Linksys WRT32XB router prioritizes gaming traffic

[Shawn Knight]

Linksys earlier this year at CES 2018 announced a new gaming router that prioritizes traffic from Xbox One consoles. Now, that piece of networking gear is finally available to purchase.

The Linksys WRT32XB Gaming Router features a dual-core processor that “promotes simultaneous high-speed data processing” and four pro-grade Gigabit Ethernet ports as well as USB 3.0 / USB 2.0 / eSATA connectivity to facilitate sharing across your network. There are also four adjustable / removable antennas for enhanced Wi-Fi coverage.

The WRT32XB incorporates Rivet Network's Killer Prioritization Engine (KPE) which can auto-detect any Xbox One on the network and accelerate / prioritize its traffic. According to Linksys, the KPE on the WRT32XB also shields gamers from extreme lag spikes at the router level and reportedly reduces peak ping by up to 65 percent versus non-gaming routers.

Full technical specifications are as follows:

• WiFi Technology: AC3200 MU-MIMO
• Network Standards: 802.11a/g, 802.11n, 802.11ac
• WiFi Speed: AC3200 (N600 + AC2600) ‡
• WiFi Bands: 2.4 and 5 GHz (simultaneous dual-band)
• DFS certified for operation in the clear DFS channel airspace
• 5-port Pro-Grade Gigabit Ethernet ports: 1x Gigabit WAN port, 4x Gigabit LAN ports
• Other: One (1) USB 3.0 port, One (1) Combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port, Power
• Antennas: 4x external, dual-band, detachable antennas
• Processor: 1.8 GHz dual-core
• Memory: 512MB DDR3 RAM / 256MB Flash
• Wireless Encryption: WPA2 Personal
• VPN Support: PPTP IPSec pass‐through
• Storage File System Support: FAT, NTFS, and HFS+
• Browser-based Setup and custom graphical user interface

As comicbook.com highlights, prioritizing gaming traffic from specific devices can be done on many of today’s routers so long as you’ve got a bit of networking knowledge. Something like the WRT32XB really just simplifies the process / does the work for you.

The Linksys WRT32XB Gaming Router goes on sale today at major retailers including Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart for $249.99. For a limited time, you can also score a three-month membership to Xbox Game Pass as part of the purchase.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/74516-linksys-wrt32xb-router-prioritizes-gaming-traffic.html

 

[Burty117]

I have a similar feature on my Netgear D7800 and I actually found I was getting worse Pings and it even caused the line to drop / router crash every so often, had it on for a few months, turned it off to see if it would get any better and boom! Pings nearly halved and no more reboots or drop outs.

I don't trust this tech in home consumer devices, in corporate firewalls costing thousands, yes, this tech works, it doesn't (or at least from my experience) work in home routers.

 

[mbrowne5061]

The Netgear Nighthawk series basically has all of these features already.

This one's interesting feature is the eSATA port.

 

[MoeJoe]

The Netgear Nighthawk series basically has all of these features already.

This one's interesting feature is the eSATA port.

eSATA is dead tech and not a valuable feature for most...

 

[MoeJoe]

This specialized gaming router has lack-luster reviews. And compared to other Linksys products, much less what is offered from the competition in terms of performance & support ... meh!

 

[Morphine Child]

Never really noticed something is wrong with my "normal" router while gaming...

And I think I would rather invest that sort of money into actual hardware which will actually benefit me.

Can't wait till they make gaming bottle openers so I can drink my gaming beer that will inevitably come one day while I game on my gaming router -_-

 

[Lionvibez]

Nothing to see here another product trying to take advantage of the "Gamer" Crowd.

Just make sure your Router has QOS and that is the best you can do at this point. You have no control over the packets once they leave your address. Its up to the ISP their routing etc at that point.

Those that aren't in the known fall for this crap.

 

[texasrattler]

I have the wrt32x which is the same as the 32xB. Some ppl try to claim that they can do the same or have a feature that does the same. I can tell you from experience, no it's not the same. The only way you can get it the same is basically doing it manually but even then your not going to get it exactly as what the wrt 32x can do.

However Linksys designed it, it priorities everything beautifully but what I think most articles miss out on is that there is no extra crap. Some others have all kinds of options and messing with them can improve performance but can also hurt performance heavily.
The way the wrt 32x is designed, it's not hurting performance. Ive used for a year and it's awesome. Not a single issue. You don't have to do anything but set it up and the setup is the easiest ive ever seen or used. The interface is easy and again one of the best ive ever used.

Btw, the Killer NIC is making a much bigger difference than some think. It's not a gimic, it really does do what it says.

I have used Linksys in the past and had 2 Netgear Nighthawks, the Linksys wrt 32x beats them both hands down. The Nighthawks I had were the R7000 and X4S R7800.

 

[mbrowne5061]

eSATA is dead tech and not a valuable feature for most...

It does handle file transfer better than USB3.0; USB3's throughput falls off a cliff the second you try to move more than one file at time over it.

 

[iamcts]

I have the wrt32x which is the same as the 32xB. Some ppl try to claim that they can do the same or have a feature that does the same. I can tell you from experience, no it's not the same. The only way you can get it the same is basically doing it manually but even then your not going to get it exactly as what the wrt 32x can do.

However Linksys designed it, it priorities everything beautifully but what I think most articles miss out on is that there is no extra crap. Some others have all kinds of options and messing with them can improve performance but can also hurt performance heavily.
The way the wrt 32x is designed, it's not hurting performance. Ive used for a year and it's awesome. Not a single issue. You don't have to do anything but set it up and the setup is the easiest ive ever seen or used. The interface is easy and again one of the best ive ever used.

Btw, the Killer NIC is making a much bigger difference than some think. It's not a gimic, it really does do what it says.

I have used Linksys in the past and had 2 Netgear Nighthawks, the Linksys wrt 32x beats them both hands down. The Nighthawks I had were the R7000 and X4S R7800.

Anyone with networking knowledge will tell you this is pure snake oil.

It's basically QoS with "GAMER" slapped on it. You have zero control over how your ISP routes your packets, so your latency won't be noticeably better.

 

[Burty117]

Anyone with networking knowledge will tell you this is pure snake oil.

It's basically QoS with "GAMER" slapped on it. You have zero control over how your ISP routes your packets, so your latency won't be noticeably better.

Agreed, Exactly right, Latency in your local LAN / WLAN is extremely minimal and throughput is a non-issue, it's once you hand off to the ISP and off it goes through their network where all the trouble is. I found getting a better modem dedicated to cable / VDSL / ADSL actually helps way more as they tend to talk to the ISP DSLAM cleaner than ISP provided modems so you tend to get better latency and a little bit more bandwidth and overall is a bit more stable with less spikes (jitter).

The only time these QoS features come in handy is if you have a busy household and you're the only gamer and don't want your sisters uploading of pictures to instagram messing with your latency. Even then, in my experience, very few routers apply QoS properly and some actually made the issue worse or completely destroy available bandwidth by reserving most of it for the first device to start a game up.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Anyone with networking knowledge will tell you this is pure snake oil.

It's basically QoS with "GAMER" slapped on it. You have zero control over how your ISP routes your packets, so your latency won't be noticeably better.

True, but where QoS does help is to carve out a piece of bandwidth for a specific application or protocol when in use, so your roommate's Netflix binge doesn't wreak havoc on your ping. A 'you don't need much, you just need it now', sort of carve out

 

[texasrattler]

Anyone with networking knowledge will tell you this is pure snake oil.

It's basically QoS with "GAMER" slapped on it. You have zero control over how your ISP routes your packets, so your latency won't be noticeably better.

I can tell you from experience, the router works better than my Nighthawks so if I'm IMAGINING the performance, I'll take that as I see it working.
I never said anything about controlling your isp but your latency can get better. Tons of articles have been out there on that topic for years. Again as I have stated there are even options in some routers that can hurt or help performance.

 

[texasrattler]

True, but where QoS does help is to carve out a piece of bandwidth for a specific application or protocol when in use, so your roommate's Netflix binge doesn't wreak havoc on your ping. A 'you don't need much, you just need it now', sort of carve out

Or just get better connection/bandwidth or service.

 

[VBKing]

I'm starting to HATE Linksys... I have a Linksys WRT3200ACM and it's USB 3.0 connection has a huge problem. When I plug in a 128GB USB thumb drive (as a poor man's server so I have access to my docs from any of my computers - so I always have the latest copies I work on, and no extra electricity being used like with a server on 24/7), the timestamps of the files are all off by 5 hours and I can NOT update or delete any Read-Only files. If I take the thumb drive out of the Linksys and plug it into another router (I have Portal) or straight into a USB port on any of my PCs, then all file timestamps are listed as what they were when copied to the drive and I have full rights to my files. Linksys has NO fix either.