Asus ROG Strix GS-AX5400 im Test

ASUS ROG STRIX GS-AX5400

Enjoyable PC gaming requires a steady hand, sharp reflexes and, above all, a good connection to the Internet. The Asus ROG Strix GS-AX5400 ($249.99) can’t help you with the first two, but it can help ensure your network is optimized for the ultimate gaming experience. This dual-band Wi-Fi 6 gaming router not only offers tools to reduce latency and provide maximum bandwidth for online gamers, but also delivers fast throughput and comes with strong network security and parental control tools. This makes it our new editors’ pick for mid-range WiFi 6 routers.

Asus Rog Strix 5400 Stylish angles in RGB

The GS-AX5400 has a stylish, angular design and features an RGB light bar with customizable effects. The case is black with a textured top with a Republic of Gamers badge and LED activity indicators for power, WAN, and both radios. It measures 2.1 x 10.2 x 7.0 inches (HWD) and has four non-detachable, adjustable antennas.

On the back there is a WAN port, four gigabit LAN ports, a USB 3.2 port, a power jack, a power button, a WPS button and a reset button. You won’t find multi-gig ports like the TP-Link Archer AX11000’s 2.5Gbps port, but you can configure the GS-AX5400’s LAN ports for link aggregation. Additionally, one of the LAN ports is reserved for gaming and will automatically prioritize any gaming console or PC you connect to it.

The GS-AX5400 supports the latest Wi-Fi 6 technologies including 160MHz channel bandwidth, Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), Target Wake Time, MU-MIMO data streaming, Beamforming and WPA3 encryption. It’s also compatible with the Asus AiMesh feature, which allows you to connect certain Asus routers together to create a whole-house Wi-Fi mesh system.

The GS AX-5400 is powered by a 1.5GHz tri-core CPU, 512MB RAM and 256MB flash storage. As a dual-band AX5400 router, it can achieve maximum data rates of up to 574 Mbit/s in the 2.4 GHz band and up to 4,804 Mbit/s in the 5 GHz band.

You can install and manage the Asus Rog Strix GS-AX5400 via a web console or with the Asus mobile app for iOS and Android. Both are packed with settings to help you fine-tune your network for optimal gaming performance, but the mobile app offers a smoother interface than the web console. It opens to a home screen with a cool game-inspired background theme. At the top of the screen is a box with the network name, IP address, and SSID for both bands. There’s also a game controller icon, which takes you to a screen where you can assign a prioritization for one of several applications, including gaming, media streaming, web browsing, and file transfer.

You can install and manage the Asus Rog strix GS-AX5400 via a web console or with the Asus mobile app for iOS and Android. Both are packed with settings to help you fine-tune your network for optimal gaming performance, but the mobile app offers a smoother interface than the web console. It opens to a home screen with a cool game-inspired background theme. At the top of the screen is a box with the network name, IP address, and SSID for both bands. There’s also a game controller icon, which takes you to a screen where you can assign a prioritization for one of several applications, including gaming, media streaming, web browsing, and file transfer.

In the center of the home screen is a status circle that displays a colored, real-time network traffic graph. Tap the left or right arrow for the circle to show the network name and SSID names, CPU and RAM usage, number of connected wired and wireless clients, and Aura RGB settings.

Below the circle are icons for configuring a mesh network and enabling mobile gaming mode, which increases bandwidth allocation and reduces latency when playing games on your mobile device.

At the bottom of the home screen are the Devices, Insight, Family, and Settings buttons. The Devices button opens a screen where you can view a list of all connected devices. Tap any device to view real-time traffic usage for that device, set bandwidth limits, apply QoS settings, and view the device’s IP and MAC address information.

On the Insight screen, you can search for available routers to add to your AiMesh network, share WiFi access via a QR code, check your password strength, and view security events such as blocked malicious websites or infected devices.

The Family button opens a screen where you can create profiles for family members and assign age-based parental control filters that block access to social media and websites containing violence, gambling, and adult content.

Finally, the Settings button takes you to a screen where you can configure AiProtection (the router’s anti-malware feature) and parental controls, run network diagnostics, configure Open NAT (port forwarding), enable and configure application-based QoS settings, configure router Firmware and configure Wi-Fi, LAN and WAN settings.