8.8
Asus ROG Rapture GT6 mesh gaming router
Like
Quickest mesh router we have examined but
Eye-catching, show-offy design
Help for 160MHz channel width over 5.9GHz spectrum
Multigig Ethernet jacks and USB ports on every system
Accessible in black or white
Do not like
No Wi-Fi 6E help for 6GHz band
System often routes connections by means of the extender when it should not
Eye-catching, show-offy design
Mesh routers are available in all styles and sizes. Nonetheless, all of them have one factor in frequent: impartial aesthetics designed to fit proper into a large web of lounge decor. The Asus ROG Rapture GT 6 is just not that sort of router. The mesh router stands out with its imply gamer aesthetic that leans in the direction of the appear and feel of a gaming PC. It even has an angular construct and dot-matrix LEDs that imply enterprise. Clearly, this can be a router meant to be proven off as decor in a gaming den. However is all of it bling with no zing? Let’s take a look at if the router’s efficiency matches its cutting-edge appears.
“For many who dare,” reads the all-caps aid lettering etched into the facet of every unit.
Effectively, I dared — which is to say, I used to be fairly darned curious to check the factor out and see if it was any good. I’ve examined a few of the greatest mesh routers, together with these by Orbi, Deco, Eero and Nest. The Asus Rapture GT6 not solely outperformed them however did so by a large margin.
The Asus ROG Rapture GT6 gaming router appears extra like a PC tower than a Wi-Fi router.
How significantly better? Our managed take a look at area is a five-room setup at our product-testing lab with gigabit obtain speeds that max out at round 940 megabits per second. After operating a mess of pace exams in every room over the course of two days, the GT6 completed with a mean obtain pace of 809Mbps throughout all distances. The following greatest is the TP-Hyperlink Deco X4300 Professional — one other tri-band, Wi-Fi 6 mesh router — which completed with a mean of 646Mbps.
It is a powerful efficiency delta for the system over its opponents, and it might need one thing to do with its help for full-width, 160MHz channels. That is a essential improve that permits the greatest Wi-Fi 6 routers like this one to maneuver mass quantities of information backwards and forwards extra effectively. Asus takes issues one step additional with help for lately opened UNII-4 spectra at 5.9GHz, which the GT6 makes use of to sneak in room for a 3rd 160MHz-wide channel. That positions the system to do a greater job of sustaining quick speeds even in giant, high-traffic environments, and that is exactly the kind of efficiency I noticed as I examined the factor out.
Backing up the router’s high-speed wi-fi capabilities is a high-speed WAN port able to accepting 2.5Gbps connections. Good when you’ve got your self a multi-gig web plan. Moreover, the gamer-friendly options within the Asus Router app assist make it one of the crucial spectacular and full Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers available on the market. Admittedly, some won’t take care of the sci-fi design. However even when you’re not a gamer, the router continues to be price a search for its unimaginable efficiency, and vary that blankets a house as giant as 5,800 sq. ft. All for a comparatively affordable splurge at $427.
A design that dares
Constructed for players who like exhibiting off their {hardware}, the Asus Rog Rapture GTX is about as flashy as mesh routers get. It is not the primary router to mix design aesthetics from the gaming and mesh classes, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a placing departure that’ll stand out within the router aisle, to not point out a system that ought to slot in alongside even the fanciest gaming setups.
People who really feel prefer it would not mix in with their residence’s decor is likely to be inclined to maintain the issues out of sight, however routers carry out their greatest after they’re positioned out within the open. If you would like a Wi-Fi 6 mesh router that is rather less conspicuous, then you must in all probability go for the minimalism of one thing just like the Eero 6 Plus or the TP-Hyperlink Deco X4300 Professional, as a substitute.
As for the {hardware}, every GT6 unit is a tri-band AX10000 system. The “AX” in that pace score tells you that the system helps 802.11ax, or Wi-Fi 6, whereas the “10000” half refers back to the mixed prime theoretical speeds of the two.4GHz band (574Mbps) and the 2 5GHz bands (4,804Mbps every). Together with the 9 inside antennas, the inside homes a sturdy 1.7GHz tri-core processor with the standard 512MB of RAM and 256MB of Flash reminiscence. Flip the GT6 round, and you will find a WAN port that helps incoming wired speeds as much as 2.5Gbps, in addition to three spare gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, a bodily energy change, the A/C energy jack, and a USB 3.2 port, which is uncommon to search out on a mesh router lately. Every GT6 unit is an identical, too, so any of them can join along with your modem and function the primary system in your setup.
You may set the system up utilizing the Asus Router app in your Android or iOS system. It is fairly respectable as router apps go, managing to remain easy and easy whereas providing a deeper mixture of options and controls than you may get with most mesh opponents. I additionally respect that the interface would not bombard you with splash adverts for premium safety providers like these in Netgear’s Nighthawk and Orbi apps.
Setup solely takes a matter of minutes. You may choose the GT6 from the record of Asus routers, scan a QR code on the underside of no matter system you are connecting to your modem, choose a reputation and password on your community, and that’ll do it. From there, you can monitor real-time add and obtain visitors from the house display, in addition to CPU/RAM percentages and the variety of linked gadgets. You too can faucet on the house display to regulate the colour and elegance of these LED lights (or to show them off). My solely gripe: After I tried to show the LEDs off on the extender and never the primary router itself, it did not work. They had been both each off or each on.
The house display additionally presents shortcuts to 2 of the primary gaming options: a high quality of service engine (QoS) used for prioritizing various kinds of internet visitors (favoring gaming or streaming over file transfers and different potential bandwidth hogs, as an illustration), and a cell enhance mode that, with the contact of a button, prioritizes gaming visitors to no matter telephone or pill you are operating the app on. Superior customers can dig by means of the ample settings to search out extras like Open NAT port forwarding controls and different networking methods.
It isn’t all about gaming, after all — the Asus Router app additionally presents complete and customizable parental controls, in addition to computerized menace scans and VPN entry. You too can obtain a separate On the spot Guard app to tunnel your internet visitors again by means of your property community like a VPN whilst you’re touring or utilizing public Wi-Fi networks. Better of all, none of that requires a subscription or month-to-month payment. All of it’s free to make use of, which is clearly glorious.
Amongst the entire mesh routers I’ve examined at our lab in Louisville, the Asus Rog Rapture GT6 is the quickest. Nothing, not even fancy Wi-Fi 6E programs, have managed to common quicker wi-fi add or obtain speeds throughout our 1,300 square-foot take a look at area.
Efficiency and pace
Talking of fantastic, take an excellent have a look at the chart above, which reveals the common obtain and add speeds of every mesh system I’ve examined in our lab’s 1,300 sq. ft. take a look at area, the place we have now a gigabit fiber connection. The Asus Rog Rapture GT6 is our new pace king in these exams, with a mean wi-fi obtain pace to our Wi-Fi 6 take a look at laptop computer of 809Mbps and a mean wi-fi add pace of 785Mbps. Each of these figures are quicker than any competitor I’ve examined up to now.
The GT6 was in a position to hit prime speeds of no less than 850Mbps in each room I examined, however speeds often dropped within the three rooms closest to the router. That is as a result of within the half of my exams the place I began my connection within the storage, the farthest room from the router, the system would proceed to route my connection by means of the extender even after I had moved nearer to the router. In the long run, it wasn’t sufficient to maintain the system from ending our exams with the quickest common speeds we have seen up to now.
Taking a better have a look at the take a look at knowledge reveals that the GT6 was in a position to hit wi-fi obtain speeds within the 850-to-900Mbps vary in every of the 5 rooms I ran pace exams in, which is nice. Nonetheless, you may additionally discover a break up within the first three rooms I take a look at in, with roughly half of the exams dipping right down to the 500-to-650Mbps vary. That is as a result of I break up my pace exams into two units: one set the place I set up my laptop computer’s connection in the identical room because the router (the lab’s “lounge”) after which work my approach away from it, and one other set the place I begin my connection within the farthest room from the router (the “storage”), after which work again in the direction of it.
Within the exams the place I began my connection removed from the router, the system would start by routing my visitors by means of the extender, which is smart as a result of I used to be beginning removed from the router. However then, as I labored again in the direction of the router, the system continued routing my visitors by means of the extender, even after I had moved nearer to the router than the extender, and even after I had returned to the very room the place the router itself sits. At that time, the extender was solely creating an additional, pointless leap for my connection, however the system continued utilizing it anyway.
That kind of “sticky shopper” subject, the place the system retains utilizing the extender after it ought to, is pretty frequent among the many mesh routers I take a look at. In some extreme circumstances, with programs the place there is a notable dip in efficiency each time visitors takes the additional step of routing by means of an extender, a difficulty like this might trigger a major drop in your general common speeds (that is what occurred with the last-place-finishing Linksys Velop MX2000, as an illustration). Within the case of the GT6, the system is powerful sufficient that the break up in speeds would not really add as much as a lot of a noticeable distinction — and positively not one noticeable sufficient to maintain the GT6 out of the highest spot so far as speeds are involved. It is also principally some extent of concern for telephones, laptops and different gadgets that’ll transfer round the home with you, and never for stationary gadgets like sensible residence devices or media streamers.
As for latency, our normal working process is to trace the ping worth of every pace take a look at we run, all of them to the identical AT&T server positioned in St. Louis. That server is exterior of our management, so I am reluctant to make too many comparisons to programs we examined months in the past. Nonetheless, in comparison with our most up-to-date spherical of mesh exams, the GT6 was proper in line, ending with a mean latency of 32ms, with spikes no increased than 56ms. Days earlier than, I examined the Netgear Orbi 860 Collection, one other high-end Wi-Fi 6 mesh router. That system completed with a decrease common of latency of 19ms, although it noticed barely steeper spikes as excessive as 64ms.
The decision
Do you dare spend over $400 on a elaborate new mesh router? If it is the Asus Rog Rapture GT6, I actually could not blame you. With blazing-fast speeds constructed for gigabit networks and past, plus robust ease of setup, likable, free-to-use options, and a polarizing however endearing in-your-face design, it efficiently marries the very best of the mesh and gaming router classes. It is a straightforward Editors’ Selection choose and a justifiable splurge at $427, although your greatest guess can be to attempt to snag it for much less subsequent time there is a huge sale.
