Best router wireless for gaming

Lots of people invest in the latest gaming console or a great computer , keyboard and mouse , but they neglect one important factor: the quality of their home internet connection. If you're plagued by persistent lag while carrying out critical split-second decisions that make the difference between victory and defeat, a sluggish internet connection could be to blame. Some gamers hard-wire their devices via an Ethernet cable to fight lag, but others refuse to be tethered by a cord.

If that's the case for you, then you might be thinking about upgrading your wireless router. Before buying any routers for gaming, I'd recommend reading my beginner's guide to gaming lag to see if there's anything else you can do to help bring down your ping. In many cases, it could be as easy as moving your wireless router to a different spot or adjusting the angle of a standard router's antennas. But if you've tried all that and your gaming connection still needs an upgrade, you're reading the right roundup.

There are plenty of gaming routers out there that promise to boost your gaming performance -- but which are truly the best gaming routers? Is it worth splurging on a wireless gaming router that supports the speedy new Wi-Fi 6 standard? That's what I wanted to know, so I started testing the things out, on a personal quest to find the fastest router to boost my internet connection. This buyer's guide -- which I'll update periodically -- encompasses everything I've found so far, starting with the models I think you should zero in on first in your hunt for the best gaming router.

Read more : Best internet providers for gaming. Get smart home reviews and ratings, video reviews, buying guides, prices and comparisons from CNET. First up is the first gaming router I'd recommend to most people, and a router I'd recommend to just about anybody, truth be told.

We liked that previous model for its fast, steady speeds, its impressive lineup of gamer-centric features and its strong finish in our latency tests.

Whenever I test a router, I end up logging at least different speed test results, including the ping time it takes for the router to send a signal to a remote server and receive a response. Most routers do pretty well, save for the occasional spike. Latency spikes like those can be a killer when you're gaming online -- but fortunately, the RT-AX86U earned the lowest average ping time of any router I've ever tested, never spiking any higher than 25ms.

That's an outstanding result. Beyond managing lag, Asus also boasts an excellent router app and web control interface for easy setup, along with helpful features like a quality-of-service engine, a mobile boost mode for gaming on your phone and lots of other ways to optimize your connection.

Plus, the design is gamer-friendly without being too over-the-top. If you want a gaming-minded wireless router upgrade but you're worried about buying more than you need, look no further -- this gaming router hits the sweet spot.

It held its own on the speedier 5GHz band, too, beating out several wireless routers that cost significantly more. Die-hards will likely want more features focused on their gaming experience and performance, but the DIR gaming router at least includes a quality of service engine to let you prioritize gaming traffic above other types of network traffic.

That's enough for most -- especially if you don't want to break the bank on something fancier. Just note that it's getting difficult to find this model in stores, as stock seems to be running low. We'll update this space once we find another affordable option that we like as much. In fact, the GT-AC was one of the top finishers in terms of average download speeds, latency and range. It offers the same excellent suite of gaming features as other gaming routers from Asus, including a customizable Quality of Service engine and game-and-platform-specific open NAT port-forwarding rules.

If you're looking for a router with gaming-minded key features and design, but you're also interested in multipoint mesh networking, then take a look at the Amplifi HD Gamer's Edition from Ubiquiti. It wasn't a standout in our lab-based top-speed tests, but with plug-in range extenders that are about as easy to use as it gets, it excels at spreading a stable, speedy Wi-Fi signal from room to room.

On top of that, the unique, attractive design doesn't take up an obnoxious amount of space -- and with a touchscreen on the front and LED lights around the base, you'll actually want it to sit out in the open, where the mesh router performs better.

But the real draw of the Asus RT-AX86U is the performance, which approaches the the magical 1Gbps mark to provide speedy and effortless connectivity for all of your devices. With excellent range and great performance — even through walls and between floors — the RT-AX86U is equal parts general-use router and elite gaming router, and the collection of features and ports it offers are a steal compared to some of the top-performing gaming gear.

With some of the best It also has impressive coverage, with more than feet of superb coverage that will blanket most homes in strong, clear Wi-Fi signal. The spider-like 8-antenna design and red-on-black color scheme are sure to turn heads, but the real selling point is the collection of optimization and security features that will satisfy any power user. With excellent bandwidth-allocation controls to let you use the massive throughput as you wish, this router puts incredible performance into the user's hands, for gaming or anything else.

The Netgear Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR is powerful, with Wi-Fi 6 speeds that goes above and beyond most other gaming routers with excellent speeds and top-shelf gaming enhancements.

The Netgear's high-throughput, low-latency design is packed with customization options and built-in security, providing protection against hackers along with superb Wi-Fi 6 performance. It's also great for slightly larger homes, with a range of feet, easily covering that extra room that other routers can't quite reach. If your current router isn't keeping up with your gaming abilities, the XR is one of the best gaming routers we've ever seen. With an entire dashboard of customization tools, you can optimize the router's performance in a dizzying number of ways, from CPU usage monitoring to stats that identify what apps and devices are using the most data and connection tools that let you adjust connections by ping rates and location.

Read our full Netgear Nighthawk XR review. The first gaming router on the market to feature Wi-Fi 6, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX is a gamer's delight, with speed that improves over longer range, low latency and all the features that gamers expect.

Add it all up and most other gaming routers are now second best. The GT-AX is large, with a gargantuan base, eight swiveling antennas, and massive This wireless router has connectivity in droves, thanks to its tri-band design and four downstream Gigabit LAN ports, a single 2. Built in customization and gaming-oriented optimizations provide plenty of control, and you can even pair it with other Asus routers for mesh networking to cover a larger home.

When you've got a big home, a single router might not give you the Wi-Fi coverage you need. In those instances, you want a mesh router, which uses several nodes to create a single seamless network that can cover the largest of homes. But they don't really make mesh routers specifically for gaming. While it may not offer all of the distinctive features that dedicated gaming routers have, the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6 RBK is a great mesh router that delivers the best throughput in the mesh category.

With easy setup and Wi-Fi 6 speeds, the Orbi is the mesh router we recommend for gamers. With tri-band coverage that can handle 5, square feet with only a two-pack consisting of a base unit and satellite extension, the RBK serves up category-leading performance with a strong signal that punched through ceilings, floors and walls with ease. In addition to massively improved speeds and handling of multiple devices, the Orbi also works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa for seamless voice control throughout the house.

Asus's RT-AC86U router may not be the top performer at short range but it more than makes up for that with its superb range. You can even dedicate a band just to gaming and there's a Game Accelerator that will detect and optimize your gaming streams. This means the router can handle a huge throughput and eliminate almost all lag— essential in keeping you immersed in your game.

Finally, this router offers tons of connectivity for devices that may benefit from a wired connection. If you're trying to ensure multiple devices all around your home are connected with fast internet for gaming, a mesh system may be your best bet. The two units both feature tri-band Wi-Fi, letting them effectively create two dual-band networks in your house though they operate as a single network , while relying on their extra 5GHz connection to ensure the link between the routers is also blazing fast.

These devices support Wi-Fi 6 for the latest and greatest in connectivity on supported devices, and they have multiple Ethernet ports on both the router and node, letting you go for a wired connection on devices that can benefit from the more consistent connection, like gaming PCs and consoles. Between the router and node, you can create an expansive wireless network to ensure no device suffers from a slow, weak signal in your home.

Wi-Fi 6-ready devices aren't quite here yet, but it never hurts to be prepared. While the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX was built for the next-gen wireless protocol, it's fully equipped to tackle anything and everything online gaming can throw at it today.

It offers maximum data transfer speeds of 11Gbps over a tri-band frequency. For gaming specifically, users can dedicate one band to gaming to avoid interference from other connected devices in their home.

Just look close — it has "AXE" in the name! Fun aside, this isn't just a Wi-Fi 6 router. Rather, it's a Wi-Fi 6E router, which brings access to even more potential thanks to the 6GHz spectrum it adds on top of 2.

Tri-band connectivity offers up an easy way to split up your network so you can ensure your gaming devices have the fastest connection in the house. That 6GHz connection is also not so common yet, so you won't run into the same kind of interference from all of your neighbors' routers that you will on 2.

This router has eight antennas to deliver a powerful signal, and its use of beamforming can go even further in ensuring a strong connection between your wireless devices and the router. You also get some blistering speeds from wired connections, as the router supports 2. While you're shopping for a gaming router, you should be on the lookout for which version of Wi-Fi it supports.

The main two you'll want to look out for are Wi-Fi 6 During your search for a gaming router, you'll undoubtedly come across units designed for Wi-Fi 4 It serves two objectives.

Firstly, the growing number of users indicates the product is good. Secondly, the manufacturers will hopefully provide better quality and after-sales service because of that growing number. Value For The Money: They say you get what you pay for. We try to measure how much value for the money you can get from your Wireless Router For Gaming before putting them on the list.

Durability: Durability and reliability go hand to hand. A robust and durable Wireless Router For Gaming will serve you for months and years to come. Availability: Products come and go, new products take the place of the old ones. Probably some new features were added, some necessary modifications were done.

We try to feature products that are up-to-date and sold by at least one reliable seller, if not several. Negative Ratings: Yes, we take that into consideration too! When we pick the top rated Wireless Router For Gaming on the market, the products that got mostly negative ratings get filtered and discarded.

These are the criteria we have chosen our Wireless Router For Gaming on. Does our process stop there? Heck, no!

The most important thing that you should know about us is, we're always updating our website to provide timely and relevant information.