OC3D at ROG Apex

ROG’s new Rapture GT-AXE16000 router is insane!

We love networking hardware here at OC3D, and while we do not review it often, we use it everyday to complete out work. We need fast download speeds, high transfer rates between out workstations and storage servers, and fast wireless networking that we can rely on. With their new Rapture GT-AXE16000, ASUS ROG claims to have everything that users could need from their home networking setup. 

When they first revealed their ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000, ASUS became the first company to offer their customers four WiFi bands, making this router a quad-band router. The ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 features a 6 GHz band, two 5 GHz bands and a single 2.4 GHz band. This gives the GT-AXE16000 WiFi 6E support, and a total wireless network capacity of 16,000 Mbps across all four bands.

The second 5GHz band on the Rapture GT-AXE16000 is intended for use as a dedicated backhaul link for AiMesh-compatible networking equipment. This enables fast communication between AiMesh nodes while keeping the router’s second 5 GHz band free for other tasks.

Out of the box, the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 had eight antennas, two 10GbE ports, a 2.5GbE WAN port, and four 1Gb LAN ports. With these wired and wireless connectivity options, ASUS’ Rapture GT-AXE16000 can act as a strong core and any home WiFi network.

Users of this router can also use 10GbE connections as a WAN port should they wish, enabling ultra high transfer speeds to other connectivity nodes or routers.

     ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 gaming router

The ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 is the world’s first quad-band WiFi 6E gaming router. ASUS engineers have unlocked the full potential of four bands — 2.4 GHz, two 5 GHz bands, and 6 GHz — with 160 MHz channels in the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands to deliver the fastest speeds possible. It features a flagship next-gen Broadcom WiFi chipset and CPU to improve maximum network throughput by 18% for lightning-fast, accelerated data transfers and an optimized gaming experience. With ASUS RF technology and other exclusive ASUS technologies, RangeBoost Plus leverages multiple upgraded ASUS features that improve WiFi signal range and overall coverage by up to 38%.

The Rapture GT-AXE16000 offers numerous connections including dual 10 Gbps ports, a 2.5 Gbps WAN port and four 1 Gbps LAN ports. The quad-band capabilities of the Rapture GT-AXE16000 also provides users with more choice when connecting to an AiMesh system. For users with WiFi 6E devices, one of the 5 GHz bands can be used as a dedicated backhaul to the central router, so the other three bands are free for device connections. Additionally, the 6 GHz band can be used as a backhaul when used with another WiFi 6E router to provide cleaner and faster transmission between two routers for an optimized mesh experience.

With a new Broadcom WiFi chipset, ASUS’ new ROG Rapture Rapture GT-AXE16000 router promises to deliver higher levels of maximum networking throughput than ASUS’ prior ROG routers. Additionally, ASUS’ networking optimisation software is designed to help lower the latency of gaming workloads, giving gamers a lag-free experience. 

As home networks start to move beyond Gigabit speeds, routers need to become faster to fully harness the speeds of next-generation broadband. Beyond that, as the needs of home networks grow, more widespread connectivity has become more desirable. With four WiFi bands and multple 10Gb ethernet connections, the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 will be a strong core for any high-end networking setup.