The ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 is Asus’ latest flagship router. This is an update from last year, so it’s not his first WiFi 6E router we’ve seen. ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000However, this year’s model is a quad-band router with a frequency of 6 GHz. There are other routers on the market that have adopted the WiFi 6E standard, but currently the client is not common in the market. However, with the advent of USB adapters on the market that support this standard, this capability is slowly improving.
design
The GT-AXE16000 uses a larger body and horizontal design that has become the design formula for Asus’ flagship routers. It has eight non-detachable antennas and a power cord with a larger power brick. Asus goes a step beyond its previous flagship routers by adorning this model with clear plexiglass that covers about two-thirds of the top surface and can be illuminated with RGB LEDs. , thankfully, the LED can be disabled (for use in a bedroom setting, for example).
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There is also a power switch that makes rebooting easier. Some models do not have a power switch.
specification
Looking at the GT-AXE16000’s specs, Asus obviously pulls out all the stops. Quad-band wireless support is a big story, so we’ll focus there first. There is a single 2.4 GHz band with a maximum speed of 1,148 Mbps, a pair of 5 GHz bands with a maximum speed of 4,804 Mbps, and a 6 GHz band with the same maximum speed of 4,804 Mbps. It is Wi-Fi 6E in the 802.11ax standard and backwards compatible with previous standards such as 802.11ac. Wireless features include beamforming, OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), 20/40/80/160 MHz bandwidths, and high data rates of 1024-QAM.
Wired connection is also solid. They include one 2.5 GB WAN port, a pair of 10 Gigabit WAN/LAN ports and four Gigabit LAN ports, so many people don’t need another switch. It also has a pair of USB ports, the first USB 2.0 and the other USB 3.2 Gen 1.
The hardware specs are also strong, including a 2.0GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of DDR4 RAM, and 256MB of NAND flash storage. However, the power consumption is high, not unexpected for a full-sized flagship router, with a maximum power draw of 65 watts.
setting
Getting this Asus GT-AXE16000 up and running was quick and easy, as you’d expect from a company with mature software. I tried the “Quick Internet Setup” browser-based option and it walked me through the steps to automatically update the firmware to the latest version. , media bridging, AiMesh, and more.
safety
Asus GT-AXE16000 incorporates numerous security features powered by TrendMicro, which has been providing security solutions to the industry since 1988. This security suite includes a router security assessment to identify issues. There is also a “malicious site blocking” tool that prevents users from accidentally visiting known bad websites, and an intrusion prevention system, “two-way IPS”. Additionally, it has the ability to prevent infected devices from participating in botnet and zombie attacks. Finally, logs for each of these events are also available so you can track how effectively they’re working over time.
While some routers have parental controls with limited functionality, the Asus GT-AXE16000 allows parents to set limits on both the websites they can visit and the amount of time spent on each device. The system is robust enough to block devices completely without shutting down the entire network.
performance
| Around 2.4GHz | Up to 2.4GHz | Around 5GHz | up to 5GHz |
|---|---|---|---|
| 123.6Mbps | 72.2Mbps | 914.1Mbps | 509.7Mbps |
I ran my Asus GT-AXE16000 in my usual network benchmark suite. First, we tested wireless throughput on an Asus ROG laptop with a wireless client, an Intel AX201 wireless card. This card is Wi-Fi 6. This means that we don’t have Wi-Fi 6E, so we can’t test 6 GHz throughput. This promises less interference and faster speeds.
Still, this router’s throughput is solid, but not at a record setting: in our 2.4 GHz near test, with clients placed 5 feet away, the measured throughput was 123.6 Mbps. On the high floor of the router he extended the distance to 30 feet and slowed down significantly to 72.2 Mbps.
Solid results were also obtained on the 5 GHz band, with even faster throughput than the 2.4 GHz test. Here, we get a throughput of 914.1 Mbps in our short-range test, and drop that to an even faster 509.7 Mbps in our 30-foot long-range test.
| test configuration | QoS | FRAPS average | minute | maximum | 8k dropped frames | Pingplotter spikes | Latency (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ethernet | number | 32.5 | 26 | 41 | none | 0 | 83 |
| ethernet | yes | 33.6 | 30 | 49 | none | 0 | 81 |
| Ethernet + 10 8k videos | number | 23.4 | 0 | 127 | 30.20% | 20 | 356 |
| Ethernet + 10 8k videos | yes | – | – | – | 28.50% | twenty two | can’t play |
| 5 GHz | number | 119.6 | 106 | 156 | none | 0 | 69 |
| 5GHz + 108k video | number | – | – | – | 43.40% | 1 | can’t play |
| 5GHz + 108k video | yes | 17.02 | 0 | 60 | 39.50% | 1 | 114 |
| 2.4GHz | number | 122 | 98 | 152 | none | 0 | 70 |
| 2.4GHz + 108k video | number | 20.2 | 0 | 109 | 32.40% | 2 | 160 |
| 2.4GHz + 108k video | yes | 5.47 | 0 | 17 | 9.60% | Four | 466 |
Next, I put the Asus GT-AXE16000 through a network congestion test. This is designed to test her QoS settings on your router.This test runs the game overwatch Get metrics like in-game latency and frames per second (FPS) at 1080p (fully updated to the latest version). Then add 10 8k videos to simulate network load due to congestion (chosen to saturate a 300 Mbps cable-based broadband connection). Next, turn on QoS to allow your router to prioritize gaming traffic. We’ll also report on the framerate drop in his 8K video at the beginning, to see how well the router handles video streaming traffic and a saturated network crowded with games. Games typically use a small amount of bandwidth, but that traffic needs high priority to avoid stutters and freezes. If gameplay drops below 30 frames per second, it’s very noticeable, and any further drops quickly make it unplayable.
To say I’m disappointed with the Asus GT-AXE16000’s gaming performance is an understatement for a flagship ROG router. The tested firmware is 3.0.0.4.386.49533.
The problem usually starts with the Ethernet test, considered the fastest and most stable way to play games. When I did my first wireless test, I was only able to play games at 32.5 fps, even without a video playing. The frame rate was about the same with QoS enabled. Adding 8K video congestion with QoS dropped the fps to 23.4 and the game froze as shown by the zero minimum frame rate. Additionally, turning QoS on to manage congestion of concurrent video streams worked in reverse, making the game completely unplayable.
All in all, this made little sense as last year’s model of this router. Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 WiFi 6Egot a faster 125 fps under the same conditions.
Wireless testing showed a poor implementation of QoS, among other issues. A healthy 119.6 fps was observed in a 5 GHz test without concurrent video streams. Unfortunately, adding video with QoS dropped the frame rate by 43% and the game didn’t play at all. He turned on QoS while the video was playing and set the priority to gaming and at least he was able to play the game, but 17 fps was pretty low. At 2.4 GHz I got 122 fps just by playing the game. This was the best test of any configuration and confirmed weak Ethernet performance. Adding the same video stream delivered only 20.2 fps with QoS turned off. Mysteriously, when I turn on QoS while the video stream is playing, the fps drops to a very low 5.47. This makes little sense considering the framerate was almost 4x higher with his QoS turned off!
At this point, I reached out to Asus with due diligence and shared my data and concerns. Then I patiently waited for the firmware upgrade 3.0.0.4.386.50168 that I installed on my router. Then I ran the test again and unfortunately the router showed the same result in the ethernet test. The fps remained the same even without concurrent video streams, and with video streams on and he QoS enabled, the game was unplayable.
To be fair, aside from a very aggressive “torture test” consisting of 10 8K videos and 1 simultaneous game, the router played 1080p video streams smoothly without issue when not overloaded. increase.
price and final result
Getting your network to the cutting edge of performance comes at a price. In this case, the Asus GT-AXE16000 for $699. Unfortunately, this product sits on the high end of the upper tier of consumer routers. To do. However, for a gaming router at this hefty price point, I think most users would expect more consistent performance with better QoS. , we have confirmed that there are not many problems with the performance of the game.
Given the price and performance issues we encountered, we recommend choosing a more mature and stable product for your network routing needs.
