We invite you to read our reviews of the best wireless gaming and streaming routers. Find the best gaming router at Amazon that will support the weight of your games.
Having a good wireless internet connection is becoming less optional. Above all, in view of the proliferation of the streaming game. PS Now is already among us, Steam is already played without cables, Stadia appears on all devices and it is a matter of time for Microsoft, EA and the rest to move token. With that context, is it possible to improve the online experience? The short answer is yes: choosing the right routers for gaming and streaming.
We do not know which telephone rate best suits your needs and budget, but we are almost certain that the router that your telephone company has left you installed has room for improvement. One that will make a difference when playing online and even enjoy other streaming content.
Therefore, we have set out to guide you on the essential qualities of any wireless router that you have to take into account and how to make the most of them. The objective: that your games with the best possible connection.
A guide to squeeze the WiFi in your home putting the online game always ahead. After all, it is what we are most passionate about. However, before making the first investment, we need to talk about how to get more out of your network.
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This is what you have to know when choosing a router for gaming and streaming
It may sound obvious, but if you want the best wireless connection it will not be enough to acquire the most expensive router in your trusted store. There are a number of factors that should be taken into account in order to obtain optimum quality, whatever our budget.
Our starting point is to offer you a simple review of what you should know, starting from the elementary. Because we believe in miracles, yes, but in the essential details is where the difference is noticed.
Check the maximum speed of your connection
It is possible that your old router falls short of your current rate, but it will be of little use to acquire a cutting-edge device if the amount of megabytes contracted is quite modest. In fact, the resolution and quality of play in Stadia will be directly related to it.
Evaluate a possible improvement of data in your billing and if you have to choose a router, that it is capable of exceeding the Mbps (megabytes per second) hired. Above all, because it is more than likely that you have to share the connection between several devices.
How many devices are you going to connect?
Check and efficiently manage the number of devices that you have regularly connected. Look how many connectors you may need and keep in mind that our WiFi network is going to be shared between consoles or computers, but also mobiles, possibly tablets, SmartTVs, watches and an infinite number of systems.
In this regard, our model must be able to distribute the signal while maintaining the power properly. In fact, there are routers that include systems and applications to optimize and prioritize certain connections. To which we must add an addition that we will talk about below: distribution and scope.
Share the WiFi being aware and consistent
Of course, the number of devices can be multiplied widely depending on the number of users who have access to your Wifi, which includes family, friends, housemates, neighbors who spend the day on our sofa and even smart guys who prefer to use your connection to pay for your own.
Your router must excel in a matter of security, and one way to have it under control is through the options and its installation settings. In addition, of course, to make sure you have your firmware updated.
Finally, we recommend you review which computers connect to the router. You do not need to access the program, as there are apps that detect it in a matter of seconds. If you have an unexpected user, change the password or configure your router.
Where are you interested in having the router and in what arrangement?
The most normal thing today is that routers come with two or more antennas. However, unlike the photo you will see in the box, it is not always recommended that they are facing up. An Apple engineer suggested putting them so that they make an angle of 90º to maximize radio reception.
Another essential element is where to place the router at home. The most advisable thing is to locate it as close to the exact center of your home, keeping in mind that the walls limit the signal. Maybe the feng-shui spoils you, but you’ll save yourself more of a dislike.
When playing, give your system 5 GHz
If your router is dual-band, you should keep in mind the differences between WiFi 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Simplifying to the maximum, the most interesting for the gaming experience is 5 GHz since they offer more speed at the price of having a smaller range.
It is possible to configure and associate the bands with the devices as we are interested.
Expand your reach with PLCs and WiFi Mesh networks
While it is true that our purpose is to offer you a walk through the essential characteristics of the routers, it would not be complete without offering you two alternatives to improve its effectiveness.
On the one hand, PCs are devices that take advantage of the plugs through the electrical network to create a new WiFi point to connect to. In essence, they serve to extend the signal of your router to any area in which you are interested, such as the room where you usually play.
In addition, there are Mesh WiFi networks, which carry the connection through the wired network with an especially convenient element: they allow us to manage traffic intelligently. So, we can give total priority to the gaming device.
The necessary question: How much does a router usually cost?
You can buy a router for more than fifteen dollars, but it deserves to review all of the above when making our choice. Our priorities:
- How many users will use it while we play?
- How many devices will be connected in addition to the game system?
- And how big is the space they should cover and how far it will be from our game system?
Therefore, when establishing recommendations to play online and streaming we will be demanding and we will not settle for a router to help us get out of the way.
Our priority should be models with multi-core processors and a RAM of at least 128MB. After all, both on PC and consoles we are going to move large packages. In addition, we are interested in having multiband wireless connections compatible with WiFi AC.
Finally, and because we understand that you will have several devices connected, we recommend that the router has protocols for work management.
The idea is that, as indicated above, we can dedicate the 2.4 GHz frequency bands to those devices that require less connection, focusing the 5 GHz connections with WiFi AC (more speed and minimum lag) on the equipment that let’s use to play.
The best gaming and streaming routers to improve your connectivity!
That said, and by way of illustration, we have selected 9 routers with which you can compare their characteristics and price range. Of course, reminding you that you can find both cheaper models and with supreme benefits.
Also, read our other guides on the best budget keyboards to play, gaming and typing keyboards, mousepads, Bluetooth wireless gaming mice, and the best gaming mice for left-handed players.
TP-Link Archer C5400X Gaming And Streaming Router
We start this article with the Archer C5400X gaming router, equipped with imminent quality, which is among the most requested in the market. Starting with this router means starting talking about one of the most and best prepared specialized equipment in the market for gaming, this, for example, has a cutting-edge 64-bit system with 1.8 GHz Quad-Core, all this allows the router itself to obtain quite high speeds, in addition to having a RAM of 1 GB, thus achieving a fairly wide data rate for any type of activity.
Similarly, with the Archer C5400X, you also get an important intelligent traffic system. In other words, with this aforementioned internal systematization, it will first be possible to identify the best possible performance on the network and then move on to the elimination of latency for a spectacular quality service where speed represents the fundamental issue.
At the same time, as a detail that does not go unnoticed, you have the ability to see immersive 4K with nothing negligible results. As if that were not enough, it even has specific speeds that can exceed 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz dual-band system, all with the purpose of being able to obtain an ideal ratio of the network that is being used at a given time.
Discover more and the price here
ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Wireless Gaming Router
We continue with the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000, which is already presented as one of the best options for gaming in any circumstance that is sought. This boasts within its technological benefits to a large autonomy that allows you to obtain a data rate much larger than other routers. This has been the subject of study and that is why we talk about a product that has managed to significantly reduce energy loads, in total up to seven times more than its closest competitors, making electricity bills not high at all, in addition, nor is the speed altered by the energy savings that this router may have.
If we talk about the individuality that allows, we find that in total there are three bands to manage to navigate and use separately without apparent problems. Without a doubt, it is one of the fastest in the entire gaming router market, thanks to the speeds and separations that this great product has. In other words, talking about your security system is also talking about a perfect reinforcement against virtually any type of external attack. They have been able to achieve this with the AiProtection Pro system, which immediately detects any type of intrusion into the networks used daily.
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NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR700 WiFi Router
This time, it is time to analyze the NetGear Nighthawk XR700, this powerful router is one of the most demanded of Amazon and various physical stores by characteristics that place it as a more than a reliable option in the networks section. This has an internal quad-core processor and also handles a speed of 1.7 GHz. This gives this particular team a fairly wide speed for any type of video game that is played online. This at the same time has compatibility on your part because in total you can get 4K transmissions, in addition to virtual reality.
One of the most important elements when acquiring the Netgear XR700 is that it has 7 Gigabit Ethernet ports, this is a really overwhelming amount that serves as a rebound for a product that stands out precisely because of the high figures. Thanks to the type of manufacture of this equipment, it is even possible to connect video game consoles so that they can be played online with anyone on the other side of the planet. We cannot leave aside its fully customizable panel, this also has the real figures of the real-time speed that the device is running, always having precision as the unique value for the trust of its buyers.
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ASUS WiFi Gaming Router GT-AC5300 for VR & 4K streaming
This time, it is the turn of the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300. It is a router that comes directly related to the famous ROG series, so the quality is assured every second of connection with this network product. However, originality is something that characterizes this router and first-hand it must be said that the security of the person who buys it is reinforced thanks to the ROG intrusion blocking system. In total and to the delight of its buyers, this system has been specially designed for this particular product and has intrusion prevention in public networks as the first major objective. Thus, any type of computer attacks that have the purpose of obtaining private data can be neutralized.
For those who detest the slowness of using private virtual networks, we find that it has the VPN Fusion. This section has been quite well received by many people who have seen a substantial increase in their speeds. But the really striking thing is that it allows the option to use VPN networks and Internet connection. This represents a total advantage over people who use only VPN networks for various purposes. Having the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 of various bands, these can be perfectly arranged to assign them to various teams to use the 5 GHz speed for which they have been built.
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TP-Link AC5400 Wireless Wi-Fi Tri-Band Gigabit Router
It’s time to talk about the TP-Link AC5400 Archer C5400 router. This long-range router is equipped with a superior force to lift high speeds without reporting falls thanks to its simultaneous tri-band system, each of them has a speed range that can range from 2.4 to 5 GHz (this last speed towards the last two bands). With this panorama in mind, it is easy to imagine that the amount of well-proportioned speeds is very well distributed among its three existing bands. This router Archer manages to be a beast for this type of tasks and the results support it.
When they were launched in the creation of this router there were many engineers who opted for innovative technologies, but really very few got to put their hands on the final design. Within the fortunate internal technologies, we have the Nitro QAM that provides more than 1000 Mbps to each band without presenting any detail. A helping hand that comes to completely save the slow speeds of other equipment that feedback with this router is the possibility of allowing four data streams simultaneously. This has achieved that, for example, by connecting video game consoles or phones with not-so-fast speeds, they gain notoriety by substantially increasing at each transfer rate they possess.
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Netgear Nighthawk Pro Routers For Gaming And Streaming
It is worth talking about the Netgear Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 router, since it maintains many important features to position it very high when we talk about this type of products. We start talking for example about its wireless speed, this is quite large and in total it reaches 2.6 Gbps, but also has a Wi-Fi coverage where the transmissions are completely simultaneous so as not to make anyone wait. In addition to this, its Quad-Stream system works at 160 MHz to avoid any kind of annoying delay.
Contrary to what one might think, this router includes several cables that contribute to the superior operation. In general, each of them allows optimal operation that is also supported by four Gigabit LAN ports. This means that the data transmissions will be really fast and games that require entirely astronomical speeds will not suffer at all with the high power cables with which the Pro Gaming XR500 has been supported.
In addition, security has not been neglected and has several compatibilities for some networks of great importance such as VPN, WPA, WPA2, among others. Privacy will not be a problem and every person using this router will be protected.
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Linksys WRT AC1900 Routers For Gaming And Streaming
It is a very powerful router whose main feature is the incorporation of a simultaneous dual-band, one of 2.4 GHz and the other of 5GHz, each capable of generating speeds of up to 600 Mbps and 1300 Mbps, respectively.
It has a rather rustic look of two colors, blue and black, which makes it quite striking to anyone, even more so for us gamers, since this model is different from any other we can find in the market.
It has good physical dimensions of 7.5 x 12.1 x 2.6 (cm), which makes it quite small, it also has an exact weight of 721 grams, these two important characteristics when choosing a router model.
It has four powerful and high-tech antennas that enforce a fairly enviable range for the other competing brands.
Like many models, on the front, it also has a panel of LED lights that show the user information about the operation and working status of the product at all times, whether in use or not.
On the back, it has four ports for LAN type connections and one for WAN type connections, in addition to having two USB ports, one 2.0 and the other 3.0 high-tech.
Something unusual for routers is that they have an eSATA port. This model has it, since the USB 2.0 port can also be used in this way.
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Razer Sila Routers For Gaming And Streaming
The Razer Sila is a product where prioritization is undoubtedly its hallmark, regardless of the many other routers that exist in the market, this has managed to provide this very important section with its own touch. The technology used for this purpose is the Razer FasTrack. C on this, each selected device is connected on the router will be secured for maximum performance which may result, either for gaming or streaming. Although it has configurations for the most expert, it also has some that are directed towards the most inexperienced and where the field is left open only for video games in general.
On the other hand, thanks to its Multi-Channel Zero Wait DFS Technology immersion technology, amazing results are obtained where the delay is not something to talk about with this router. It must be taken into account that this system also seeks the automatic detection of any type of restricted bandwidth frequency to break them and use them normally. It also has a dual mesh wireless algorithm that is easily configurable and at the same time quite reliable to be used regardless of the environment where it is being used.
In addition, the experience of using this router is perfectly usable for Android applications and the Apple iOS system. With them, you can configure the router in any way thanks to the number of functions available inside. At the same time, it has major settings that are used for people invited to use the network or also security settings for intruders or hackers.
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ASUS Dual-Band Gigabit WiFi Gaming And Streaming Routers
We continue with another Asus model, the Asus RT-AC88U, a router of the RT series that has a prestige behind it, typical of products that leave the rod very high for any of the products in its series. This router, to begin with, is one of the ones that it has to offer one of the best compatibility systems, but at the same time providing the necessary security so that each device connected to it does not suffer from inconveniences in relation to the loss of Personal information or relevant data. In this section, the consoles of the moment that can be connected without any problem to the router itself can be included.
In the same way, we are also talking about a product that certainly allows energy savings, in total being more than four times compared to its other contenders. It is a product that without making too much noise helps a lot in reducing the costs of the bills of each home or entertainment center that is responsible for using it. As if that were not enough, the Asus RT-AC88U has a fairly acceptable power that in total does not even bother with strange noises while it is being used.
This model is one of the best that can be achieved in the entire market due to such elementary characteristics, but at the same time as important as those described above. It is certainly worth buying this product thanks to a balanced system and optimal construction.
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Final Considerations
We gamers, we demand a lot from all our teams because, during some competition or game, we want to prove that we are the best and show all our ability to compete.
These were The Best Gaming Routers, but we must remember that we have specific characteristics and sometimes we need things different from the others, that is why it is not always the most expensive product that best suits us.
Most of these products have very similar characteristics, but they are not all, that is why we must know how to choose our best product and thus get the best benefit that we expect so much.
Routers are products of vital importance to us since, if we want to compete online, they are our only solution and a good router is one that gives us a good stability and balance in our signal, making it never slow down our performance in a game in line.
Now you can enjoy one of the best routers on the market, you can play any type of game without connection drops and with your best peripherals, tell us which one is your favorite, mine is gamers mice and gamers keyboard.