Razer Sila

amazon Razer Sila reviews

Best known for its sleek-looking gaming laptops, Razer released its first Wi-Fi router, and it’s not surprising that it’s designed for gaming.

Razer Sila is an AC3000 Tri-Band Router with advanced device prioritization, uncongested Wi-Fi channels, dynamic load balancing to deliver a lag-free gaming experience.

It can also be operated as a mesh system with up to 9,000 square feet of coverage, but you’ll need deep pockets as it requires the purchase of three routers. Sila earned respectable scores in our file transfer and transfer speed tests, but the editorially selected Asus RT-AC86U still gives you the best performance.

Razer Style

In keeping with Razer’s sleek aesthetic, Sila uses a low-profile matte black enclosure that measures 1.6 x 8.5 x 6.8 inches (HWD). There aren’t any traditional status LEDs along the edge, but there’s a backlit Razer logo at the top of the case that glows solid red when the Router is trying to connect to the internet and solid blue when it is looking for software updates. The logo blinks blue when a firmware update is in progress, turns solid green when the Router is connected, and everything is working correctly and glows green when everything is up and QoS is turned on.

While most routers offer four gigabit LAN ports, Sila only has three. It also has a WAN port, a USB 2.0 port, and a USB 3.0 port, all located on the rear panel. A power jack connects them; the Reset button and the Sync button pair with another Sila Router to use as a mesh network. Each Router covers 3,000 square feet, and you can have up to three routers configured as a mesh system covering 9,000 square feet.

Under the hood are a 717GHz quad-core CPU, 4GB of flash memory, 512MB of RAM, and nine internal antennas. Sila reaches speeds of up to 400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, 1734Mbps on one of the 5GHz bands, and 866Mbps on the second 5GHz band. When used in a grid configuration, one of the 5GHz bands is reserved for reparation. The Router supports all the latest 802.11ac technologies, including MU-MIMO (simultaneous) data transmission, direct-to-client beamforming, and automatic band control. However, you can choose to split bands and create separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

Sila uses special algorithms to access the protected range of 5GHz Wi-Fi channels, which are relatively uncrowded compared to regular channels. Dubbed FastLanes, it’s the same technology developed by Ignition Design Labs, used in the Portal Smart Gigabit Wi-Fi Router we reviewed last year. Sila also uses SmartLanes load balancing technology to avoid network congestion and FasTrack QoS technology, which allows you to assign network priority based on application, application type, device, and device type.

The well-designed Android or iOS mobile app or desktop web app can install and manage Sila. When you start the application, you will see a Home screen with a network map showing the Router’s connection to the internet, connected devices, and the guest network. Click the Internet icon to see your WAN IP address and tap the Router icon to access basic and advanced Router settings. Here you can enable wireless security and beamforming, see which Wi-Fi channels are used, separate radio bands, and configure MAC filtering settings.

Limited parental controls: You can control when certain devices can access the internet, but you don’t get the age-appropriate presets you get with TP-Link Archer C5400X or the detailed content filtering options you get with the Asus RT-AC86U. Furthermore, Sila lacks the built-in anti-malware protection that comes with the routers mentioned above. An Internet Speed ​​Test feature gives you upload and download speeds and the option to use the Router as a bridge.

On the Home screen, tap the Guest network icon to create a network with limited access to your main network, tap the Devices icon to see what clients are connected, along with system information their name, machine type, Operating System, IP Address. Here you can assign network priority settings (Very High, High, Medium, Low) for each client and view real-time network traffic usage. At the bottom of the Home, the screen is a Traffic Management button that takes you to a screen where you can enable the FasTrack feature and enable Game Mode, devoting a percentage of the bandwidth to game apps and gaming devices only.

Easy to install

To install Router Sila, I downloaded the mobile app and created an account. I hit Setup and followed the onscreen instructions to unplug the modem, connect the Sila to it using the included LAN cable, and finally power on both the modem and the Sila Router. I confirmed that the LED indicator was solid green and waited a few seconds for the app to identify the Router. I clicked Pair, and within 10 seconds, the Router was paired and online. I hit the Customize button to name my network and create a password, and the installation was complete.

Sila performed well in our transfer rate speed tests. Its score of 102Mbps on the SU-MIMO test is close to 2.4GHz, matching scores of Netgear XR500 and Asus RT-AC86U (both achieve 104Mbps), not fast as the Linksys WRT32X (148Mbps). Its score of 64Mbps on the 30-foot test beats the 22Mbps XR500 but 22Mbps slower than the RT-AC86U and WRT32X Routers.

In the 5GHz proximity test, the Sila clocked at 475Mbps, beating the WRT32X but not the XR500 and RT-AC86U. Its score was 286Mbps on the 30-foot test, faster than both the WRT32X and XR500. The RT-AC86U took the top honors with a score of 300Mbps.

In our MU-MIMO performance tests, we measure with three identical Acer Aspire R laptops equipped with Qualcomm’s QCA61x4A MU-MIMO circuitry, the Sila’s 140Mbps scores were 30Mbps slower than the WRT32X and XR500. The RT-AC86U took the lead with a score of 178Mbps. Sila’s 125Mbps score at 30 feet was faster than the XR500 and WRT32X, but the RT-AC86U’s 150Mbps score took the lead.

Sila scored well in our file transfer tests, where we measured read and write speeds using a 1.5GB folder containing a mix of video, audio, photo, and document files. Its 80MBps score on the reading test is twice that of the XR500 and beats the RT-AC86U and WRT32X by a good margin. Its score of 64MBps in the writing test is also impressive: It topped the XR500 and RT-AC86U but couldn’t keep up with the WRT32X’s 76MBps score.

Gamer-friendly wireless

With the Razer Sila Router, you won’t have to worry about getting enough bandwidth for your online gaming adventures. In addition to three radio bands, it uses special 5GHz DFS channels to ease network congestion and provides QoS settings to prioritize bandwidth based on devices and applications. Sila also has a gaming mode that ensures you get all the bandwidth you need to play or stream without sacrificing other connected devices. You can pair up to three Sila Routers to create a mesh network in larger homes, but for $250 a time, it’s an expensive proposition.

Sila delivers respectable transfer speeds and file transfer scores in terms of performance, and it’s easy to install and manage with a smooth mobile app.

where can you get a Razer Sila online

Razer Sila: Gaming Grade Wifi Mesh Router – Multi-Channel ZeroWait DFS Technology – Hybrid Wireless Mesh and Dedicated Backhaul Channel – Self-Optimizing Network and Swarm Intelligence: Buy it now