Asus launches an AC5300 router that looks like a headcrab

If you're looking for a router that will seamlessly blend in with your home decor, the Rapture GT-AC5300 from Asus ROG is probably not it. But if you're looking for a router to scare off the children, this might be it.

Beyond the aesthetics, this is a tri-band model that is armed to the teeth. In addition to eight antennas, ther is a "PC-grade" CPU in the belly of this beast, along with 1GB of RAM and 256MB of flash memory.

This is a fast router that offers up speeds of up to 2,167Mbps on each of the two 5GHz bands and up to 1,000Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. It also has a built-in switch, though unlike most routers, it has eight GbE LAN ports for wired connections instead of four. Two of them are optimized for gaming.

"All traffic on these ports is given top priority, so your gaming devices—or any other devices you want to connect to these ports—are always at the head of the internet queue!," Asus says.

Asus also targets gamers with its Game Boost feature. Game Boost is a QoS scheme that analyzes network traffic and prioritizes gaming packets.

In another pitch to gamers, the Rapture GT-AC5300 includes built-in support for the Gamers Private Network powered by WTFast, which provides private, optimized Internet connections to game servers. This is supposed to result in lower pings and latency.

Finally, the Rapture GT-AC5300 boasts a feature called VPN Fusion. This allows users to run a VPN alongside an ordinary Internet connection at the same time.

All of these features do not come cheap. The Rapture GT-AC5300 is available now for around $390 in the US.

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Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).