Asus RT-AC88U Review: A gaming-specific router at a steep but worthwhile cost

Gaming is very serious business these days. There was a time when games were all about the single-player campaign, intricate storylines, and great presentation. None of those things have changed today, but we do have the added variable to consider when making a great game: multiplayer. And with any multiplayer competitive game, speed is of the essence.And that’s where connectivity comes in. You need to be sure you have the best possible internet plan, a well-spec'd computer and, of course a good relay. Enter the Asus RT-AC88U. While this baby might take a sizeable chunk out of your budget, it’s still a very worthy investment, if you have the money.The RT-AC88U is a high-deliverance dual-band router from Asus, meant for the home. It has eight Gigabit LAN ports and dual WAN to LAN convertible ports, not to mention four external, and fully adjustable, antennae. It supports the network standard up to 802.11ac, with up to 1000Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, and up to 2167 MBps on the 5GHz band. As far as performance goes, the RT-AC88U delivers top-notch WiFi speeds and a stable, more powerful signal than your average router.Now, the Asus RT-AC88U is built specifically for gamers, and it shows with a the features it carries. There’s an intuitive web interface though, if you’re not too handy with setting up a router, there’s a setup wizard CD packed in. There’s also a built-in VPN server, malware protection, MU-MIMO support, and even a handy tool to monitor wireless usage for a particular device (handy for when you want to make sure internet usage is judicious. Also included is WTFast support, as well as a free install for one device, which helps reduce lag when gaming online.The Asus RT-AC88U uses a Broadcomm 1.4GHz dual-core processor with 512MB DDR3 RAM and 128MB of flash storage. In our tests, with seven devices connected simultaneously, there’s still no discernible lag. There’s even a handy USB 3.0 port (as well as a USB 2.0), for when you’d like to set up some wireless storage. On top of all that,the Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) support on board makes sure your available bandwidth is effectively utilised.The Adaptive QoS (quality of service) feature could also likely be handy, though we didn’t notice any particular difference in performance during our test. You can use this feature to prioritise internet usage of various types like surfing, gaming, content streaming, VoIP, and file transfer. The router also has really good range capability. We were actually able to stay connected with a strong signal at one end of the house, with the router connected near the other. We’d estimate the signal range to be well over 100 feet. Even if you have the Asus RT-AC88U connected in an area that size, with walls in between, you’re not going to need a repeater. Hopefully though, you remember to point the antennae in the general direction you want your signal strongest.An additional plus for the Asus RT-AC88U is that it comes packaged with three different power cable types. Couple that with the detachable antennae and you have a (moderately) portable, powerful router. On the downside, this beast is a large one, measuring in at 11.8 x 7.4 x 3.3 inches. And with a device that large, there’s no way to mount it on a wall. So of course, you’re going to have to set it on a table. No doubt, the router has a great look, with the Asus RoG black and red theme carrying forward, but there’s still no good reason to force that additional clutter onto a user’s desk. Even more so, when you realise that the USB 3.0 port you might want to connect an external hard drive to is on the front of the device. Perhaps an optional wall-mounting bracket sold separately would’ve fixed things, but that’s not to be.And with a R 24,000 price tag, you can bet you need to think twice about this buy. If you’re a serious gamer, with a lot of devices connected on average, or with a  lot of home area to cover, this makes absolute sense. If not, why not go for a more cheaper offering? And again, just make sure you’re saving some table space, because the Asus RT-AC88U definitely wants to be seen.