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If you’re looking for a real gaming router and on a budget, there’s now an excellent option to consider: The Nighthawk XR300 Pro Gaming Wi-Fi Router that Netgear announced today.
Nighthawk XR300: Designed for gamers
In many ways, the XR300 is the light version of the XR500 that came out last year. Like the older cousin, the new router runs DumaOS, a unique router operating system developed from the ground up for gaming.
Specifically, the XR300’s interface includes a Pro Gaming Dashboard, where users can customize and monitor Internet traffic in real-time to ensure the best gaming experience. Examples of the customization include a robust QoS engine for bandwidth prioritization and the Geo Filtering feature that minimizes latency.
The router can even automatically detect a game being launched in a connected device and apply specific QoS settings to that device for that particular game. Netgear says the XR300 is compatible with all existing game consoles as well as computers and mobile devices.
Modest Wi-Fi specs
As a Wi-Fi router, the XR300 comes with modest specs. The router is an AC1750 3×3 dual-band router that caps at 1300Mbps on the 5GHz band and 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. The router comes with the usual four Gigabit LAN ports and one Gigabit WAN (Internet) port. It also has a USB 3.0 port on the front to host a storage device.
| Dimensions | 7.20 x 11.22 x 2.44 in (183 x 285 x 62 mm) |
| Weight | 1.58lb (719g) |
| Wi-Fi Standard | 3×3 AC1750 (450Mbps @2.4GHz 802.11n with 64 QAM support + 1300Mbps @5GHz 802.11ac |
| Hardware | Dual-Core 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 128MB Flash |
| Ports | 04 Gigabit LAN ports, 01 Gigabit WAN port, 01 USB 3.0 port |
| Firmware | DumaOS |
| Gaming Features | Geo Filtering, QoS, Gaming Dashboard, Network Monitoring |
The XR300 sports a dual-core 1.0GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 128MB of flash memory. While modest, it has more than enough power to deliver an optimal gaming experience.
The new router has all the familiar settings of home routers, including port forwarding, Dynamic DNS, NAT, and so on. It also has a built-in VPN server and supports Netgear’s ReadySHARE Vault which turns a connected storage device into a backup destination for connected clients.
Other than the robust web interface, you can also use the newly redesigned Nighthawk App to set up and manage the router on a mobile device.
Availability
The Nighthawk XR300 Pro Gaming Wi-Fi Router is set to be available next month with the suggested price of $199.99, some $100 less than the current cost of the XR500.
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