In this review, we will analyze the Asus ROG Rapture GT6 Mesh gaming router kit, the ultimate router for gamers with the best wireless network connection for your home. These feature tri-band Wi-Fi 6 capability with dedicated mesh and 5GHz 4×4 trunking, plus a 2.5Gbps WAN/LAN port. To the complete Asus firmware are added all the gaming functions that the manufacturer has created, in addition to a worked exterior design with AURA Sync in the logo. Ready to see these routers in action?
We thank Asus for trusting us by sending us these mesh routers for analysis.
Asus ROG Rapture GT6 specs
Unboxing
From the moment of the presentation, the Asus ROG Rapture GT6 make it clear that they are not just any routers, but rather the best of the best. Its case-type rigid cardboard box shows us its most outstanding functions, with a second storage through cardboard molds and individual receptacles for accessories.
The contents of the box in the 2-unit kit will be as follows:
- 2x Routers Asus ROG Rapture GT6
- Power adapters with European and UK plugs
- Cable LAN Ethernet
- Support documentation
The routers with the best design ever seen
The aesthetic work that the brand has done for the Asus ROG Rapture GT6 is undoubtedly exquisite. Someone might think that they are just routers, ok…, but breathing a gaming aura on all sides, and for a user who is going to spend almost €600 on them, it would be the least they could ask for.
With relatively compact measurements and the absence of outdoor antennas, these routers are available in matt black and white. The housing made entirely of plastic stands out for its great thickness and polygonal design at a quality level. Well, its aesthetics are taken to the next level with the sides stamped in such a way that they allow good cooling and show its aggressive futuristic ROG design.
The front area is not wasted, since the large Asus logo integrates AURA RGB lighting in a matrix format that we can customize from the firmware. Just below we have the small status indicator LED, as well as grids on both the bottom and top edges.
On the upper face, we can see part of its Wi-Fi antennas through a methacrylate window that should see part of the upper diffuser, but here we will not find any lighting.
The same design inspiration for the base of the routers, with a methacrylate panel, but provided with non-slip rubber feet and the corresponding sticker where the default access credentials are indicated for the initial configuration. Also in this area, we find the WPS button and reset button on each device.
Ports
The rear panel will be exactly the same on both Asus ROG Rapture GT6 routers, where we find the following connections:
- 1x RJ45 2,5G LAN/WAN
- 3x RJ45 1G LAN
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A
- Switch ON/OFF
- Puerto DC-In
It is not the most powerful panel available in Asus Mesh routers, since the ZenWiFi Pro XT12 has dual 2.5 Gbps ports. In this case, it will only be one per unit, and it is assumed that one of them will go to the WAN, while the satellite unit can be used as a high-speed LAN. In this way at least we can make a Wi-Fi 6 – LAN transfer of more than 1 Gbps which is very good.
Asus ROG Rapture GT6 System Features
The Asus ROG Rapture GT6 are twin routers, that is, they can be used as main and satellite in the same conditions, determined by the active WAN link. The main hardware of each unit consists of a 1.7 GHz Broadcom BCM6753 Tri-Core CPU handling Ethernet, hardware NAT, and the system itself. It comes complete with 512MB of DDR4 RAM and 256MB of flash storage for the system.
As controllers of the different connections, we find 2 Broadcom BCM6715 chips for 5 GHz connections and a Broadcom BCM6753 CPU for 2.4 GHz. They will be Tri-Band devices, operating with a double frequency of 5 GHz and a single one of 2, 4 GHz providing a total bandwidth of 10,000 Mbps that is distributed as follows:
- 2.4 GHz band: Operating under 802.11ax it will deliver a maximum of 574 Mbps in a 2×2 connection with 20 and 40 MHz channels.
- 5 GHz band – 1: It will offer a bandwidth of 4804 Mbps in 4×4 connections, operating channels of up to 160 MHz, supporting 1024-QAM modulation. This band operates on low channels (less than 100) and is dedicated to connecting with clients in mesh coverage, reaching 2400 Mbps in 2×2 nodes.
- 5 GHz Band – 2: operates the same as above, 4×4 up to 4804 Mbps over 160 MHz channels, but it is a preconfigured band as a backbone for the mesh. It operates on high channels, since they are all DFS, although it can also be used as a normal network if we only have a router.
As required by this standard, routers implement MU-MIMO technologies to transmit data to several clients simultaneously, OFDMA that improves simultaneous client connectivity, and BSS Color, which assigns different carrier frequencies (colors) so that clients instantly identify theirs. without analyzing the entire spectrum. Beamforming capability is added to the mesh to always assign the strongest wireless signal to the client wherever we move within the coverage range.
The security features that Asus AiMesh adds will be very extensive, implementing AiProtection Pro with WPA3-Personal encryption both in the network for clients and in the trunk between routers. Added adaptive QoS management, Traffic Analyzer, guest Wi-Fi support, parental control, VPN in both server and client mode, as well as advanced gaming features such as OpenNAT, Game Boost to speed up game-related transfers, priority gaming port, ROG First with software on Windows or WTFast
firmware and configuration
Asuswrt will be the operating system in charge of managing the Asus routers and taking them one or more steps above their rivals in terms of options.
Initial setup
These Asus ROG Rapture GT6 need to carry out the initial configuration to connect our devices, a process that we can carry out from the browser with the IP 192.168.50.1 or from the mobile App.
On the browser side, the wizard will be very simple; We create a new network with the IPS requirements that we have, we configure the SSIDs of the Wi-Fi network either on separate frequencies or Smart Connect and we complete the administrator credentials.
Then the router will ask you if we want to add a new device to the Mesh res, and we will say no. Because? Well, as it has happened to us with other Mesh routers, this wizard doesn’t seem to work very well, in fact, the satellite router will automatically add itself to the network and optimize itself. For these routers, it has been a very fast process, more than in ZenWiFi.
Operating system and additional features
The skin chosen for these Asus ROG Rapture GT6 will be none other than the ROG gaming skin that improves the distribution of options in certain sections compared to the standard one so that players have certain key functions more at hand. I personally love it, being the most aggressive and original on the market.
In the main panel, we have a count of clients connected to the network, traffic monitor, real-time ping, AURA RGB management, and server monitoring for the main competitive online games. Within the general options panel, we highlight those for the configuration of AiProtection Pro, bidirectional IPS, and particularly the sections for games. We have a prioritization system for gaming devices with 3 levels of optimization thanks to Adaptive QoS and the expansion of the OpenNAT and Game Radar section where you can monitor the ping of all the servers in the world for certain games such as Dota 2, Overwatch or WOW.
As for more general options for the router system, we obviously have complete management of the mesh network and VPN configuration with 4 protocols, adding WireGuard as a highlight. The Instant Guard option allows you to create a VPN tunnel with a single click, it couldn’t be easier.
In the advanced options section, as always, highlight the almost sickly detail with which to manage our Wi-Fi connections, that by default we already have the most powerful channels activated and 5 GHz-2 assigned to the trunk link. For a general mesh configuration we recommend the Smart Connect mode, but if we want more control and customization, it is better to separate the frequencies. The router supports Dual WAN, a Firewall with many options, and of course, a file server through the USB port, which also allows you to connect a 3G/4G modem.
Performance and coverage tests
We are going to evaluate the network coverage with the two Asus ROG Rapture GT6s both in mesh and individually. For the tests, we have used Windows 11 and Jperf 2.0.2 to measure the bandwidth in Mbps by transferring 10 streams 10 times. We have created the WiFi heat map with the WiFi Heatmap software and an Android Wi-Fi 5 terminal.
These are the test clients used:
- 2x Routers Asus ROG Rapture GT6
- Wireless equipment: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 2×2
- Second team (LAN): Asus ROG Areion 10G
- Terminal Android Wi-Fi 5 para Heatmap
Asus ROG Rapture GT6 system coverage
Asus specifies a maximum coverage of 540 m 2 with two units, although it will depend on the architecture of the enclosure, walls, and the distance at which we place the access points. In this case, we have placed a router on the upper floor and another on the ground floor with walls in between.
Let’s remember that all graphics routers are tested under the same conditions.
5GHz coverage
We don’t have excessive problems reaching every corner of the house, although the ping is intermittent at the far end. The average speed is the section to highlight in 5 GHz, obtaining more than 300 Mbps on the entire floor, and an impressive average ping of 19 ms.
2.4 GHz coverage
At 2.4 GHz we get a slightly higher average coverage, although the bandwidth drops to 84 Mbps. The ping has been quite high, so we always recommend 5 GHz for gaming.
Bandwidth tests
Let’s see below the bandwidth in mesh mode and for a router individually.
Mesh Bandwidth: Theoretical speed: 4802 Mbps (2400 Mbps for 2×2 clients)
The bandwidth obtained between two remote clients, each connected to a wireless router is around 350 Mbps. However, we must mention that this measure is obtained with the 5 GHz connection, since in Smart Connect mode the transfers have The result is more unstable and reduced, probably because the router assigns 2.4 GHz by default to the clients because they are further away.
5 GHz band a single router. Theoretical speed 4802 Mbps (2400 Mbps client 2×2)
We have taken advantage of the second client to use the 2.5 Gbps LAN port for transfer via Wi-Fi connection, getting an amazing 1600-1700 Mbps streaming and almost 190 MB/s transfer over the network.
Even when we separate the WiFi client, the bandwidth remains around Gigabit per second, demonstrating the great power of these devices despite having internal antennas.
2.4 GHz band a single router. Theoretical speed: 574 Mbps
Few routers we have seen so well optimized in the 2.4 GHz band as these when touching their theoretical maximum, although if we move them away we will be a little fair for use in games.
Enlace Ethernet (1000 Mbps)
Samba USB port. Theoretical speed 180 Mbps SanDisk Extreme
We expected better transfer performance in the USB port, since other Asus computers have shown to be better optimized in this section, although it is still a bit secondary.
Final words and conclusion about the Asus ROG Rapture GT6
This Mesh kit rises to the top of our benchmark list at both 2.4 and 5GHz, though it falls short of the TOP 2 for bandwidth with mesh. Perhaps it could be due to the level of optimization in the backbone, as we have also seen that in Smart Connect mode the bandwidth fluctuates quite a bit. For this reason, we recommend using the frequencies separately, at least it has worked better for us.
We also recommend our guide on the best routers on the market
The coverage is excellent throughout the test area, highlighting the performance of 5 GHz both in terms of bandwidth and average ping, suitable for competitive gaming. The client’s 2.5 Gbps LAN/WAN port can also do us a lot of good, especially if we take advantage of the many special gaming QoS features that the operating system implements.
The price of the 2-unit kit will be €579 while an individual router costs €320 on Amazon, figures similar to the ZenWiFi Pro models as we expected. It is a product focused on a very select audience that needs to squeeze every FPS and millisecond of latency in games, for the rest, but we must recognize that they have performed spectacularly and that they are the most beautiful routers we have seen.
| ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
| EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE ON 5 GHZ AND 2.4 GHZ | SMART CONNECT MODE NEEDS OPTIMIZATION |
| ROBUST MESH WITH GREAT WIRELESS COVERAGE | IMPROVABLE USB PORT PERFORMANCE |
| SPECTACULAR DESIGN | THE PRICE WILL BE HIGH |
| OPERATING SYSTEM WITH ADVANCED FUNCTIONS FOR GAMING | |
| QUICK SETUP, CREATE THE MESH AUTOMATICALLY | |
| THE 2.5 GBPS PORT CAN ALSO BE USED FOR LAN |
The Professional Review team grants you:
SALES
ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 2 Pack – Triple Band WiFi 6 Mesh System (Coverage up to 540 m², 2.5 G Port, Game Acceleration, RangeBoost Plus, 5.9 GHz, Network Security), White
SALES
ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 1 Pack – Triple Band WiFi 6 Mesh System (Coverage up to 260 m², 2.5 G Port, Game Acceleration, RangeBoost Plus, 5.9 GHz, Network Security), Black
Last update on 2023-06-14