We Actually Are Simply Doing Wi-Fi 8 Gaming Routers Now

Asus introduced fairly a few Republic of Gamers (ROG) products to Computex 2026. One announcement that may’ve flown below the radar is that the corporate is giving the Wi-Fi 8 therapy to its head crabby ROG Rapture Wi-Fi gaming router sequence, with a forthcoming gadget known as the Asus ROG Rapture GT-BN90 Pro.

If you’ve been following them, you’ll know the ROG Rapture routers as huge, RGB-laden affairs that take up loads of shelf area with their massive, grasping footprints. They’ve bought eight antennas and an aggressively in-your-face high plate emblazoned with a shimmering ROG eye brand. Here, it’s peeking out by means of pixel-like dots. A big chunk of that high plate is evident plastic that permits you to see what appears to be like like a few of the router’s innards (lit by extra RGB lights, naturally).

Asus makes massive claims on its web site for this new 802.11bn gaming router, like that it’s going to supply “up to 2x faster higher median throughput” or “up to 34% lower latency” (in contrast to what’s unclear) when gaming—it’ll transfer extra information directly and be extra responsive, in different phrases. A graphic illustrates that the router can nonetheless put out a reasonably steady 600Mbps stream versus the 200Mbps, unstable stream of one other generic router at an unspecified distance. Asus additionally says the brand new router will function “up to 35% better heat dissipation” in comparison with the Wi-Fi 6E-equipped ROG Rapture GT-AXE1600, which the corporate released in 2022.

Unlike in TP-Link’s announcement of its personal Wi-Fi 8 router final week, Asus included some onerous particulars concerning the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro. It’ll have seven ethernet ports: one gigabit LAN (for wiring up your laptops and such), three 2.5Gbps LAN, one 2.5Gbps LAN/WAN (that means it could both wire your units or herald web information out of your modem), one 10Gbps LAN/WAN, and a 10Gbps “dedicated gaming port” that the corporate says mechanically prioritizes gaming site visitors. The two 10Gbps ports can be utilized in live performance as one logical wired hyperlink, offered you’ve gotten the tools to benefit from that.

It’s key to recollect one thing right here: Wi-Fi 8 isn’t a finalized spec, and per Asus itself, that will not occur till 2028. That means if the BN98 Pro is launched earlier than then, there’s no assure it’ll carry with it the entire options that the spec will land on.

If none of that wets your whistle, Asus additionally introduced a brand new Wi-Fi 7 router, the ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro Edition 20. It’s a head crab, like its coming Wi-Fi 8 sibling, however with a gold-on-black aesthetic that features “a precisely applied gold metallic coating” on the antennas that provides it “a sophisticated metal-inspired texture.”

Leaving apart that “metal-inspired” is a really foolish factor to jot down, the gaming router appears to be like sort of neat. The golden aesthetic mixed with the hieroglyphic-adjacent ROG eye brand offers it nearly an Egyptian vibe. If you suppose these routers are goofy issues to behold, I tremendous agree, but I’ve at all times appreciated how onerous the corporate leans into the outrageous look.

Anyway, to rapidly run down the GT-BE98 Pro Edition 20’s particulars, it has the identical assortment of ports because the GT-BN98 Pro, and the corporate makes related Wi-Fi efficiency claims (like that it’s 2.4x quicker than… one thing). It even will get its personal “Signature Edition 20” interface that, just like the router, is gold and black, however in any other case appears to be like like what you’d count on if you happen to’ve ever gone to the online browser interface for an Asus router. I’d assume it has extra configuration choices than you’ll ever want, one thing that’s more and more uncommon on this age of software program hand-holding.

For now, it’s unclear when both of those merchandise will arrive or how a lot they’ll price, though the corporate did say in January when it showed off a concept Wi-Fi 8 router that it will be delivery its first Wi-Fi 8 units this yr. We’ve requested for extra particulars and can replace this if the corporate shares them.