ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro Review

Here’s the thing: Wi-Fi 8 client devices are not available at the time of this review—Wi-Fi 7 devices still saturate the market.

So, what’s the point in testing the router’s speeds without compatible Wi-Fi 8 clients?

Well, hang on there, bubba. Wi-Fi 8 isn’t meant to increase throughput, as seen with the transition from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 7. The peak theoretical speeds remain unchanged. The point of Wi-Fi 8 is to improve reliability and range for all connected devices, not just Wi-Fi 8 ones.

The result appears to be slightly better real-world throughput thanks to how Wi-Fi 8 uses modulation on multiple streams, uses more MCS levels, divides channels, and more. But don’t worry—that’s a rabbit hole we can travel down together in a separate article.

So, for this review, I decided to compare the GT-BN98 Pro with the similar RT-BE96U Wi-Fi 7 model. However, keep in mind that AFC support is not available at the time of this review, so we won’t see the associated mid-range improvements on the 6 GHz band.

6 GHz tests

At first glance, it appears that the two routers have roughly the same performance in terms of real-world throughput at specific distances. The Wi-Fi 8 model had slightly higher numbers, presumably due to improvements under the hood.

At 10 feet, both router speeds dropped around 95Mbps compared to their ground-zero benchmarks. At 20 feet, the Wi-Fi 7 router had a slightly larger speed drop, and by 30 feet, it lost another 207Mbps in throughput compared to 123Mbps with the Wi-Fi 8 router.

That all said, the GT-BN98 Pro does show a lower speed drop than the Wi-Fi 7 unit—even without the AFC support.

5 GHz tests

Like with the 6 GHz tests, both routers had a similar speed decline rate at 10 feet—this time around 175Mbps average (although the Wi-Fi 7 model had a slightly larger reduction).

From that point, the speed decline was similar until the test at 30 feet, where the Wi-Fi 8 router had a 104Mbps speed reduction versus 167Mbps with the Wi-Fi 7 model.

Again, we can assume Wi-Fi 8 enables a bit more throughput at longer distances based on these tests, but we can also chalk it up to using different radios on different days—either scenario is possible.

2.4 GHz tests

The 2.4GHz tests show the most promise in terms of long-range improvements. I recorded a 17Mbps difference from ground zero to 10 feet with the Wi-Fi 8 model, and a 54Mbps difference on the Wi-Fi 7 model.

From there, the Wi-Fi 8 model saw an 8Mbps reduction at 20 and 30 feet, while the Wi-Fi 7 model recorded 82Mbps and 52Mbps speed drops, respectively.

Overall, the speeds and reliability are excellent, so I see no reason not to upgrade to the GT-BN98 Pro right now. As previously mentioned, ASUS expects to release firmware supporting AFC in mid-October, so we’ll have to return and see how those benchmarks compare.

Like the ASUS Wi-Fi 7 routers and mesh systems I previously reviewed, the GT-BN98 Pro is packed full of features that don’t nickel-and-dime you to death. Free security, free parental controls, and built-in VPN tools—you can’t beat that. It even includes printer sharing, which for a long while I figured had died with the mullet hairdo. Take a look at the features list:

• Mesh networking (AiMesh only)
• Free security
• Free parental controls
• Free VPN server and client tools
• USB-based media streaming and sharing
• USB-based printer sharing
• USB-based 4G/5G tethering
• Adaptive Quality of Experience (QoE) using AI to manage traffic
• Multiple SSIDs (I created at least 5) with their own policies, permissions, and security settings
• Dual WAN connectivity with failover and load balancing support
• VLAN tagging (to isolate devices and users)
• WAN Aggregation connectivity (up to 20Gbps)
• Three-year warranty

Of course, the GT-BN98 Pro is a gaming router, so we need to display a second list. Take a look:

• Aura RGB: Provides seven different RGB effects for the ROG logo.
• Device Identification: Detects gaming devices and prioritizes their network traffic.
• ROG First: Optimizes network traffic on ASUS devices.
• Game Boost: Uses AI to allocate network sources smartly between gaming, file transferring, multimedia, and real-time app use.
• GTNet: Optimizes connections to servers using AI.
• Mobile game mode (app only): Prioritizes gaming traffic on mobile devices.

It’s safe to say the GT-BN98 Pro is the best gaming router I’ve tested in years, feature-wise.

What the GT-BN98 Pro could do better

• EasyMesh support

EasyMesh is the only standout feature this router is missing, as it checks all the other boxes for features I typically call for in router reviews. ASUS says it sticks with AiMesh for the best user experience, and that’s fine. But when users invest a lot of money into their home network, they should have the option to use a mesh platform that works with all brands, not just a proprietary one.

There’s no room for complaints with the GT-BN98 Pro. There are seven wired ports to use, ranging from 1 to 10Gbps—two of which can be used for 2.5Gbps or 10Gbps internet. The link aggregation aspect is a little weird, setting up one wired device to have a 5Gbps LAN connection with 10Gbps internet (ideal for desktops with two 2.5GbE ports) or one wired device to have a 20Gbps LAN connection with 2.5Gbps internet (ideal for a NAS sharing files on the local network).

On the Wi-Fi front, users have two 6 GHz bands they can use for gaming—just shove all the streaming devices on the 5 GHz one and all the Internet of Things (IoT) devices on the slower 2.4 GHz one. In fact, there are multiple network types users can create, spanning from a dedicated gaming network with game profile presets to a dedicated VPN network that accesses whichever VPN service the user sets up in the router’s VPN Fusion client.

Out of the box, the internet was disabled on the router, so I couldn’t use the www.asusrouter.com address to access the web interface. I had to retrieve the router’s IP address from the Wi-Fi connection and use that. And while I could have progressed from there once the web interface setup eventually appeared, I switched to the app to continue.

The address hiccup was the only roadblock I faced in setting up this router. I do like the fact that it separates all bands by default—I’ve never liked Smart Connect (band steering), although users can still select it for simplicity. Since this is a gaming router, I highly doubt players want their devices defaulting to the 2.4 GHz band anyway.

The ASUS WRT 6.0 web interface is the best I’ve used to date, hands down. I’ve probably said something similar before in other reviews, but this one is my new favorite. It doesn’t divide everything into General and Advanced categories like with the RT-BE96U, presumably because gamers are a down-the-rabbit-hole technical bunch anyway, who fine-tune every minute setting most users don’t even know exist.

Overall, the interface presents a dark design with red highlights by default, although users can switch to a Light mode and toggle on ROG wallpaper. There are 12 categories in total, spanning from the cool Network Map presenting all the at-a-glance info gamers need, to the Settings section where the hardcore Wireless, LAN, WAN, and USB settings reside.

The ASUS Router App does a good job of cramming most of everything gamers need into a mobile-friendly interface. The Settings tab is where most of the controls reside, whereas the Family tab is where users create profiles and set content filters—two things they can’t do using the web interface. Instant Guard requires a separate app.