Is the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 (R7000) Wi-Fi router good for gaming?

Is it fast enough for gaming?

In short, yes. Gigabit speeds are going to be far and away faster than you need for any modern gaming. Most games will be able to operate without issue at anything over 10Mbps so long as the connection is stable and has consistent low latency, or what we used to call ping.

For the gaming enthusiast, the Nighthawk AC1900 also provides options for port forwarding and NAT settings that are configurable by the user — a feature that an increasing number of ISP-provided routers have been leaving out for the sake of simplicity. However, it affects gamers that want to create and manage their own servers.

How is the latency?

One of the worst things about an internet connection is sharing it. Often your connection will have plenty of speed, but as the number of people connected increases, so does your latency. When every connection request is treated equally, you end up with equally delayed connections. NETGEAR's Dynamic Quality of Service (QoS) technology built into this router prioritizes network traffic.

The idea behind QoS technology is to split up the available bandwidth and give it to what needs it most. For example, streaming music to your connected speaker needs much less bandwidth or consistency than playing a match in Apex Legends where a spike in latency could mean the difference between a win and a loss.

Is Wi-Fi good enough for real gaming?

Ethernet will almost always be preferable for gaming because a physical connection is much less susceptible to interference. Modern Wi-Fi technology allows more simultaneous connections than ever in a small area, but even still, there can be drops in signal or data congestion in a densely populated area. That being said, if you only have a few nearby neighbors and little congestion, Wi-Fi gaming is much more capable than ever before. With the AC1900's huge bandwidth capabilities and intelligent network traffic management in QoS, we are closer than ever to a near flawless wireless experience.

One thing to remember about wireless networks when planning your home network is that everyone on wireless is essentially sharing an ethernet port on the router. The more devices you have on wireless, the more quality will be compromised. The best bet for gaming on your home network is always going to be installing your router as close to your gaming setup as possible. However, with the quality and power of the NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 router, you're giving up surprisingly little if you are trying to set up a quick LAN with friends or just want to play a quick game on your notebook or Switch.