the UK, as it’s only available in North America and requires your precise real-world location so local regulators can authorize it.
Asus TUF Gaming BE9400 for $265: The cheaper end of Asus gaming routers, this model is still a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router, and it doesn’t make too many compromises. It has one 2.5 Gbps WAN, three 2.5 Gbps LAN ports, and a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port. You miss out on some ROG-exclusive gaming features, the design is not as nice, and it lacks RGB lighting. But this router performed far better than the price would suggest, keeping pace with my top pick at close range, though coverage doesn’t extend as far.