Non IT person here trying to buy router/ Access point for lag free gaming.
Before you ask, no it’s not possible to hardwire (I do hardwire my PC) but now I mostly game on laptop and wire connection is not possible every time.
Network Speed: 500 Mbps UP and Down
Space: 1600 Sq ft studio apartment
I was planning to buy Asus ROG router but a friend who is in IT said those are overprized crap and insisted on I should get a Ubiquiti U6+ or Aruba Instant ON AP22 with TP-Link POE+ switch and NanoPi 4s for router. Since these will last me quite a long time 4-5 years or more with proper security updates.
They do fit in my budget (~$500) but I’m kinda overwhelmed with router. What benefit does router with openwrt will provide a normal home user like me other than being opensource and more trustworthy? Can’t I just use device like ASUS RT-AX86U Pro and use it just for routing, since Asus is known to support their router well.
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As u/michrech said, lag-free gaming is not possible. There will always be lag at some point. There are hundreds of posts in this subreddit about lag.
Your friend has the right idea, a dedicated WiFi6 AP wired to your router via a PoE switch. Place the AP in the same room that you will likely game wirelessly.
Do you already own the ASUS RT-AX86U Pro? If so, try it before you buy something else. ‘Gaming’ is mostly just marketing BS. In the consumer world ‘Pro’ doesn’t mean much, either. The ASUS RT-AX86U looks like it will route 1 Gbps.
Whichever router you pick, disable its WiFi in favor of the ‘real’ AP.
If you do upgrade your router, make sure it supports UPnP. I made the mistake of using an enterprise router that didn’t support it yet.
I’d also make sure that it fully supports ipv6. I just bought a tplink omada router and while it supports ipv6 routing, it only provides firewall functions for ipv4 at the moment.
I would start with getting your wireless working well first and then think about the router later. Your isp router/modem might be fine.
Short of moving directly into the hosting location that stores the servers your games run on, you’re not going to get a ‘lag free’ gaming experience. Period.
That said, since you have a symmetric 500mbps connection, you don’t need a ‘gaming router’, or even anything overly fancy. Any ~$100-200 router from a company you trust would do just fine for pretty well any use you’d likely throw at it.