The best gaming router | PC Gamer. The best budget router Vertical space- saving design Fully featured Solid throughput scores on both 2. GHz and 5 GHz frequencies Dual USB ports Black matte plastic is pedestrian. Hey, we get it, not every gamer can drop the big bucks on a router, with a need to stretch the dollar, enter the RT- AC1. P, Asus’ entry into the budget router space. Spec wise, it features AC1. N6. 00/AC1. 30. 0) that are fairly standard in this segment. It takes a fairly business approach to the router design, with matte black plastic in a vertical design, with three antennas that can be positioned. ![]() Let’s face it, nothing on the outside really screams gaming, although from some comments on previous router guides, that may be a good thing for at least some folks. On the rear are the fairly standard four Gigabit LAN ports plus the port for the internet connection, two USB ports (one 2. There are also blue status LED’s across the front, and a power button, with additional button switches for turning off the Wi- Fi and to activate the WPS. Overall, this router features a quite compact design, and the power supply was also compact compared to its peers. The rear of the Asus RT- AC1. P has a clean, compact interface that has dual USB ports, including one that is 3. Looking at the specs does indicate that good things do indeed come in small packages. The Asus RT- AC1. P has a 3 x 3 antenna design. It has a dual core processor inside, with a 1. GHz clock speed, and 2. There are many reasons for you to install VPN on your home router. Here I will show you how to setup a VPN on your router. Best VPN for PC gaming We test a variety of services to see which keeps your private browsing data private. By Jonas DeMuro. MB of RAM with 1. MB of flash memory. Here are the top 10 best wireless access points 2017, these products have been used by many people in the world. Provides reliable connections and works fast.In addition to functioning as a router, it can also function as a range extender or access point giving additional flexibility in the setup of a network. The setup was done via a browser interface. As soon as the connection was established, the Asus RT- AC1. P indicated it was not running the latest firmware, and was able to download and update it to the latest once it received approval- all routers should upgrade their software so efficiently without sending the user on a scavenger hunt for the file. The Qo. S on the Asus RT- AC1. P features priority by the client, or by the category of software, so gaming won’t take a backseat to a Netflix video stream. The software interface on the RT- AC1. P is particularly robust, while maintaining an ease of use. For example, the settings can all be controlled via the Asus app for a smartphone or tablet. The Qo. S settings allow not only for the client devices to be designated among five levels (highest, high, medium, default and lowest), but in addition, the web traffic can be prioritized based on broad categories including gaming, or more granularly among six categories as seen in the image above. There are also the usual features including external storage via the USB port, VPN, traffic analysis, alternate DNS, guest network and parental controls. There are also helpful snippets of information, particularly well done on the Android app, that clue less experienced users into what a particular setting can accomplish. Major news events like Hurricane Harvey produce thousands of photos, and thousands more tweets and Facebook posts of fake, outdated or out-of-context photos. . Overall, there is an excellent assortment of controls, that should satisfy the advanced user, while encouraging those less experienced in networking to tinker. Looking at the performance of the Asus RT- AC1. P reveals that this router takes the pole position in three of the four tests of the budget category. While some other gear struggled on the 2. GHz frequency, this router hardly breaks a sweat, and had me double checking the price on this affordable router as it punches above its weight, and has scores so good that they could be confused with some of the choices in the higher categories. There are literally thousands of reviews of this router on Amazon, and it is clear why it gets over four out of five stars from those users. For the current $1. Amazon, this is an excellent choice for users looking to get great performance on a budget. Also good: Netduma R1. Hiding underneath the Netduma’s R1 pedestrian exterior is tan excellent software that promises to “Dominate lag.” We were skeptical as well, and went hands on for a deep dive to see how their Device Prioritization worked, and with Preemptive Anti- Flood they take shaping of gaming data to a higher level. While its throughput testing on the 2. GHz was less than impressive, the 2. FPS on our network gaming congestion test was the highest among the budget routers, and kept pace with our midrange router choice as well. The sacrifice is that their router has no 5 GHz support, a tough pill to swallow on this generally faster and less congested wireless frequency. Still, at $1. 99 you can join the ranks of “The Illuminati” of gaming routers, especially if you connect your gaming rig via a wired connection. TP- Link Archer C9 V2 (runner up)At first glance, the word that comes to mind for the TP- Link Archer C9 is ‘quirky.’ Rather than the typical horizontal design, the Archer C9 heads in the other direction, and goes for a space saving vertical design, complete with a metal kick stand. Add in the glossy white color, and this looks more like a router that you would find in Ikea next to the kitchen gadget area, and hardly screams gaming, especially when side- to- side with many of the other routers in our database- it looks to our eyes like a modern toaster. For a space challenged setup, the vertical design does make plenty of sense, and it looks right at home on a bookshelf. The manual settings on the Archer C9 were able to be optimized for performance with the widest channel width of 8. MHz. Many other routers do not offer the option of fixing the 5 GHz frequency to the 8. MHz channel width. Setup was simple, and the TP- Link interface successfully puts the essential controls in a basic section, while allowing for full control in the advanced section. We were pleasantly surprised to find a full set of options for Qo. S settings, by both device, and the application. The wireless was also manually configured for the wider channel width (4. MHz for the 2. 4 GHz frequency, and 8. MHz for the 5 GHz frequency), the 8. Looking at the specs, the Archer C9 hardly gives up much ground, with a full feature set even at this cheaper price point. The spec is AC1. 90. GHz dual core processor, which is a little slower clock speed than some others, but works fine in use. The Archer C9 also incorporates beamforming, and has dual USB ports, although only one is USB 3. It has the usual four Gigabit ports on the rear as well; just realize that the Archer C9 does not support MU- MIMO. Speeds were impressive across the board, dominating the other budget routers, and seriously outperforming its price point, with tested speeds that could keep up with mid- range routers. While the Archer C9 was not the fastest in any test, it was quite close to our budget pick, the Asus RT- AC1. P on all four of our benchmark tests, and faster than TP- Link’s more expensive Archer AC2. The Archer C9 has a street price of $1. Amazon making this the cheapest router we have tested, and is a solid choice for many users. Don’t let its diminutive size lead you astray- good things can definitely come in small packages. Read More. Amped Wireless High Power AC2. Wi- Fi Router with MU- MIMO (Athena R2)Amped Wireless’ entry into the budget router market is their Athena R2 mode. It features 1. 6 advanced amplifiers coupled to 4 high gain antennas all driven by a 1. GHz quad core processor. In our testing, the Athena R2 is in the handful of routers that can exceed 3. Mbps of throughput on the 5 GHz test (3. Mbps to be exact), and was no slouch at 2. GHz. Truth be told, last year we would have recommended this router, as the throughput speeds are strong. However, on the network congestion test, the low FPS of 1. The ASRock G1. 0 had issues with slow throughput speeds, and less robust Qo. S that prioritized by the client, but not the type of traffic. ASRock has recently introduced their X1. Io. T including a Zig. Bee radio, and less for gaming. D- Link EXO AC2. 60. DIR- 8. 82)The D- Link EXO AC2. MU- MIMO Wi- Fi Router was recently introduced, promising 4x. MU- MIMO, AC Smartbeam, and Advanced Qo. S to optimize gaming. While its 5 GHz throughput speeds were impressive, the 2. GHz throughput fell behind the rest of the pack. On our network congestion test, while the video streams had among the lowest dropped frames at 8. DIR- 8. 82 had the lowest FPS from any router on the board. The retail price has recently dropped from $1. While the specs of the D- Link DIR- 8. L/R look good at AC3. Android Lollipop smartphone. D- Link DIR- 8. 79 EXOThe D- Link DIR- 8.
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