ASUS TUF Gaming AX4200 Gaming Router
ASUS launched the new TUF Gaming AX4200 gaming router. Compared with the old versions of TUF Gaming AX3000 and AX5400, the specifications have been significantly improved. The 1.5GHz triple-core processor has been upgraded to 2GHz quad-core processor, and the WAN connection port has been increased from 1Gbps to 2.5Gbps. It supports a new generation of 2.5Gbps ultra-fast broadband, with 2T2R 2.4GHz + 3T3R 5GHz dual-band network for a total of 4.2Gbps total wireless bandwidth, and supports AiMesh technology to form a Mesh wireless network with other ASUS routers. If you are considering getting a TUF Gaming Router, remember to be sure To buy a new version ah.
Although TUF Gaming AX4200 is a mainstream gaming router, most ROG high-end models have functions, but TUF Gaming AX 4200 actually provides them. For example, AiProtection technology provides free network security protection, and the innovative VPN Fusion function can execute VPN at the same time And common network connection, super convenient OpenNAT self-opening Server is super convenient, supports Game Mode e-sports acceleration engine, ensures that game packets are connected to the game server with the shortest and lowest latency routing channel, excellent functions and performance, absolutely Not inferior to ROG models.
The size of TUF Gaming AX4200 is 265mm x 178mm x 186mm. The appearance design of the black body refers to the headline of the Mustang supercar. It is equipped with 4 ≥ 2dB gain antennas. The white LED indicator can display the operation status of WAN / LAN Port in real time.
As the mainstream router model of TUF, AX4200 does not add AURA RGB lighting effects, the TUF Logo is changed to a metal brushed nameplate, and the TUF antenna is decorated with a gold grille. Frankly speaking, the appearance texture is much better than the old TUF Gaming AX3000 / AX5400 .
In terms of wired connection, TUF Gaming AX4200 provides 1 2.5Gbps WAN (blue) + 4 1Gbps LAN (4 Ports gray), supports WAN Aggregation and can achieve 2Gbps WAN link aggregation of WAN + LAN, 2.5Gbps + 1Gbps WAN load Balance or failback. In addition, LAN 1 + LAN 2 can achieve 2Gbps LAN link aggregation, which is very flexible, but 2.5Gbps WAN cannot be converted to LAN, which is the only fly in the ointment.
Provide 1 set of USB 3.0 interface, support AiDisk function to share files in USB disk, support comprehensive file sharing methods such as Neighborhood, MacShare, HTTP, HTTPS and FTP on the network, and cooperate with AiCloud 3.0 personal cloud function, even if you are outside Accessible anytime and supports iOS and Android mobile devices.
Detailed internal dismantling of Router
After removing the top cover of TUF Gaming AX4200, you can see that the main chips and components of the router are covered by a large aluminum heat sink, which can meet the heat dissipation requirements of high-end SoC and Wi-Fi chips.
Next, the antenna, radiator and metal shield are removed, and the router adopts MediaTek’s Wi-Fi 6 solution, equipped with MT7986AV SoC (Filogic 830) processor, integrated ARM Cortex-A53 64bit Quad-Core processor, the highest core clock The pulse rate is 2GHz, the processing capacity is up to 18,000 DMIPs, it has two 2.5Gbps SGMII+ interfaces, two PCIe and two 4×4 Wi-Fi connections with a maximum speed of 6Gbps. Equipped with FastPath hardware acceleration engine, it is suitable for low-latency applications such as games and AR/VR. Compared with the previous generation SoC processor, it can provide lower latency, larger bandwidth capacity and faster transmission rate.
The 2.5Gbps WAN port uses the MaxLinear GPY211 2.5GbE Ethernet PHY chip, and the four 1Gbps LANs pass through the MediaTek WT7531AE 5 Port Gigabit Switch chip, both of which are connected to the MT7986AV SoC chip through the 2,5Gbps SGMII+ interface.
Equipped with a NANYA K4A4G165WF DDR3 particle to provide 512MB system memory capacity. Coupled with a Winbond 25N02KVZEIR 2G-bit Nand-Flash, it provides 256MB of router firmware storage space.
3T3R 160MHz, AX4200 wireless bandwidth
In terms of wireless network, TUF Gaming AX4200 adopts 2.4GHz + 5GHz dual-band design, all frequency bands adopt 802.11ax transmission protocol, support OFDMA, uplink and downlink MU-MIMO and BSS Coloring and other technologies, bringing higher network load and lower network delay.
For Wi-Fi transceiver, MediaTek MT7976D Wi-Fi chip is used to provide 2T2R 2.4GHz and 3T3R 5GHz wireless channels. For Wi-Fi front-end module, Qorvo front-end module FEM chip is used, which integrates signal gainer and low-noise amplifier (LNA) .
The 5GHz frequency band supports 160MHz channel bandwidth and 3T3R transmission configuration. A single frequency band can provide up to 3,603Mbps network bandwidth, and the 2.4GHz frequency band of 2T2R and 40MHz can provide a maximum network bandwidth of 574Mbps. The 5 Stream channels provide a total wireless network bandwidth of about 4,200Mbps, so it is marked as an AX4200 wireless router.
| 2.4GHz | Wi-Fi 4 (802.11ax) | 2 | 20/40 MHz | 574Mbps |
| 5GHz | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) | 3 | 20/40/80/160 MHz | 3,603Mbps |
Support AiMESH seamless network function
TUF Gaming AX4200 gaming router supports AiMESH technology. If it alone cannot cover your entire house, you can mix and match ASUS Router that supports AiMESH to increase coverage. When TUF-AX4200 is used as the main router, all devices in the AiMesh network All functions of TUF-AX4200 can be accessed, including game acceleration function, AiProtection security engine, etc. Most ASUS routers now support AiMesh.
AiProtection Smart Security Protection
Another selling point of TUF Gaming AX4200 is the support of AiProtection function, which is a commercial-grade intrusion prevention system (IPS) provided in cooperation with TrendMicro, which can perform deep scanning on the input and output data of the network to block all common attacks, which is better than the standard Router firewall On top of that, AiProtection updates itself when new patches become available, ensuring your protection is always up to date, and best of all, you don’t need to pay extra.
Game Boost engine and Adaptive QoS function
TUF Gaming AX4200 provides the Game Boost game acceleration engine, which will be accelerated in the Gear Accelerator project. It can accurately analyze game packets and obtain the highest priority. It also supports mobile game acceleration mode. You can start the game at any time by downloading the ASUS Router App on your mobile phone Boost game acceleration, very convenient.
In addition, TUF Gaming AX4200 provides Adaptive Qos function, users can set which type of packet can get the network and bandwidth priority, with Gaming, Media Streaming, Web Surfing, Learn-From-Home, Work-From-Home five There are three preset modes to choose from, of course, users can also manually customize the priority.
Open NAT function
For friends who like to open their own server, TUF Gaming AX4200 has added the OpenNAT function, which allows users to easily establish online game ports, and provides Game Profiles for a large number of popular games. As long as the games in the list can complete the basic settings with one click , without the need for manual input by the user.
Support VPN Server and VPN Fusion
TUF Gaming AX4200 provides excellent VPN functions. The VPN server supports protocols such as PPTP, OpenVPN, IPSec VPN, and WireGuard VPN. At the same time, it can also be used as a client to connect to more than one supported VPN network. It has the VPN Fusion function and can specify certain It is very flexible for a device to use a specific VPN or not use a VPN.
Support Dual WAN function
Although TUF Gaming AX4200 is a mainstream model, it has high-end Dual WAN function. It can support WAN Aggregation function, which can aggregate two 1Gbps broadband links that support LACP-IEEE 802.3ad into 2Gbps. This can only be achieved with the support of ISP , if it is not the same ISP or does not support LACP-IEEE 802.3ad, you can use the dual WAN load balancing function to achieve a maximum 3.5Gbps network with 2.5Gbps + 1Gbps bandwidth, which does not require the same ISP.
Dual WAN load balancing can distribute the transmission load ratio of the primary WAN and the secondary WAN, so that the two WANs can load the traffic evenly, for example, 2.5Gbps + 1Gbps can be set to 3:1, which can split the number of sessions of the network service , so that the maximum throughput of the entire network can reach 3.5Gbps.
The dual WAN mode also supports failover, ensuring that when the WAN in use fails to connect due to problems, it can be smoothly connected to another WAN as a backup. When the failover function is enabled, when the system detects that the primary WAN has a physical line connected to the Internet, it will automatically switch from the secondary WAN back to the primary WAN.
WiFi Speed Test:
▲ Test point reference plan
Using a laptop equipped with an Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 wireless network module, the ASUS TUF Gaming AX4200 was tested for Wi-Fi speed, and the OpenSpeedTest server set up by ourselves was tested in four different locations in the editorial department through a 2.5Gbps WAN. , to test the maximum Wi-Fi connection speed and coverage of a single device, the placement of test points and routers can refer to the above figure.
| test point 1 | 5.0GHz | 2027.3 | 1573.1 | 6 |
| test point 2 | 5.0GHz | 1868.9 | 1524.3 | 6 |
| Test point 3 | 5.0GHz | 1265.7 | 463.0 | 7 |
| Test point 4 | 5.0GHz | 868.9 | 424.3 | 8 |
ASUS TUF Gaming AX4200 Gaming Router
Price: HK$1,399
Inquiry: ASUS Hong Kong
Editor’s comment:
Compared with the old models of AX3000 / AX5400, the new TUF Gaming AX4200 is replaced with a 2.0GHz ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core processor with better performance, and an upgraded 2.5Gbps WAN port, which can support ultra-fast 2.5Gbps broadband services and can truly play Wi-Fi 6. The real strength of 160MHz, the only fly in the ointment is that the 2.5Gbps WAN Port cannot be used as a LAN.