The Asus ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro is presented as the first Wi-Fi 8 router, combining four wireless bands with high-end hardware and a broad range of connectivity options. Its design uses multiple heatsinks and airflow channels to maintain performance without a noisy fan. During a month of testing, the router reportedly remained quiet and cool to the touch.
The port selection includes a 10-Gbps WAN/LAN port, a 10-Gbps LAN port, four 2.5-Gbps ports—one of which can also operate as WAN/LAN—a 1-Gbps LAN port, and USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0 connections. The two 10-Gbps ports also support link aggregation, creating a combined 20-Gbps connection.
Internally, the router uses Broadcom’s BCM 6718 Wi-Fi chip with a 2.6-GHz quad-core processor, 256 MB of Flash storage and 2 GB of DDR4 RAM. Its quad-band configuration includes the conventional 2.4- and 5-GHz bands plus two 6-GHz bands. All four bands use 4x4 configurations with OFDMA, 4096-QAM and maximum-width channels. Theoretical maximum speeds are listed as 1.3 Gbps on 2.4 GHz, 5.6 Gbps on 5 GHz and 11.5 Gbps on each 6-GHz band.
Real-world performance was lower than the theoretical figures but remained strong. Testing recorded up to 3 Gbps at close range, about 1 Gbps through a wall and 350 Mbps at the end of a thick-walled garden. Compared with the tri-band Wi-Fi 7 Asus RT-BE96U, the GT-BN98 Pro was slightly faster at every tested distance and offered greater range across each band.
The additional 6-GHz band can also be used for wireless backhaul with Asus AiMesh, allowing the router to form a mesh network with another Asus device. Multi-Link Operation, which connects devices across multiple bands at the same time, delivered close-range speeds approaching 5 Gbps in testing when a second GT-BN98 Pro was used as the client.
Automated Frequency Coordination support was not tested. The feature checks licensed services in a particular area and can allow higher transmission power on the 6-GHz band, although its availability depends on the country and local licensing conditions. It is available in the United States and is expected in the United Kingdom soon.
Wi-Fi 8 is not focused solely on increasing speed. The standard also targets greater stability and reliability by addressing interference and reducing latency for demanding uses such as gaming. The Asus router includes adaptive Quality of Experience and device optimization features that can identify gaming devices and streams and assign them priority.
Sources: WIRED.