Asus unveiled the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 at Gamescom 2026 and calls it the first Wi-Fi 8 gaming router. It uses the draft IEEE 802.11bn standard, not a finished spec, so client support and real speeds will depend on later devices and firmware.
The GT-BN98 is a quad-band BN25000 router. Asus rates the 2.4 GHz band at up to 1,376 Mbps, each of two 5 GHz bands at up to 5,764 Mbps, and the 6 GHz band at up to 11,529 Mbps with 320 MHz channels. Combined, that is about 25,000 Mbps. Every band is 4x4, with 4096-QAM, OFDMA, MU-MIMO, and beamforming. Eight external antennas sit on the chassis. A 2.6 GHz quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 256 MB of flash handle the traffic.
Wired ports match a high-end setup. There is one 10 Gbps WAN/LAN port, one 10 Gbps LAN port, one 2.5 Gbps WAN/LAN port, three 2.5 Gbps LAN ports, and one gigabit LAN port. USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0 ports are included. It can run as a router, AiMesh node, access point, repeater, or media bridge.
Gaming tools include Adaptive QoE for live bandwidth sharing, Wi-Fi Insight for band and interference checks, and GTNet, which tries to pick a steadier path to game servers. AiProtection covers security plus ad and tracker blocking. Guest Network Pro supports up to five SSIDs for IoT gear, VPN use, and parental controls. VPN options include OpenVPN, WireGuard, and VPN Fusion.
A Pro model also exists, with a different band split that uses two 6 GHz radios. Early UK pricing for the standard GT-BN98 has been listed around £790, with European figures near €960. Delivery windows pointed to September and October 2026. Those prices put it in flagship territory before most phones and PCs can use Wi-Fi 8.
For now, the GT-BN98 is an early look at draft Wi-Fi 8 in a gaming chassis: multi-gig ports, a dedicated 6 GHz band, and Asus game features, with the usual caveat that draft hardware can change before the standard is final.
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