ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router review – how to setup?

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Does ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router offer any value for gamers? You can even assign full dedicated bandwidth while gaming under gamer solo mode, making RT-AC5300 the perfect ally for low latency gaming anywhere in your home. Boost your gaming bandwidth with Adaptive QoS (Quality of Service), which allows you to easily prioritize gaming packets and activities. everyone on your network can enjoy smooth streaming and low-latency online gaming with its NitroQAM (1024-QAM) technology. Reveal more in ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router review.

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Pros & Cons – ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router

PROS

  • Incredible speeds
  • Setup and media servers features offered are in plenty, contrary to in many automatic routers
  • The router has a sturdy design, and the technology used making both the hardware and software are of high quality, making it reliable and durable
  • Allows the aggregation of Ethernet links for 2 Gbps throughput

CONS

  • Only 4 Ethernet ports
  • Single USB 3.0 Port
  • Expensive
  • You cannot wall mount the ASUS RT-AC5300

Specifications – ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router

  • Depth in Inches 9.6
  • DLNA Media Streaming No
  • Frequency (Wireless) Penta Band 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
  • Gaming Gaming
  • Gigabit Yes
  • Height in Inches 2.6
  • Antenna 8 x External
  • Connectivity Type Wireless and Ethernet
  • Data Transfer Rate (Mbps) 5334
  • Router Number of Ports 7 to 8
  • Security (Routers) 64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPA-Enterprise
  • True Color Black
  • USB Port Yes
  • VPN Support Yes
  • Weight (lbs.) 3.99
  • Width in Inches 9.6
  • Installation Software Installation Software Not Included
  • Integrated Data Storage Yes
  • Integrated VPN No
  • Parental Controls Yes
  • Wireless Bands Tri Band
  • Wireless Data Access Yes
  • Wireless Technology Wireless AC
  • Wireless Technology Speed AC5300

Price

At £382 ($360, around AU$490), ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router is a very expensive router, so you’ll want to make sure that the features and specifications of this device align with your needs before putting that kind of money down. If it doesn’t, then your money will be better spent on a more straightforward, business-orientated, router.

Is it really good for gaming?

The GT-AC5300 is also very different from the RT-AC5300, with eight LAN ports instead of four. (The Asus RT-AC88U — which is basically a dual-band version of the RT-AC5300 — also has eight LAN ports.) More ports means you can connect more devices using network cables, something that works better for games than connecting via Wi-Fi. The GT-AC5300 also doubles the amount of system memory to 512MB and internal flash memory to 1GB.

Compare ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router vs NETGEAR Nighthawk R7000

AttributesASUS AC5300 Tri Band Wireless and Ethernet Router, Black (RT-AC5300)NETGEAR Nighthawk R7000-100NAS Dual Band Wireless and Ethernet Router, BlackNETGEAR Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System (RBK50)Tenda Nova MW5G AC1200 Whole-home Mesh WiFi System, 3/PackTP-LINK Archer C7 AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Router, Black (ARCHER C7)
Reviews554.54.54.5
Delivery InformationFree delivery eligible Free Next-Day eligible by tomorrowFree delivery eligible Free Next-Day eligible by tomorrowFree Next-Day eligible by tomorrow
Connectivity TypeWireless and EthernetWireless and EthernetWireless and EthernetWireless and EthernetWireless and Ethernet
GamingGamingGamingGaming-Data not availableNon Gaming
True ColorBlackBlackWhite-Data not availableBlack
Depth in Inches9.67.263.1-Data not available7.2
Height in Inches2.61.978-Data not available2.44
Router Number of Ports7 to 87 to 87 to 8-Data not available5 to 6
Security (Routers)64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPA-EnterpriseWPA, WPA2, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)WPA, WPA2, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK-Data not availableWPA, WPA2, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)
USB PortYesYesYes-Data not availableYes
Width in Inches9.611.226.4-Data not available11.22
Frequency (Wireless)Penta Band 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 MHzDual Band 2.4 / 5GHzTri Band 2.4 / 5GHz-Data not availableDual Band 2.4 / 5GHz
Wireless BandsTri BandDual BandTri Band-Data not availableDual Band
Wireless Data AccessYesYesYes-Data not availableYes
Wireless TechnologyWireless ACWireless ACWireless AC-Data not availableWireless AC
Antenna8 x External3 x ExternalInternal-Data not available3 x External
GigabitYesYesYes-Data not availableYes
Parental ControlsYesYesYes-Data not availableYes
Wireless Technology SpeedAC5300AC1900AC3000-Data not availableAC1750
Weight (lbs.)3.991.651.96-Data not available1.58
Add To CartAdd To CartAdd To CartAdd To Cart

ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router review

Design

Measuring 2.6×9.6×9.6 (HWD), the router takes up a good amount of desk space, but it’s worth it if you want faster gaming speeds. Its sleek matte black exterior is pretty fancy, with its eight removable and adjustable antennas. 

Ports

Although the unit is large, it has only four Gigabit Ethernet ports and a single 3.0 USB, which as per the price we expected and hoped for more, but only an extra 2.0 USB port is added. The only improvement from its previous model is that the 3.0 USB port is placed at the rear side.

LED indicator

The 2.0 USB port is placed on the left side, and it is joined with buttons for WPS, to turn the status LEDs and Wi-Fi on and off. The status LEDs are placed at the front of the router. Although the LEDs serve their purpose using the quick to see logos for differentiation, they are subtle. Nevertheless, lights indicating the status of the Ethernet ports should be placed on the front.

Hardware

ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router comes with a 1.4GHz dual-core processor from Broadcom and 512MB of RAM. Other features include WPA-Enterprise and WAP2-Enterprise encryption, MU-MIMO, adaptive QoS (remember this is a router primarily geared at gamers, so gaming and media traffic can be given higher priority), guest network functionality, VPN servers, 3G and 4G data sharing and link aggregation, which combines multiple network connections to increase throughput.

Bandwidth

It’s an AC5300 device that delivers theoretical throughput speeds of up to 1,000Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 2,167Mbps on each of the 5GHz bands. As with the D-Link DIR-895L/R, the RT-AC5300 is a 4X4 router, which means it uses four individual streams to deliver and receive data.

Coverage

The router design has four transmit and four receive antennas, which improve the signal stability and Wi-Fi range dramatically to enable the router to provide connectivity in all corners of your house. Besides, the antennas form an AiRadar signal, which concentrates Wi-Fi signals in your devices, making it strong, fast and clear.

Speed

An excellent performer in our tests, the router’s score of 101Mbps in our 2.4GHz close-proximity (same-room). At a distance of 30 feet, the RT-AC5300 scored 80Mbps, just beating the Linksys EA9500 (79.1Mbps), the TP-Link Talon (79.8Mbps), and the D-Link DIR-895L/R (71Mbps). The Netgear R7800 trailed with a score of 52.3Mbps.

5GHz performance was also solid. Its score of 515Mbps in the close-proximity (same-room) test was identical to the D-Link DIR-895L/R and faster than the Linksys EA9500 (450Mbps)

Beamforming

It also supports beamforming, sending signals directly to clients, Smart Connect, which automatically chooses the best band for optimal throughput, and MU-MIMO technology for simultaneous rather than sequential streaming.

ASUS Router App

In your increasingly mobile-enabled life, having control over your network via an app is more important than ever. The new ASUS Router App is built from the ground-up to be both intuitive and robust, allowing you to setup your router, manage network traffic, diagnose connection issues and even update firmware, all without needing to boot up a PC.

ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router Setup for gaming

For example, if you want Diablo 3 to have priority on your home network, you can just select it from a list, instead of having to program all the settings manually. Best of all, the router can work as a WTFast client, allowing it to automatically connect to the Gamers Private Network (GPN). With this in place, your entire home network is part of GPN and you won’t need to run WTFast on your computer anymore. GPN automatically selects the best server for any game you’re playing, allowing for the best possible connection with the lowest latency.

Pre-configured for gaming

The web interface also has too many preconfigured settings for games, and it’s laden with gamer-specific lingo. If you want to program the router for something unrelated to gaming, you’ll have hard time finding the right section to start with. For example, the built-in protection function of the router, which is normally aptly called AiProtection, is called Game IPS on the GT-AC5300’s interface. Similarly, the QoS feature is called Game Boost, and so on.

ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router performance review

To test file-transfer speeds, we use a 1.5GB folder containing a mix of photo, music, video, and document files and a USB drive. The RT-AC5300 measured a speed of 26.2MBps in the write test and 33.3MBps in the read test. The D-Link DIR-895L/R was much faster, with a write speed of 39.5MBps and a read speed of 78.3MBps. The Linksys EA9500 delivered scores of 35.3MBps (write) and 38.5MBps (read).

We tested MU-MIMO throughput using three identical Acer Aspire R13 laptops equipped with Qualcomm’s QCA61x4A MU-MIMO circuitry. In our close-proximity (same-room) test, the RT-AC5300 averaged a total throughput speed of 188Mbps across the three clients. That beat the Zyxel AC2200 MU-MIMO Dual-Band Wireless Gigabit Router (NBG6815) ($337.16 at Amazon) (148Mbps), but trailed the D-Link DIR-895L/R (264.6Mbps), the TP-Link Talon (226Mbps), and the Linksys EA9500 (210.3Mbps). The RT-AC5300’s score of 141Mbps in the 30-foot MU-MIMO test bested the D-Link DIR-895L/R (134.5Mbps), the TP-Link Talon (113Mbps), and the ZyXel NBG6815 (87.3Mbps), but not the Linksys EA9500 (162.3Mbps).

ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Router Customer review

ONLY ASUS DOSE IT ALL

Hello. I am, or consider myself to be somewhat computer savvy and I like to have the “latest and greatest” equipment as I am very picky and want the best performance from my computer equipment. I work at home and spend 12 to 14 hours a day on the computer so have a pretty good idea of what I am doing… I have purchased most of what are called the “flagship” routers… Linksys EA9500 Max-Stream™ AC5400 which lasted about 2 hours before returning to the store, also the Netgear Nighthawk X8 AC5300 and theNetgear Nighthawk X6 AC3200 which were also returned to the store.

Without getting into all of the negatives of the Linksys and Netgear equipment I will make it short and sweet… The Asus routers (and not just this model RT-AC5300) have more robust user interfaces, more options for things like naming convections for the networks (characters allowed like the $ sign for example), the number of guest networks you can set up (Asus allows for the primary networks with depending on the router can be 2 or 3 such as the RT-AC5300 allows for 3 primary and 6 guest networks and an “old RT-AC87 I have allows for 2 primary and 6 guest networks)… the other brands limit you to 2 and 3 guest networks… this dose not work for me…

Another difference… Asus allows for 32 QoS rules and the others are limited to like 3, a huge difference… Network protection… only Asus has built in antivirus which is powered by Trend Micro, parental controls built in whereas the others require a download of additional software… Something else that may or may not impress, but only Asus has a nice user interface that MAKES SENSE and has nice little (or should I say large) buttons to click on to either logout or reboot.. the others have these functions buried and hidden that pretty much no average user will every find them. If you do not want to “experiment” and run back and forth to the store trying to find the right equipment… buy Asus and be happy… I own 2 routers, gave a third to my children and have several laptops that are also Asus. I have been happy with this brand for many years.

By geekboy61 at Best Buy

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Abu Saleh Rizvee
Abu Saleh Rizvee

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