Review: ASUS GT-AXE16000 ROG Rapture WiFi 6E Gaming Router

As a gamer, you know the importance of a reliable router that keeps you connected and in the zone. When your roommates or family are gaming or streaming in your household, an efficient gaming router is essential to minimise disruption and to keep your high scores up. We got our hands on the Asus GT-AXE16000, which is currently the world’s first quad-band Wi-Fi 6E gaming router, to see if it has more game than shame.

That’s no space station…

The GT-AXE16000 is undoubtedly the biggest router I have ever seen, with eight adjustable antennas and measuring 35cm x 35cm by almost 20cm. It’s size and shape make it hard to miss. I haven’t quite decided if it reminds me of something out of Game of Thrones or one of General Zod’s flying devices out of a superman film, I really kinda like it. The top of the device has a bunch of sculpted vents and a glassy area with the Aura logo on it. The Aura RGB lighting engine behind the logo provides cool lighting effects and activity indicators for the different ports and bands it connects through, making it a perfect match for any LED bedazzled gaming PC.

Big on Specs.

It is powered by a 2.0GHz quad-core processor and has 2GB of DDR4 RAM and 256MB flash storage. On the back, in addition to the networking ports (which we’ll get to soon), you’ll find a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port, the on/off switch, the reset button, and power socket. On the other side are the WPS button and an LED on/off switch, which is handy if you want to avoid startling your pets at night.

Of course, the most crucial aspect of the GT-AXE16000 is its connectivity. With your Wi-Fi connected home, smartphones, tablets, handheld games, and smartwatches, the router needs to keep up. Luckily, the GT-AXE16000 has got you covered. It offers a 2.4GHz band for older or simpler devices, two 5GHz bands, and the new 6GHZ band, promising massively improved connectivity with less data congestion for compatible devices. I must stress that right now, there is not a huge amount of Wi-Fi 6 devices out there, but they are coming and it will be a standard across everything soon. You’ll also find Beamforming, OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), 20/40/80/160 MHz bandwidth, a 1024-QAM high data rate, and WPA3 encryption as standard. Additionally, it supports Asus’s own AiMesh, which enables the device to easily connect with other AiMesh devices to create home mesh networks.

But hey, you’re a gamer so let’s get into the nitty gritty. The GT-AXE16000 is perfect for gamers who love their wired networking as much as I do. On the back of the device, you get four 1Gbps LAN ports, two 10Gbps LAN/WAN ports, and one 2.5Gbps WAN port. All of these ports support link aggregation, which combines network connections to increase the reliability and bandwidth of your network.

What does this all mean? Well, in case you hadn’t realized from the specs, I doubt any household will ever be able to saturate this router.

Let’s talk about software.

If you’re anything like me, coming from routers bundled from your internet supplier, the idea that software on a router being anything more than barely passable was frankly unthinkable. The  GT-AXE16000 changed my mind!

The ASUSWRT firmware provides either a web-based or an app based interface for configuring and managing the router’s essential and optional settings plus features. From sharing Wi-Fi access with QR codes, bandwidth prioritization to changing the RGB lighting, let’s just say there are a LOT of options.

Here are just a some of the standout features that the software offers:

• AiProtection: A security suite powered by Trend Micro that provides web security, intrusion protection, and malicious site blocking. Unlike a lot of other manufacturers, this is not a paid service and comes as standard.
• Parental Controls: This comes with the AiProtection suite and is designed to help protect your young ones (if you have them). The preset and customizable filters allow you to set time limits, filter content, and monitor online activity on your children’s devices while keeping full access for the adults around the house. (All the things your kids will hate but will help you sleep better at night)
• -Game Accelerator: This optimizes the network performance for gaming by prioritizing game packets, reducing ping, and minimizing lag which should give you a competitive advantage.
• AiMesh: A feature that allows you to create a mesh network with other compatible ASUS routers to extend your WiFi coverage and eliminate dead zones so you can have a solid WiFi connection everywhere
• VPN Fusion: A feature that allows you to run a VPN and a regular internet connection simultaneously, so you can access geo-restricted content and protect your privacy without sacrificing speed.

To be honest there is so much depth in ASUSWRT that you’ll be hard pressed to find settings you can’t customize. It really is a revelation.

What does it all mean?

Overall, the Asus GT-AXE16000 is an impressive gaming router. Actually scratch that, it’s just impressive period, not just for gamers. Right now I doubt you’ll be able to flood it to the point you’d notice and that makes it excellent in my book.

Its size and lighting may not sway you but it provides outstanding connectivity, a multitude of networking ports, and excellent customizability. If you’re a gamer or, in fact anyone, looking for a modern, reliable, efficient, with Wi-Fi 6 and the combination of hardware and software specs, future-proof router, the GT-AXE16000 is your best choice.

The Asus GT-AXE16000 is sold at Scorptec and can be found also on Amazon HERE