ASUS TUF Gaming BE6500 Review

Until the last 2 years or so, I had spent years putting up with whatever router my internet provider threw in the box. You know the type,  basic plastic shell that yellows over time, no real range, no QoS, and definitely not built with gamers or tech nerds in mind. It worked, but only just. I got sick of lag spikes mid game and streaming 4K content dropping to potato quality when someone dared to open Youtube in the next room. So, I finally ditched the ISP supplied paperweight and never looked back. Thanks to ASUS, I recently picked up the ASUS TUF Gaming BE6500 as well as a BE3600, and honestly? I should’ve done it years ago. In this review we will cover all things the BE6500, with a further review coming for the BE3600.

Out of the box, the BE6500 looks like a bit of a beast. It’s angular, blacked out, and kind of look more like a drone than a router. The six fixed antennas scream "gamer," but are very much more functional than just being there to be flashy. Setup through the ASUS Router app was extremely simple. I had everything running in about 20 minutes, including firmware updates, setting up a guest network, and linking my IoT devices (smart lights, plugs, etc.) to its isolated SSID which is actually brilliant.

Compared to the terrible little modem my ISP gave me, the BE6500 felt like a monumental upgrade

This is where things got stupid good. I have a 1 Gbps NBN plan, and when I plugged my gaming PC into one of the 2.5GbE LAN ports, I hit 950–980 Mbps download consistently, no spikes, no dips. Even local file transfers to my NAS are buttery smooth now, something my ISP router couldn’t even handle over 1GbE without at least some stuttering

I honestly didn’t know what I was missing. With the BE6500, wired connections feel like LAN party quality again. I have to include 1 small caveat here, and that is that I haven't been using my ISP supplied router for some time now as I did upgrade about 18 months ago to the AX11000 Pro from ROG, but given that most people are upgrading from a standard ISP router, I am comparing to that and well, the sentiment remains true.. 

This router doesn’t have a 6GHz band like some pricier tri-band Wi-Fi 7 routers, but its dual-band performance is still awesome. On 5GHz, I was getting around 850 Mbps down / 600 Mbps up from two rooms away on my MacBook Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. Which is not the fastest wireless I’ve ever seen, but it is reliable and consistent. My ISP router struggled to push more than 200 Mbps wirelessly outside the main room. With the BE6500, I finally have usable speeds in the bedroom and even out on the patio.

If you want whole home gigabit speeds, plug in another AiMesh capable ASUS router and use Ethernet backhaul. That’s what I did briefly with a BE3600 in the back room, and boom, seamless coverage across the house. AiMesh just works, and works so seamlessly, that it has you second guessing if or not it's actually working at all at times.

Let’s talk about the real reason you should buy this router though, and that is of course, is gaming. Some of the gaming specific features it includes are:

• Dedicated gaming port (LAN 1): My PS5 gets top priority, no tinkering needed. Just plug it in.

  
  

• Adaptive QoS: I can prioritise traffic for gaming, streaming, or work, and it actually works. No more fights when my partner is watching Netflix while I’m in Apex Legends.

  
  

• Open NAT wizard: I used to dread port forwarding. Now it’s like a two-click process, and my PS5 is always on open NAT.

  
  

• Mobile Game Mode: Enabled it on my phone and immediately noticed better ping in COD Mobile and PUBG.

  
  

My ISP router didn’t even have QoS settings. It was like trying to game in rush hour traffic, everyone fought for bandwidth and nobody stood a chance of winning.

The AiProtection Pro suite comes free with this router (forever), and that alone is worth it. It flags dodgy sites, stops infected devices from going rogue on your network, and even lets me block the toddler’s iPad from YouTube with one tap.

The Smart Home Master feature is genius too. I’ve got all my IoT devices (Google Nest, 3D printer, smart lights) isolated on their own network. Keeps them out of the way and gives me peace of mind. My ISP router had zero of this and I'd bet yours does too.

While there are lots of massive positives, it’s not a perfect device. Here’s what to keep in mind:

It’s not tri-band, so no 6GHz Wi-Fi, but most devices don’t support this anyway at this stage. The LEDs are kinda dim, and if you're looking across the room, you won’t see them easily which is almost a positive in some situations when you want zero distractions. The Antennas are fixed, not removable or upgradable. Doesn’t bother me, as I wasn't planning on doing so, but might matter to some.

Honestly though, I’ll take those very minor trade-offs any day if it means I get lightning fast performance and reliability.

The BE6500 is currently on sale for around $280 at Scorptec which isn’t “cheap, cheap” but is also kinda cheap, compare this to the cost of one of your standard ISP routers which range from $100 for the most basic of devices all the way up to $400-500 for a “gaming router of their choosing” this thing pays for itself. This is in fact, one of the most affordable Wi-Fi 7 routers out there, and unlike most budget gaming gear, it doesn’t cut corners where it counts.

If you’re gaming seriously, have gigabit internet, or just want everything in your house to finally work together without hiccups, this is a serious contender for “the router to get”. It’s not overkill. It’s just the right level of “power user” without requiring a networking degree. And most importantly: it doesn’t suck like your standard ISP router does.