ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 Router Review – Budget Friendly Router For Your Gaming Needs
3 Years
RM838
- Great Coverage over WiFi 6
- Lamborghini hood looking design
- Mesh Supported
- Gaming Port Features
- AiProtection From Micro Trend
- Simple RGB Lighting ( wish it could have a vertical pulsating RGB light on top of the hood )
- Large Ventilation at Bottom side dust can accumulate very fast inside the router .
ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 is equipped with the current Wi-Fi 6 technologies with enhanced Wi-Fi signal that will ensure you coverage for your whole house. This budget friendly router will give you all the speed you need without burning a hole in your pocket.
Unboxing
Look at that sexy looking router, did it remind you of something? I’m sure our Super Daddy would love to get his hands on this router because it resembles one of his favourite cars.
The design of the ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 router resembles a Lamborghini car hood, though some may say it looks like a futuristic spaceship.
From the top, you can see that there is a RGB TUF logo.
Every side of the router has ventilation holes, so you don’t have to worry about it running hot despite it looking hot on its own, if you get what I mean.
A stealthy TUF GAMING wording can be seen on the top side of the router.
The ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 comes with 6 antennas, with more antenna bringing more bandwidth for your device and you can optimize the signal radio equally by adjusting the angle.
For the I/O panel, you can see 5 Gigabit ports including the WAN port, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, WPS button and a Reset button.
On the bottom, you can find more ventilation holes for it.
Technical Specifications
| Network Standard | IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE |
| Product Segment | AX5400 ultimate AX performance: 574+4804 Mbps |
| Data Rate | 802.11ax (2.4GHz) : up to 574 Mbps 802.11ax (5GHz) : up to 4804 Mbps |
| Antenna | External antenna x 6 |
| Transmit/Receive | 2.4 GHz 2 x 2 5 GHz 4 x 4 |
| Processor | 1.5 GHz tri-core processor |
| Memory | 56 MB Flash 512 MB RAM |
| Wi-Fi Technology | FDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) Beamforming: standard-based and universal 1024-QAM high data rate 20/40/80/160 MHz bandwidth |
| Operating Frequency | 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz |
| Encryption | WPA3-Personal, WPA2-Personal, WPA-Personal, WPA-Enterprise , WPA2- Enterprise , WPS support |
| Firewall & Access Control | Firewall: SPI intrusion detection, DoS protection Access control: Parental control, Network service filter, URL filter, Port filter |
| Management | UPnP, IGMP v1/v2/v3, DNS Proxy, DHCP, NTP Client, DDNS, PPPoE Port Trigger, Port Forwarding, DMZ, System Event Log |
| VPN Support | PPTP Pass-Through, L2TP Pass-Through, IPSec Pass-Through RTSP Pass-Through, H.323 Pass-Through, SIP Pass-Through, PPPoE Relay IPSec server PPTP server OpenVPN server PPTP client L2TP client OpenVPN client |
| WAN Connection Type | Internet connection type : PPPoEclass=”, PPTP, L2TP, Automatic IP, Static IP |
| Utilities | Router setup wizard; Firmware restoration; Device discovery; printer setup utility |
| Ports | RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for WAN x 1, RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for LAN x 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 x 1 |
| Features | Router app Link Aggregation 802.3ad MUMIMO Traffic Analyzer Adaptive QoS AiProtection Pro Parental Control Guest Network : 2.4 GHz x 3, 5 GHz x 3 NAT PassThrough :PPTP PassThrough, L2TP PassThrough, IPSec PassThrough, RTSP PassThrough, H.323 PassThrough, PPPoE relay Mac OS Backup Enhanced media server (AiPlayer app compatible) – Image : – Audio : mp3, wav, mp4, lpcm ogg – Video : asf, avi mpeg, mpg, ts vob wmv mkv mov AiCloud personal cloud service 3G/4G data sharing Printer Server – Multifunctional printer support (Windows only) – LPR protocol support Download Master – Support bt, http, ed2k – Support encryption, DHT, PEX and magnet link – Upload and download bandwidth control – Download scheduling AiDisk file server – Samba and FTP server with account management Dual WAN WAN Aggregation IPTV support Roaming Assist OFDMA Beamforming |
| Button | WPS Button, Reset Button, Power Button |
| LED Indicator | Power x 1 2.4GHz x 1 5GHz x 1 LAN x 4 WAN x 1 |
| Power Supply | AC Input : 100V~240V(50~60Hz) DC Output : 12 V with max. 2.5 A current |
| Operation mode | Wireless router mode Access point mode Media bridge mode Repeater mode AiMesh node mode |
User Interface
The ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 user interface is a bit different from the standard ASUS interface as it has the TUF branding and theme.
Being a budget-friendly product usually means that it will be missing one or two notable features from the high end ones but worry not, the ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 has all the features you need, even the AiProtection with Trend Micro is available.
Of course, the game boost feature is a must for any gaming network related product, and you can just add your PC or mobile devices in the ASUS Game Boost list to have a smoother gaming experience .
Wi-Fi Performance
| Internet Speed | 300Mbps download / 50Mbps upload |
| Wi-Fi Settings | Mode Wi-Fi AX only
Channel Bandwidth 20/40/80/160 Control Channel 64 |
| Client with Wi-Fi USB adapter | ASUS USB AX56 |
For the first test in the same room with the server, the expected performance matches my maximum internet speed. Moving on to an open hall obstructed by one thick wall yields the same result as before. In another room roughly 6 meters away with 2 thick walls and a closed door, I’m still getting strong signals with full speed. With older Wi-Fi technologies such as Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac, we can expect a 50% performance drop here but with newer Wi-Fi 6 standards, we still get a good performance even when obstructed by multiple thick walls.
Getting further away from the router and moving into the kitchen with more walls obstructing the way, it’s still only a fraction of a performance drop as I am getting 281Mbps download and 56Mbps upload. This is amazing and it’s certainly more than enough to play games or stream 4K UHD movies.
Conclusion
Did you know TUF means “The Ultimate Force”? For me, ASUS TUF products are in the second line compared to ASUS ROG products as TUF product are geared towards budget-friendly users while still getting a great performance from it. The ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 is priced at RM838, and considering the performance it delives alongside all the features with a great looking design, it will surely satisfy you without the need to burn a hole in your wallet.
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