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Asus ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro Reviewed as First Wi-Fi 8 Router
Reviewer tests Asus ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro, billed as the first Wi-Fi 8 router, over a month of use.
Key points
- The router has a quad-band design with two 6 GHz bands, powered by Broadcom's BCM 6718 Wi-Fi chip.
- Theoretical top speeds are 1.3 Gbps on 2.4 GHz, 5.6 Gbps on 5 GHz and 11.5 Gbps per 6 GHz band.
- Multi-Link Operation reached close-range speeds close to 5 Gbps when the reviewer used a second GT-BN98 Pro as a client.
Why it matters. Wi-Fi 8 aims to improve stability and reliability with features that compensate for local interference and reduce latency for tasks like gaming, rather than chiefly raising speeds.
A reviewer who spent a month testing Asus's ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro found it silent and cool, with speeds of up to 3 Gbps in the same room and 350 Mbps at the bottom of a garden. It was slightly faster than the tri-band Wi-Fi 7 Asus RT-BE96U at all distances. The router is available in the US and will reach the UK soon, though AFC support remains untested.
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Asus ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro Reviewed as First Wi-Fi 8 Router
Wired has reviewed the Asus ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro, which it describes as the first Wi-Fi 8 router. The quad-band gaming device is described by the reviewer as fabulously fast and feature-packed. Its advanced thermal design uses multiple heatsinks and airflow channels to sustain top performance over the long term without a noisy fan. The reviewer said the router stayed silent and cool to the touch throughout a month of testing. The device also has a generous array of ports, including 10Gbps WAN and LAN connections.