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Enjoy Smoother Online Gaming With the Best Gaming Routers

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Enjoy Smoother Online Gaming With the Best Gaming Routers

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A Buyer’s Guide to Finding the Best Gaming Router

High ping and unstable internet connection are the banes of existence for every gamer who plays online multiplayer games. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing a real-time strategy, MMORPG, or a first-person shooter. High ping will ruin the experience and leave you frustrated. This ping issue can be from the ISP or a weird configuration in your system, but the majority of latency issues can be traced back to a terrible internet router. This is where gaming routers come in! These routers use a combination of high bandwidth signals and gaming configurations to ensure a smoother, faster connection to a game’s multiplayer servers. Since the performance of gaming routers can vary drastically from one manufacturer to the other, we’ve curated a list of the best gaming routers of 2023.

Getting a high-quality gaming router can be a one-stop solution for most of your internet-related issues. They can resolve issues like stuttering, ping, an unstable connection when downloading, and extreme buffering when streaming anything.  But what makes a gaming router high quality? This buyer’s guide is here to verse you on the do’s and don’ts of the world of gaming routers. 

What Is the Average Range of a Gaming Router?

The first attribute that turns a basic router into a high-quality gaming one is its range. In other words, how far away from the router will you still get the full connection speed of the router? This range is advertised as 150 feet in each direction on normal routers, but it is much lower in reality. Plus, it drops drastically if a wall stands between you and the router. Quality gaming routers, on the other hand, offer a fixed range of 1500 feet and are quite consistent about it. Walls and other obstacles will reduce this range a bit, but the dual-band technology will prevent it from getting too low.

What Is the Average Speed of a Router’s Connection?

The next big attribute to consider is the connection speed per device. This is usually indicated as a sum of both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz speeds to simplify the comparison. Ideally, you want the router to have at least 1.2 Gbps total connection speed. Anything lower than 900 Mbps might work, but you will start to see a speed drop off much sooner than the actual range of the signal. On the other hand, some gaming routers can go as high as 6 Gbps which is extremely impressive and certainly worth your money. Speeds beyond that, like 10 Gbps, work well but cost a lot—and you won’t see any difference in regular tasks like gaming or video streaming. 

Do Routers Have Specific Gaming Features?

One of the biggest reasons to invest in a gaming router is the plethora of gaming features that come with them. Here are a few of the most important ones to look out for.

Geo filtering

Your ping to a game’s server is dependent on your physical distance from the server, so a router with geo-filtering scans any available servers in your area and connects your game to the one that’s physically closest to you. This ensures the lowest possible ping on that game so you can enjoy a smooth experience. 

Gaming VPN

A gaming-specific VPN can shield your sensitive data like IP address from potential hackers in a multiplayer game. This is especially necessary if you’re playing an older game that is no longer supported by its developers. It can also reduce ping in certain locations and scenarios, but that use is very uncommon. 

RGB lighting 

This is only necessary if you’ll have the router in plain view and not under an object or desk that blocks its connection. Having addressable RGB lighting will enhance its overall appearance and make it look less like an eyesore.

01 TP-Link AX6000 Wi-Fi Router

TP-Link is a fairly well-known brand in the internet infrastructure market, and their AX6000 shows why that is. This Wi-Fi router can deliver ridiculously fast wireless speeds of up to 5952 Mbps. Its dual band operation ensures stability at all speeds, and the 1024QAM boosts projected speeds even further. You can even share your connection with multiple people thanks to the throughput increase by the OFDMA.

Leading the charts with its BSS technology that works to eliminate external interference, these incredibly fast internals are then paired with eight high-gain antennas.

Pros

  • Features eight high-gain antennas
  • Supports high speeds up to 5952 Mbps
  • Works with all internet service providers
  • Reliable connection thanks to BSS technology

Cons

  • Takes up a lot of shelf space
TP-Link AX6000 Wi-Fi Router

02 NETGEAR Nighthawk Gaming Router

Every feature of the NETGEAR gaming router is aimed to solve issues faced by gamers on a regular basis. The prime example of these ping resolving features is the smart geo filtering setup that connects you to the geographically nearest server directly, resulting in super low latency. It even includes a secure gaming VPN connection to protect your data when playing online games. And if you don’t care about these gaming exclusive features, the 26 Gbps transfer speed of this router is fast enough to make it worth your consideration. It also includes four high-gain antennas, transferring clear signals throughout the house.

Pros

  • Extremely fast 2.6 Gbps speeds
  • Puts gaming traffic into dedicated fast lane
  • Geo filtering to ensure minimum possible ping

Cons

  • Requires some time for network setup
NETGEAR Nighthawk Gaming Router

03 ASUS ROG Rapture Wi-Fi Router

Many gamers prefer to keep their Wi-Fi router on their table to ensure a faster, reliable connection. Traditional large routers don’t look good near an RGB gaming setup, and when it comes to ASUS their sleek, minimalist style will accommodate any space. It stands vertically to minimize desk space, and the AURA RGB support allows it to blend in with the rest of your system. As for its performance, the triple-level game accelerator optimizes gaming packets from your PC to the game servers.

Pros

  • Takes up little space 
  • Syncs RGB with your PC
  • Offers premium network security

Cons

  • Takes time to set up
ASUS ROG Rapture Wi-Fi Router

04 Linksys EA7300 Max-Stream

It is very likely that your gaming router is the only internet access point in your home. This is why the EA7300 Max-Stream router from Linksys offers an unmatched range with shockingly high bandwidth. This modest router can project high-speed Wi-Fi within 1,500 feet and offers plenty of vertical range as well. Adding to this impressive range, up to 10 devices can connect to the same network and will be able to access 1.7 Gbps raw internet speed. This exceptional speed also enables you to stream 4K content from the internet without any noticeable buffering or stuttering.

Pros

  • Offers fantastic range
  • Can host up to 10 devices 
  • Comes with an 18 month warranty
  • Can support speeds up to 1.7 Gbps

Cons

  • No gaming fast lane feature
Linksys EA7300 Max-Stream

05 Amazon eero Wi-Fi Router

Gaming routers can be exceedingly expensive as you add more features to the mix. To achieve a flawless experience, all you really need is a fast, stable connection. Leading the charts with its impressive range of 1,500 feet, Amazon provides high-speed Wi-Fi to most households completely. You can expect a connection speed of up to 900 Mbps no matter where you are. And the most impressive attribute of this high-value router is its ability to connect up to 75 devices at once—making it perfect for homes with the tone of IoT and smart devices.

Pros

  • Great value with an affordable price
  • Impressive large range of 1500 feet
  • Can connect up to 75 devices at once
  • Smart traffic routing promotes smooth gaming

Cons

  • The connection speed is a bit low
Amazon eero Wi-Fi Router

People Also Asked

How many devices can a gaming router connect at once?

Gaming routers can connect a lot of devices at once, but they will only provide full-speed connection to up to 10 devices at a time. As a major plus, some special routers can go as much as 75 connected devices. These particular gaming routes, in turn, will reflect this accessibility in their higher price point.

Are gaming routers limited to an ISP?

Unless you bought the router from the ISP, it is not limited to one of them. You should be able to connect to any service provider and achieve satisfactory results.

Are gaming routers good for normal use?

Yes! They provide excellent stability and speed, which is great for video streaming, video calling, social media, music streaming, and other regular internet uses.

How can I tell if my gaming router needs replacement?

Generally speaking, you’ll know your gaming router needs replacement if it shows signs of general wear and tear. Another sign you should be mindful of is a skippinh connection or slowing of the device.

Dante Ashcraft

May 31, 2022

18 Articles Published

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We're not just tech junkies, but we're also tech experts. Each and every "Best of.." list on TechJunkie is curated by our content-area subject matter experts to provide a well-rounded, unbiased perspective to help and inform you, our reader. Our lists are constantly reviewed and updated, so you can be sure you're reading relevant and up to date information.

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