Asus is looking to advance the networking space with its latest offering, the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 gaming router. At first glance, it looks like the typical over-the-top best gaming routers with spider-esque 8 antennae. However, the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 stands apart from the rest of the pack because it is the first gaming router with quad-band Wi-Fi 6E support.
There’s a single 6 GHz band to handle your bleeding-edge networking devices (up to 4,804 Mbps) along with two 5 GHz bands (4,804 Mbps each). The fourth band is dedicated to 2.4 GHz devices and provides a total of 1,148 Mbps of bandwidth, bringing the grand total to 16,000 Mbps. We should mention that while Asus makes the distinction that this is the first quad-band “gaming” Wi-Fi 6E router, the Netgear Orbi 960 Series emerged last year as the first quad-band Wi-Fi 6E router.
Asus keenly points out that the second 5 GHz band can be used as a dedicated backhaul when connecting with AiMesh compatible routers. This would be helpful if you need to extend Wi-Fi coverage in hard-to-reach areas of your home or in, for example, a detached garage/workshop.
However, the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 doesn’t just excel at wireless networking; it also features a plethora of wired ports to handle your devices. There are four GbE (supporting port bonding) and two 10 GbE ports along with a 2.5 GbE WAN port. All of the ports are configurable for WAN usage, which allows you to support [atypical] consumer-centric scenarios like receiving service from multiple ISPs at once. Running the show is a 2 GHz quad-core processor.
Not to be left out, Asus also gave some attention to the existing ROG Rapture GT-AX11000, which sees several improvements and the addition of “Pro” to its name. This tri-band router features two 5 GHz bands (4,804 Mbps each) and a single 1,149 Mbps 2.4 GHz band. Asus also opened the 5 GHz band by adding a third high-power 160 Hz channel to join the previous two.
While not as generous as Asus’ flagship router, the ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Pro offers up four GbE, one 2.5 GbE and one 2.5 GbE WAN port for wired duties. It also gets a brain transplant by using the same 2 GHz processor from the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000.
Asus has not yet indicated when the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 or GT-AX11000 Pro will be available for sale, or for how much. However, the existing GT-AX11000 carries an MSRP of $449.
