Asus Reveals Eight Ethernet Port RT-AC88U Gaming Router At ROG Unleashed

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By Tom's Hardware News Team
published

During Asus' ROG Unleashed event in San Francisco, the company revealed several product additions to its ROG (Republic of Gamers) line of gaming products. At the event, Asus made a point to show that aside from gaming notebooks and desktops, motherboards, graphics cards and more, other types of computer hardware may appeal to gaming enthusiasts. The company's ROG line extends to headsets, keyboards and mice, and now it reaches out even further with the addition of the RT-AC88U gaming router.

The Asus ROG RT-AC88U adopts the aggressive theme and colors sported by fellow ROG products. The RT-AC88U is capable of maximum speeds of 2.1 Gbps on 5 GHz band and 1 Gbps on 2.4 GHz, which Asus claimed should be more than enough for data-heavy gaming sessions. The RT-AC88U router also includes a free subscription to WTFast Gamer Private Network, a VPN (virtual private network) service that routes gaming traffic to WTFast's servers. This, along with the RT-AC88U's gigabit speeds, should provide a smooth, hiccup-free gaming experience.

If wired connections are required, Asus did go the extra mile by including eight gigabit Ethernet ports, which should be adequate for a gaming house or for LAN parties. Additionally, the RT-AC88U includes a USB 3.0 port that users can employ and add network attached storage (NAS) through the router. Also included is a USB 2.0 port, which Asus suggested could be used for, aside from printing or more network attached storage, an additional 3G/4G/LTE network adapter for network redundancy. Asus also included its proprietary AiProtection feature, an antivirus, anti-malware service that makes the RT-AC88U the first line of defense from malicious attacks on your network and computers.

Asus has yet to provide prices for the new RT-AC88U, but the company did announce that the router will be shipping later this quarter.

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Tom's Hardware News Team
Tom's Hardware News Team

Tom's Hardware's dedicated news crew consists of both freelancers and staff with decades of experience reporting on the latest developments in CPUs, GPUs, super computing, Raspberry Pis and more.

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37 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Lutfij
    Madness I tells ya! Madness!
    Reply
  • Do gamers really have more than 4 computers in a short distance? I doubt there are many use-cases for these.
    Reply
  • mrmike_49
    May not have more than 4 PCs yeah, but add in TV, DVD, network drive(s), printer(s), etc, and 8 may not be enough
    Reply
  • beoza
    Do gamers really have more than 4 computers in a short distance? I doubt there are many use-cases for these.
    There are more than just computers being hooked up in homes, think of all the wired and wireless devices you currently have. You could have consoles (XB360/XB1, PS3/4, Wii/WiiU), gaming laptops, phones, streaming boxes (Nvidia Shield, Netflix), PC's, Tablets all online pretty much at once with this router and not experience issues (not enough info here to be sure about that) like more traditional routers. It's not just computers anymore, everything is being connected to the internet, even your fridge can be connected. I can see a use for this for me personally as I don't like using my PC's and laptops wireless (if I can avoid it with laptops) just more secure when doing banking/online purchases (if you are proactive with your security). Roku (Netflix box) seems to stream better with a wired connection than wireless in apartment complexes where there are a lot of wireless routers. But at the end of the day it all comes down to the individual to decide if they ultimately need this router, or just want it cause it's from ASUS.
    Reply
  • Bureaucromancer
    Honestly I might be interested in this if the price is vaguely reasonable purely for the extra ports. 4 really doesn't cut it, and piling on a switch for the number and location of my devices is a lot messier than getting a few more ports on the router. Of course with Asus networking gear it's a big if whether the price will be sane.
    Reply
  • George Phillips
    This is long over due. Manufacturers should have already put at least 8 Gigabyte Ethernet ports on their routers long time ago.
    Reply
  • falchard
    At my house several rooms are hooked up to the internet. I use a 4 port wifi router and an 8 port switch in my cable closet.
    Reply
  • somebodyspecial
    Yes, with so many of us having more devices that are NOT PC's (roku's blurays, 3/2 of each in my house, xbox etc), I'd like to see them all switch to 5+. I have 3 routers going in my house due to this crap, but am looking to go 1 cisco 8 port something when they get their AC stuff going (a business model probably anyway for some cisco training). Just waiting for AC MU-MIMO to get better before I don't mind spending on some AC stuff so I can get by on just an 8 port. Not sure why we've been stuck at 4 for so long at home with so many devices. Add consoles, PC's, roku's and blurays and you can easily hit 10. I always opt for wire when available, PERIOD. I'll likely have an ethernet TV next upgrade shortly too. Yeah I can use more ports ;)
    Reply
  • JROldman
    It is very nice to finally see a an 8 port Gaming router .... cheers for Asus.
    Reply
  • JROldman
    16761461 said:
    May not have more than 4 PCs yeah, but add in TV, DVD, network drive(s), printer(s), etc, and 8 may not be enough

    Exactly! :D
    Reply