Best gaming router for $200

[Spev]

My friend is wanting to buy a new router for gaming. He plays pretty much only Xbox (yea yea I know). He plays in tournaments online so lag is a very big factor for him. He's not playing wireless & just cares about lag free gaming on a wired connection.

 

This is my recommendation for him: http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-AC1900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00F0DD0I6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448001833&sr=8-1&keywords=best+gaming+router

 

I have a different Nighthawk & it's good I guess, nothing revolutionary but good. Any other thoughts? He will pretty much buy whatever I recommend for him lol he's not much of a shopper or techy guy.

[Nexxus]

lol gaming router...hold on letme stick some LEDs on some random cisco from staples.

[bacosta1993]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FB45SI4/ref=psdc_300189_t3_B00F0DD0I6

It's cheaper and has greater range then some routers out of its price bracket.

 

Edit - Not playing wireless... never mind he doesn't need a router.

[GodSpoon]

Nighthawks are great, expensive but great

 

Really you could save him some money by getting like a Netgear AC1450 and putting DDWRT on it

 

But I suppose the easiest "gaming" solution would be the Nighthawk 1900

 

Although Asus has some really solid routers as well, check out the AC68

[Spev]

lol gaming router...hold on letme stick some LEDs on some random cisco from staples.

 

It doesn't have to be a g4M1Ng router dude. It just needs to be a high speed router optimal for extremely little lag on wired connections.

[Muffinmaddness]

lol gaming router...hold on letme stick some LEDs on some random cisco from staples.

i must admit i did giggled a little  

 

why buy something that expensive?... if he's wired almost any router will be fine, he'll be limited anyway by his xbox and the internet speed .... you buy decent routers for home networking/ wireless/features...200 dollars on a router for a wired xbox...more money then sense imo 

[Dayummm]

My friend is wanting to buy a new router for gaming. He plays pretty much only Xbox (yea yea I know). He plays in tournaments online so lag is a very big factor for him. He's not playing wireless & just cares about lag free gaming on a wired connection.

 

This is my recommendation for him: http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-AC1900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00F0DD0I6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448001833&sr=8-1&keywords=best+gaming+router

 

I have a different Nighthawk & it's good I guess, nothing revolutionary but good. Any other thoughts? He will pretty much buy whatever I recommend for him lol he's not much of a shopper or techy guy.

 

What's a gaming router? If he's playing via wired connection, it won't make much of a difference, it depends more on his internet plan's speed.

 

Maybe you could provide more details? How many people uses the net while he's gaming (if you know), his plan's speed, etc..

[GodSpoon]

What's a gaming router? If he's playing via wired connection, it won't make much of a difference, it depends more on his internet plan's speed.

 

Maybe you could provide more details? How many people uses the net while he's gaming (if you know), his plan's speed, etc..

 

It does make a difference as far as the processing beef of the router, if you have 19 connections to a $40 router and little billy starts trying to stream a game, its not going to be a happy router

 

He's asking for a high end router suggestions that could handle the LAN load of high bandwidth gaming as well as everything else the man would throw at it, regardless of his home internet plan

[Spev]

What's a gaming router? If he's playing via wired connection, it won't make much of a difference, it depends more on his internet plan's speed.

 

Maybe you could provide more details? How many people uses the net while he's gaming (if you know), his plan's speed, etc..

 

He says while gaming 3 people are usually direct connected, but anywhere between 4-9 wireless devices connected as well.

[Dayummm]

It does make a difference as far as the processing beef of the router, if you have 19 connections to a $40 router and little billy starts trying to stream a game, its not going to be a happy router

 

He's asking for a high end router suggestions that could handle the LAN load of high bandwidth gaming as well as everything else the man would throw at it, regardless of his home internet plan

 

Well what he wrote was a little ambiguous, if his friend has a 50Mbps plan with a $200 router it'll be quite a huge waste.

 

 

He says while gaming 3 people are usually direct connected, but anywhere between 4-9 wireless devices connected as well.

 

The lowest end router i'd go with is probably: http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Archer-C7-Wireless-1300Mbps/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448004217&sr=8-1&keywords=ac+router

 

Highest i'd go with is: http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router/dp/B008ABOJKS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448005495&sr=8-1&keywords=ac66u

[GodSpoon]

Well what he wrote was a little ambiguous, if his friend has a 50Mbps plan with a $200 router it'll be quite a huge waste.

 

The lowest end router i'd go with is probably: http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Archer-C7-Wireless-1300Mbps/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448004217&sr=8-1&keywords=ac+router

 

Highest i'd go with is: http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router/dp/B008ABOJKS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448005495&sr=8-1&keywords=ac66u

 

You just needed to pay a little more attention and read a little deeper so you could understand the question better 

 

I agree with your choices though. Either of those would be alright, I do prefer the Asus offerings a bit more than TP-Link though, I have had some issues with them in the past sadly

[Dayummm]

He says while gaming 3 people are usually direct connected, but anywhere between 4-9 wireless devices connected as well.

 

If your friend is hell bent at spending the full $200,

 

Get this: http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC68U-Wireless-AC1900-Dual-Band-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00FB45SI4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448006130&sr=8-1&keywords=ac68u&pebp=1448006132416&perid=16N9GEPQ97AT9B8K4953

 

There's a Black Friday deal for this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010UR8AM2/ref=br_prlt_slcty_pdt-16?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=11R7XT9WBJP0B9H06PK0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=832eb9ef-4578-4c64-823f-9b20dd2d0f25&pf_rd_i=13459453011 Its newer has a better AC standard than the router above, but it has really little reviews about it so buy at your own risk.

[skywake]

For $200? Don't get an all-in-one. For that price point you should really be getting a separate access point and router.

 

Ubiquiti Unifi AC Lite: http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Enterprise-System-UAP-AC-LITE/dp/B015PR20GY/

Ubiquiti EdgeRouter: http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-Advanced-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00YFJT29C/

[BrightCandle]

What you friend most likely needs to do is set up the QoS on the existing router they already have so it prioritises xbox traffic. So when others are using the connection his packets will be sent first. But even if the router is adding 5ms (its not) he is playing on an xbox, its 5ms in a chain of latency that is over 100ms long its just not worth it. If he has genuine problems with the existing one then by all means replace it with a more modern one but by and large the problem is always QoS.

[skywake]

All the more reason to get a better router from someone like Ubiquiti. You don't get much better QoS than the sort you can get from dedicated hardware. It's probably not the most user friendly thing to setup but you will certainly get the most for your money. No point paying a premium for AC1900 if you're only going to connect to it via Ethernet either, get a separate AP, have it process all of the wireless traffic.

 

always go with this:

internet -> modem -> router -> switch -> access points -> devices

 

over this:

internet -> modem/router/AP/switch -> devices

[Centurius]

Edgerouter lite, it requires a lot of configuration to get running properly but once it is there is nothing that will beat it.

[Scheer]

+1 for going with an Edgerouter or USG from Ubiquiti, pair it with a Unifi AP if you want, or just turn the current router into an AP.

 

 

Really though, if he is already wired... I highly doubt there will be any difference.