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Verdict

There’s no denying that the Asus RT-AC5300 is an incredibly powerful router that offers a huge amount of features.

However, the fact that many of these features are gaming and media orientated, may put pro users off. If you have a home full of people streaming and playing games, the additional bands and speed of the Wi-Fi connection will definitely be a bonus.

We liked

The Asus RT-AC5300 is absolutely feature-packed, so if there’s an advanced network technology you need this router probably supports it. If you have a lot of devices in your home or office, and they are regularly used for playing games or media streaming, then the Asus RT-AC5300 is a very tempting buy.

The additional 5GHz band is also welcome as we see an increase in 5GHz-capable devices, so this extra band helps cut down the congestion. The speeds and strength of the Wi-Fi signal are also very impressive, and the setup procedure, and interface of the router’s software, was easy to use.

We didn’t like

This is a very expensive router, and its gaming focus may mean you’re paying for features you’re not going to use.

The design of the router is also going to be divisive. Finally, USB 3.0 speeds for shared storage devices isn’t as fast as we’d like with a router of this price range.

Final Verdict

If you’ve got a large house (or office) with plenty of Wi-Fi devices – many of them playing games or streaming media – then the Asus RT-AC5300 is possibly the best router you could buy.

The third band lowers congestion, and the gaming and media-specific QoS features means you’ll be able to play games or stream 4K videos without a hitch.

However, if this is not your scenario, then the Asus RT-AC5300 is likely overkill. It’s very expensive, and if you’re not looking for those media-related features, you’d be better off getting a cheaper, more straight laced, router, such as the Linksys WRT 1200AC.

As soon as we took the Asus RT-AC5300 out of the box, we knew it would be divisive. Depending on your needs this is either the best, most feature-rich, router ever made, or a garish waste of money. That might sound overly simplistic, but at this price range, there’s no room for grey areas.

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Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he's reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.

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