Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 review: A router for the gamers

Here’s what we think about the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 router.

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High-end routers are preferred by many users, especially gamers and streamers. Talking about gamers who are already using products in the ROG ecosystem, such as monitors, laptops and accessories, upgrading to a high-end router from the brand will be the next option in their bucket list. One such router is the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300.

 

Rating:
4.0/5

Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 review: A router for the gamers

It is a triband router offering two 5GHz bands and a 2.4GHz band. One of the 5GHz bands can be dedicated for the gaming devices to handle gaming traffic. The other two bands can be allotted to other devices. The benefit of having more bands is that it lets you connect more devices.

This gaming router is a tweaked version of the previous one from the company - the RT-AC5300. It has inbuilt support for WTFast, inbuilt malware protection and a multitude of firmware features as well.

Let's take a look at the review of the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC530 router from here.

Design and First Impressions

Design and First Impressions

The GT-5300 is quite identical to the RT-AC5300 in terms of looks. It has a large and squarish design. There are eight antennas giving a unique and cool look to this router. This unique design makes the gaming router look like a sci-tech gadget from outer space. The Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 measures 245 x 245 x 65 mm in dimensions and weighs in around 1.8 kg.

The top-of-the-line router features a ROG logo at the center of its top. Also, there are ventilation slots at the top of the router. The rear panel has an array of ports for connectivity. There is a power button, a reset button, eight Gigabit Ethernet ports, a ninth port to connect the router to the modem and two USB 3.0 ports. Of the 8 ports, two are labelled Link Aggregation and these are dedicated for gaming. These ports can render high speeds of up to 2Gbps for the best gaming experience.

At the front, there is an array of 6 LED indicators to indicate the power, 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi connectivity, internet status, WPS and Ethernet activity. Notably, both the 5GHz networks will share the same LED indicator. At the left of the router, there are 3 buttons to turn LED lights, WPS and Wi-Fi on and off.

ROG Gaming Center
 

ROG Gaming Center

To setup the GT-AC5300, all you need to do is plug the LAN cable into your router and another LAN cable to a PC to configure the router. You need to reset the router using the reset button on it and configure it using the ROG Gaming Center. The router menu could be a little complicated and confusing but you will get used to it in a few clicks. However, the gamers and nerds can understand these features and settings.

Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 has an array of advanced features. Some of these features are aimed at rendering a better experience. You can access the router's features from the interface called ROG Gaming Center. The General Tab has the dashboard and gaming centric-features such as Game IPS, Game Private Network and Game Profile.

It also has a Game Boost, which is a QoS (Quality of Service) system prioritizing the gaming traffic. There is Game Radar to provide service locations and ping status for different game server, letting you see which one is ideal to connect to. WTFast is an established worldwide game network service aimed at optimizing your connection to the game servers. This router has inbuilt support that lets it provide WTFast optimization for all clients. Wi-Fi Radar lets you monitor your Wi-Fi environment and pick the cleanest channels for your own Wi-Fi network.

There is a traffic analyzer providing a real-time view of the data that is passing from and to the router. It also shows you the clients using the router with the name of the device and the amount of data consumed. Other notable features are the inbuilt malware protection from TrendMicro.

The mobile app of the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 router comes with a wide range of features just like the ROG Gaming Center on the desktop. However, there are additional features such as Parental Controls as well, which lets users restrict the devices that they do not want in their network. You can also schedule when to block the internet access to select devices.

Yet another feature called AiMesh is an innovative new router feature that fixes connectivity problems creating a whole-home Wi-Fi network using multiple Asus routers. AiMesh gives you time-saving central control, and seamless roaming capability.

Performance

Performance

When it comes to the internal features, the GT-AC530 uses a 1.8GHz 64bit quad-core CPU. This processor works along with 1GB of RAM and 256MB of flash memory.

Of course, the whole concept of reviewing this router is to analyze its performance. Theoretically, this router from Asus is a tri-band router with a 2.4GHz band and two 5GHz bands with one of them meant for the gaming devices. This band is said to offer up to 1900Mbps speed to give a better experience while playing VR games and streaming 4K UHD videos. The Link Aggregation feature, which lets connecting two LAN ports together is touted to render a blistering speed of 2Gbps.

We used the 2.4GHz and one of the 5GHz bands of the GT-AC5300 router with one device and multiple devices connected to the network. You can check out the speeds from the graph above.

The range of a Wi-Fi network is definitely a major concern for many users, especially when there are many rooms. The GT-AC5300 works well in this aspect as it offers a good coverage with its eight antennas.

Verdict

Verdict

The Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 delivers a good performance in terms of coverage and speed. It is one of the powerful routers in the market priced at Rs. 24,499. It is also one of the fastest routers with a slew of features. The gaming features will definitely help gamers in the ROG ecosystem get a great user experience. It will help you connect an array of devices to it with the immense ports at its rear. However, the only downside appears to be its pricey nature. It is quite expensive for a router but if you aren't tied up by any budget constraints and want a ROG gaming router, then you can go for it.

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