The best gaming guidance devices for 2025

There are many terms that you go through when comparing gaming steering devices. Does it deserve to be proud of one who supports the new Wi-Fi 7 Standard? Does your home need? Network Or is a single router on the task? What is in the world is 4K-Qam? This is what I wanted to know, so I dug in the details about the personal endeavor to find the best gaming device.

Before buying any gaming devices, I recommend searching in Beginners in CNET to delay games To find out how you can reduce your cumin. You may not need a new router at all, and in many cases, transfer of your wireless router to a different spot or modify the antennas in your current router can improve your network and perform online games.

If you have tried all of that and your gaming connection still needs to be upgraded, here are some of the main things that must be taken into account when shopping for routers.

Wi-Fi technology

These days, you will mostly see three Wi-Fi standards when shopping for Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6e and Wi-Fi 7. Wi-Fi 7 is the seventh repetition of Wi-Fi standards.

All of these standards were developed by Institute of Electricity and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)Global Association for Technical Professionals. When the device uses the latest standard, it is called an institution called Wi-Fi Alliance It gives the approval stamp on devices that meet their qualifications.

	Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)	Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)	Wi-Fi 6e (802.11ax)	Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)
Frequency ranges	5 GHz	2.4 and 5 GHz	2.4, 5 and 6GHz	2.4, 5 and 6GHz
The maximum width of the frequency range	80MHz	160MHz	160MHz	320MHz
top gear	1.3 GB per second	9.6 GB per second	9.6 GB per second	46 GB per second

• Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be): 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz difference is used, and the size of the 6 GHz channel is doubled from 160 to 320 MHz. The typical Wi-Fi 7 laptop can reach the “potential maximum” speed of 5.8 GB-faster 2.4 times from 2.4 GB per second with Wi-Fi 6 and 6e, According to Intel. Multiple correlation (MLO) also provides Wi-Fi 7 devices to connect simultaneously to two strips, providing improved reliability and very low generations.
• Wi-Fi 6e (802.11ax): The first Wi-Fi standard to add 6 GHz band together with 2.4 and 5GHz “target =” _ Self.
• Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax): The huge upgrade on Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 was the first criterion to allow your router to divide the channel that you use-2.4 or 5 GHz-to send its signals through the smaller frequency allocations. This allowed very quickly speed than the former general.
• Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac): Wi-Fi 5 Use the 5 GHz band exclusively. This was the first Wi-Fi standard to exceed a maximum of 1 GB per second, but its range is much lower than Wi-Fi 6.

If this looks confusing, you are not alone. The jump from Wi-Fi 6e to Wi-Fi 7 was particularly technology. Although both use the newly opened 6 GHz band, Wi-Fi 7 routers will only get a MLO feature.

“Whenever you speak with the Wi-Fi alliance, they always try to make people forget that Wi-Fi 6e exists.” Nicholas de LeonA correspondent covers the routers for consumer reports (CNETA Samantha de Leon). “It was a kind of first aid solution, which is on the way to Wi-Fi 7.”

As if this was not confused enough, some Wi-Fi 7 routers do not use even 6 GHz. Our choice of the best Wi-Fi 7 router, Netgear Nighthawk RS100He is one of them. It is one of the growing wave of Wi-Fi 7 “dual” routers, which is a little bit of the extension because it lacks the most important part of the equation.

Wi-Fi 7 is more than 6 GHz.

“Wi-Fi 7 offers many main promotions that distinguish it from TI-Band Wi-Fi 6e routers,” Coleman said in an e-mail. “For example, Wi-Fi supports 7 channels 320MHz-twice the size of the widest channels in Wi-Fi 6e-which means that it can provide much higher data rates. It also brings 4K-QAM modification, which enhances the efficiency of transport by up to 20 % compared to Wi-Fi 6e.”

Keep in mind that you will need a Wi-Fi 7 router and Wi-Fi 7 to take advantage of standard improvements. When Wi-Fi 7 was officially launched in January 2024, very few devices can already be used. Today, this list has expanded significantly and includes the latest iPhone and Microsoft surface laptops PS5 Pro.

Wi-Fi standards are compatible with a traffic, so the Wi-Fi 7 router will work with a device that only has Wi-Fi 6. Likewise, you can use the Wi-Fi 6 router to play on the PS5 Pro-you will not be able to benefit completely from its improved speeds.

Ethernet ports

Ethernet ports allow you to connect a device directly to your router. A wire connection in nature is much stronger than Wi-Fi; In one test “target =” _ SelfCNET writer obtained 395-megabyte download speeds through ETHERNET and 126 Mbps through Wi-Fi. If there is one device – such as a gaming console or a personal computer – you want completely to get the best connection with it, the Ethernet cable is the way to go. It is often marketed as “Gigabit ethernet” ports, which means that they are able to present them Gigabit speeds “target =” _ self Through a wire connection. The higher the number of ports owned by the router, the more devices you can connect in this way.

Support the band

You will first see two types of gaming devices: TI-Band and Dual-Pand. TI-PAND routers run on 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz channels, while double routers use only 2.4 and 5 GHz. The 6 GHz squad is the main promotion of Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers, but the routers companies are increasingly selling Wi-Fi 7 routers. This does not get 6 GHz, but they have other Wi-Fi 7 features such as MLO and 4K Qam. It is a little stretching to call Wi-Fi 7 GHz, but it is usually much cheaper than the real Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 routers.

Game features

The main feature that separates the gaming devices from the old Wi -Fi routers is the quality of the service (QOS) or determining the priorities of the domain. This allows you to give a priority to traffic to a specific device such as a gaming unit or a personal computer, ensuring that it will always be in the first line of the fastest speed of your network.

Some are more advanced than others. Our choice of the best Wi-Fi 6 game router, Asus Rog Rapture GT-Ax6000 comes with an increase in the game, which is the ASUS special service quality that gives game data priority. In general, these features are the best for the network. Even if you are not messing around with them, the high -quality gaming device should still provide a fast -free games experience.

Therapist and memory

The Wi-Fi processor is similar to its brain. It determines the quality of your network traffic management and the performance of multiple tasks simultaneously. All our highest choices use a quad -core processor (when inserted into the public), which is the standard in 2025. Not all quad -core processors are equally created. For example, the A73 processor used by ERO MAX 7 is much more advanced than the A53 processor used in ERO Pro 6e.

The storage capacity of the router can also affect the quality of its performance. This is usually divided into random access memory and flash. RAM, which approaches RAM, affects the router’s ability to process data, while storing flash usually includes the router settings.

Range and coverage

Will a single game router be able to broadcast a Wi-Fi signal around your entire home? Regardless of the quality of the router, you will always see a significant decrease in the rooms away from the router.

Several Wi-Fi routers include coverage areas northern 5,000 square feet, but I recommend switching to a network system if your home is greater than 2500 square feet. However, it is a percentage. If you have a multi -annexed internet plan, you will continue to get a great speed for TV flowing or browsing social media at a remote corner of a 5000 square feet house. But you are likely to face problems if you only start with 100 MB per second.

In addition, the type of house in which you live-is not only the size-can affect the Wi-Fi signal.

“A lot of this depends on housing construction,” said de Leon. “The family has dropped in Puerto Rico and Florida, where many houses are concrete, and this is clearly destroying Wi Fi signals.”

Network safety and protection

Any router should have at least a WPA3 certificate. This is the latest safety protocol issued by the Wi-Fi Alliance, and ensures that the router follows the best practices that make passwords more difficult to break and encrypt data.

“Frankly, as long as it contains WPA3, it is likely that this is the great security thing that must be searched for,” said de Leon.

It is also recommended to search for routers that support automatic fixed program updates. Not all CNET routers automatically recommend updating their fixed programs. One of the manufacturers with whom they spoke said that they had received “audio reactions from society” against them, as it could affect the network performance. Whether it’s automatic or not, the main thing to know is that the manufacturer makes updates regularly, and it is easy to install.

Mobile phone applications and user interface

All the gaming devices we recommend with a mobile app helps you control your home network. This is necessary for things like preparing your Wi-Fi network, updating your router and using game features. I haven’t noticed much of the separation of applications on the routers that we experienced, but this may affect your experience if you are planning to customize your network to determine the priorities of the game devices.

Parental controls

Parental controls It is a beautiful standard on Wi-Fi routers these days, and this includes routers for games that I recommend above. It can be accessed by applying the router and allows you to automatically access access to specific web sites or any adult content. You can often prepare a table where the device can access the Wi-Fi network as well, or even set daily limits.

The number of antennas and employment options

You believe that the more the number of antennas owned by the Wi-Fi router, the more expected the signal power, but the router that carries the best signal strength in our test is the ASUS RT-Ax86u Pro, which only contains three external antennas and one. External antennas allow you to direct a Wi-Fi signal towards specific areas of your home, but I haven’t seen much performance difference between internal and external aerobic guidance devices.

The most important thing is Place the router “target =” _ self. It should be ideally a few feet away from the ground, in a central location for your home and away from any walls or electronics.