ASUS TUF GAMING AX5400 Router Review

A Router that has RGB too~

Previously we had reviewed the ASUS RT-AX86U and we set it as a main router, and we are incredibly impressed with the stability and speed. Today we will look at the AX5400 over the perspective of setting it not just a router, but more towards getting it as an AIMesh device to extend the range of the connection

Design & Ports

The ASUS TUF GAMING AX5400 is basically designed based on a fierce gaming look, with it’s red all black color accent mix surrounding the all hard durable plastic design with the TUF RGB Aura logo that is perfectly fit at any living room, or in a office front desk. Upon that the three included antenna sits nice and fit on top of the base unit and of course, it is adjustable towards the directions needs to be covered by the area you wanted to use upon. The whole weight of the unit is just around 600 grams, on router category wise, it is consider lightweight with the heatsink inside that is constantly keeping the router cool over normal operation use with a few wireless device connected to the router.

Upon looking at the front the white LED is shining bright to indicate the status of your Wi-Fi connections, LAN, Internet, and 1GBPS LAN indicator were also present to show the presences and readiness of the router. Looking at the back over to the middle, there is a slate of lines with holes that is ventilating all the heat away. Further below is the set of ports. Starting from the left is the power adaptor slot, a physical on/off switch, one USB 3.0 which you can use for connecting printers or USB HDD, a WAN port for connecting to your Modem, and 4 Gigabit LAN port which you can connect to your PC, Internet TV, Android Box, etc.

Specifications and features

The ASUS TUF GAMING AX5400 is basically a Dual Band AX5400 based router that runs on Broadcom 1.5Ghz Processor with 512MB of RAM. Under such specs, we can say that ASUS has fit in very good SOC and just standard amount of memory in a router and it is pretty much needed to handle most mid tiered operations.

Over to the Wi-Fi specifications, it supports 4×4 MiMo, and can range quite far, which specs wise it can cover a quarter of any homes or office in general with peaked theoretical speed that go up beyond 4000mbps at normal range without thick walls with Wi-Fi 6 certified devices. Besides that the router also supports legacy connections from its standard 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz (Wi-Fi5) Wi-Fi radio A/B/G/N and AC. If you needed an extension to your wireless connection, AI Mesh is there where you can purchase from any ASUS authorized outlet to further expand the area of connection.

Other features such as Mobile Game Mode, Adaptive QoS, Open NAT, Torrent server and Port Forwarding were all present as standard.

Setup and Performance

Setting up the ASUS TUF GAMING AX5400 is relatively easy with AIMESH which you do not need to use a LAN cable to connect your primary router, with the out of the box menu can be access via web browser or from ASUS Router App which you can download from iOS or Android’s Google Play. Once access to it you will be greeted with a few clicks, button and configurations to set your primary ASUS Router which supports AIMESH and AIMESH Node Protocol, followed by your Wi-Fi configuration and enable AX Wi-Fi 6 to further utilize all the speed you need. Once all its done, it will be saved and you will be greeted again with a standard ASUS Router menu over the primary router, which leaves only limited function as a MESH only for drive sharing and hosting. But if you set it as a repeater, you will be able to access most functions including configuring ports, forwarding and the iconic ASUS AURA RGB which you can change the RGB modes of your choice.

Performance wise, a few round of the testing shows over the internet is very much satisfied and I am happy with the expected performance that holds consistently over 100Mbps via my ISP with low ping and jitter rates when benchmarking and even playing a few games. Torrenting also shows good consistent speed which 5GB file can be downloaded within 30 minutes similar from our previous router review from ASUS. Local file test transfer to my WD NAS connected to the LAN port also show stable speed rates with 5GB file test which can be fully transferred over in slightly less than 5 minutes and no drops or disconnection during test via Wi-Fi 6 Laptop and about 11 minutes on a standard AC 433MBPS device. Besides that we place the router opposite 2 houses away from the main router and we still be able to connect at a very feasible speed. We tried to connect over 20 devices and so far so good with good balance and management of bandwidth on all devices.

Besides that what we loved the most is using the Asus Router app which I can remotely control, manage and monitor the router and with all the devices connected to it, including even generic TV box, IP Camera and its identification of connection.

Hardware Specs

Verdict and Conclusion

The ASUS TUF GAMING AX5400 sets a standard as a formidable gaming router on its features and specifications, with vast array of management menu that is seamless and understandable for everyone with just a few settings to click, whether you are using it as a MESH, Repeater or a standard Router with many advance settings for enthusiasts. Other settings such as gaming mode that ensure low ping consistent connection over your connected gaming console or PC alike. With remote management available from the app, this makes it appealing if you have kids at home where you can have parental control over connection timers and many features waiting to be discovered. This router can be purchased with a retail price of RM749 from ASUS Outlets and Lazada or Shopee Online Stores

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