What is the TP-Link Archer GX90 AX6600 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router?

Our last networking review of the top of the range Netgear RBK853 found a mesh Wi-Fi system that was simply the best there was but that came at a very high price, almost unbelievably high at ₤ 960. But you do get what you pay for. Our next review from TP-Link should be slightly easier on the budget whilst hopefully featuring the usual TP-Link quality and value.

For our review today, we have the TP-Link Archer GX90 gaming router which features Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6 with up to 6.6 Gbps speeds, 1.5 GHz Quad-Core CPU, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet Port, OneMesh, game accelerator and a dedicated 5GHz gaming band. With coverage for a reasonable sized 3-4 bedroom house, this is available currently for around ₤ 250. Read on to see how this fares in our review …

Where To Buy TP Link Archer GX90 Router:

What about the Design and Connections?

There seems to be a trend with networking products that feature the word gaming to make them stand out and be as large as possible, while most products of this type will just sit in a corner hidden away. TP-Link has not strayed from this theme with the GX90. It is a huge beast of a router. Using an all-black plastic design, it comes in at 212mm square x 52mm high, with the 8 black and red antennas extending the height by another 130mm. It is not that pleasing to the eye really, so you will probably just end up hiding it away, if it fits of course.

Moving on from the design, it is very well specified on the connection side of things. To the rear we have 3 x Gigabit LAN ports, 1 x 2.5 Gbps WAN/LAN port along with the reset button, power switch and power connector. To the right side we have a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 port, then to the front we have the WPS, Wi-Fi and LED on/off buttons. The LED is on the top of the router and should be solid white when all is working normally, with red and orange also displaying their faces when something is wrong.

TP Link Archer GX90 Design

Archer GX90 Router Specifications and Features:

Wi-Fi Standard: Wi-Fi 6 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
Wi-Fi Speeds: 4804 (5GHz 11ax) + 1201 (5GHz 11ax) + 574Mbps (2.4GHz 11ax)
Antennas: 8 high power FEM external antennas with 4T4R.
Wi-Fi Capacity: Tri-band
Working Modes: Router Mode, Access Point Mode
Processor: 1.5 GHz Quad-Core CPU
Ethernet Ports: 3 x Gigabit Ports and 1 x 2.5Gbps LAN/WAN port
Wi-Fi Encryption: WPA/WPA2-Personal, WPA2/WPA3-Personal, WPA/WPA2-Enterprise
Security: HomeCare Antivirus, Parental Controls, Access Control and Guest Network

The TP-Link OneMesh feature, which this router is suitable with, is not to be confused with a proper mesh Wi-Fi network like with the Netgear RBK853, where the units communicate with each other instead of back to the router, creating a much larger range and increased coverage.

Here with the OneMesh network, and using TP-Link RE605X range extenders that we also reviewed in our test system, there is still link back to the router but when moving around the home your devices will seamlessly move to whichever is the strongest signal as they all have the same network name. Plus, via the TP-Link management centre on Smartphone or PC, you can access and set up the whole network in one place. If you already have any TP-Link products, this feature may be coming to those soon through a firmware update.

Where To Buy TP Link Archer GX90 Router:

Archer GX90

Set Up and Features

We’ve yet to find a networking product that hasn’t been a piece of cake to set up, yes some have made us scratch our heads but, generally, they are all quick and very simple to set up. This is no different with the TP-Link Archer GX90 router You can either set up it up through a web-based utility or use the very well laid out and easy to use TP-Link Tether App which is free and available on iOS and Android.

Using the Tether App, the installation and set up take less than 5 mins and the set up guide has very simple and easy instructions to follow to get it all up and running.

TP-Link Archer GX90 AX6600 setup

Once all is set up, the main screen of the app shows the router. Selecting it shows you the status, the amount of clients are connected, whether the HomeCare is activated and if Game Accelerator is enabled.

TP-Link Archer GX90 AX6600 setup

You can also see a more detailed view of the linked clients showing information for example the name, IP address, current bandwidth usage and what band they are connected to. The HomeCare tab allows you to set up and configure the Parental Controls, anti-virus and QoS. Finally, the Tools tab gives you access to all the basic settings like wireless settings, LED control or reboot for example. To access the more advanced router features you are used to seeing such as VPN, DNS, access control for example, you will need to use the web based utility.

TP-Link Archer GX90 AX6600 setup

With the two USB ports, the TP-Link Archer GX90 router also works as a file server to access files locally or remotely, media sharing to any DLNA supported devices and for Mac users it is compatible with Time Machine.

Onto the gaming features and here the router has not one but two 5GHz bands, of which one is a dedicated gaming band. Using this 5GHz gaming band you get bandwidth up to 4804 Mbps and it has HT160 for the highest channel width on a single stream and 1024-QAM for more data encoded at the same time. Whilst that may seem like jargon, it essentially should create the best environment for gaming. It also features Game Accelerator which appears to be a QoS function and will automatically detect and optimise gaming streams.

How well does it perform?

The testing is carried out in a standard 4 bed detached house As we have BT Infinity and a HomeHub which has an integrated modem, during the App set up the TP-Link router automatically configured the IP address to avoid conflicts. We tested using a PC connected by Gigabit Ethernet to our existing BT HomeHub Modem/Router and a Wi-Fi 6 compatible iPhone 12. We then repeated the tests using the TP-Link system. During our testing, we switched off all other wireless transmitters to avoid any interference.

Using iPerf, which is a free software tool that can measure bandwidth between two nodes in a computer network and the quality of a network link, we firstly tested our existing BT wireless using our main PC as the server and our iPhone 12 as the client. The test options were 5 streams with a duration of 5 minutes.

Location 1 is in a room above the router.

Location 2 on a floor above the router and on the opposite side of the house

Location 3 is on the same floor as the router and in the opposite corner of the house.

Location 4 is next to the GX90 router unit

Test with existing BT Router

PC connected via Ethernet to router and iPhone 12 connected via BT wireless
Upload Download
Location 1 515 Mbps 579 Mbps
Location 2 50 Mbps 42 Mbps
Location 3 39 Mbps 47 Mbps
Location 4 518 Mbps 580 Mbps

Test with TP-Link Router only

PC connected via Ethernet to the TP-Link router and iPhone 12 connected via wireless
Upload Download
Location 1 501 Mbps 583 Mbps
Location 2 60 Mbps 264 Mbps
Location 3 50 Mbps 196 Mbps
Location 4 505 Mbps 751 Mbps

From the tests above we can view that with testing with the TP-Link Archer GX90 router in the same location as our BT router, the upload speeds were similar in all locations, but in the most distant locations and close to the router the download speed was significantly increased. In spite of the reasonable speeds shown in our tests with our BT router of 42Mbps download in our most distant location, this appears to create a better picture than what the actual experience is, which often results in loss of connection, here with the TP-Link Archer GX90 router we didn’t have any of those issues.

With the gaming features, as most gamers will know, you do not need a super-fast internet connection for online gaming. It is all about the connection quality and Ping. You can go as low as just 3Mpbs for online gaming, though 20Mbps looks to be ideal. The Game Accelerator feature will be of benefit if you are in a house with numerous users, allowing the game to get the best connection, should one or two people be streaming Netflix for example. The dedicated 5GHz gaming band will also help, but in our tests we didn’t really notice any benefit for gaming. Perhaps if you are a l33t gamer then perhaps 1ms less ping may be the difference between getting that kill or not, but at most people’s level the gaming features will be of limited benefit.

TP-Link Archer GX90 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router Review

The TP-Link Archer GX90 gaming router provides rather a meaty specification and feature set for the current available price of ₤ 250. Featuring Wi-Fi 6 and Tri-Band, including a dedicated 5GHz Gaming Band, it offers everything you could possibly need with a router to ensure you always get the fastest and best coverage. With a generous selection of ports including a 2.5 Gbps port, plus features like the free (see that Netgear?) HomeCare security and antivirus system and OneMesh for seamless roaming with compatible devices it really offers a lot for the money.

For our tests as a single router, it outperformed our existing BT router comfortably peeking at 751Mbps and guaranteeing all locations had fast and strong Wi-Fi. The Tether App is simple to use and throughout our testing we found no real negatives with the TP-Link Archer GX90. Our only slight criticism is that the gaming features such as Game Accelerator and the dedicated 5GHz gaming band are of limited use unless you are a very top end gamer.

If you are choosing a router with an impressive set of features and the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard, then the Archer GX90 should fit the bill. As usual with TP-Link its products are often the best value whilst not skimping on features which shows when compared to the likes of Netgear’s Nighthawk Pro and Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 both available for at least ₤ 50 more.