TP-Link Archer GE650 review: affordable Wi-Fi 7-powered gaming

What does $350 buy in terms of Wi-Fi 7 gaming routers? An awful lot when it comes to TP-Link’s Archer GE650. It not only outperforms more expensive networking gear but could be one of the best all-around routers by combining data speed with a slew of gaming enhancements, including accelerators, access to the Gamers Private Network and an interface that other networking companies would kill for. It even has an extra layer of security to keep your outrageous gaming style safe from malware and hackers.

If the GE650 had 10 Gbps ports and its range was a little longer, it would be my top gaming companion. My TP-Link Archer GE650 review will help you decide if it’s the best gaming router or even the best Wi-Fi 7 router for your needs or if it’s worth spending extra on something more powerful.

TP-Link Archer GE650 review: Pricing and availability

Despite having a list price of $350, the Archer GE650 is available for $250 at a variety of locations, including Amazon, Newegg and Walmart. This makes it among the least expensive gaming routers on the market. While competitors might have one or two gaming systems, TP-Link neatly slots the 11 Gbps Archer GE650 between the $200 Archer BE550 with 9.3 Gbps on tap and the $350 19 Gbps Archer BE800.

TP-Link Archer GE650 review: Design

With a look quite similar to Darth Vader’s helmet, the triangular TP-Link GE650 exudes raw power with a matte black design that features venting and lighting down the middle. It measures 9.3 x 7.6 x 5.1 inches and sadly isn’t available in white to mimic the Imperial Stormtroopers’ headgear.

This is not a router to hide because the Archer GE650 can not only intimidate opponents but its LEDs put on a show. It can display a sequence of colored lights in several different pre-coded patterns, let you customize your own sequence or turn it off entirely. When everything is working fine, the router’s default display is TP-Link’s Fire pattern of pulsing red lights, which I changed to the Spectrum setting that goes through the rainbow one color at a time, it was soothing to the point of hypnotic to watch.

The router interrupts the show to telegraph what’s going on inside the Archer GE650. Here, blinking red and blue lights indicate it’s starting up and red means there’s no online connection.

Inside, the Archer GE650 is a fully up to date triband 802.11be router with everything that Wi-Fi 7 brings to the epic online battle that is your gaming life. Controlled by Qualcomm’s QCN5024 and QCN6274 chips, the GE650 has a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, 256MB storage space on board and a massive 2GB of system RAM. It brings together Multi-Link Operations to combine the bandwidth of Wi-Fi bands with 4K Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) to squeeze more data out of thin air as well as the ability to use wide 320 MHz data channels for peak bandwidth at short distances.

With 2X2 streaming for the 2.4, 5.0 and 6.0 GHz bands, it adds up to a theoretical peak performance of 10.661 Gbps. That’s good, but more expensive competitors take this up a notch with 4X4 streaming for the 6 GHz band. Still, it should work well in homes with gigabit data plans.

The router has four internal antennas, with two for the 2.4/5 GHz and 6 GHz transmission bands. Together, they create a spherical transmission field that’s a good compromise for those in multi-story homes and those with a single floor to bathe in Wi-Fi.

There are preset port forwarding protocols for gaming consoles, like the PlayStation 5, Xbox, Switch and Steamdeck as well as lots of gaming help. The add-ons range from prioritizing gaming with a dedicated wired port and gaming accelerators to Gamers Private Network’s WTFast connections.

The router’s virtual worlds connect with the real world via its 5 Gbps WAN port that’s in between the Archer GE800’s 10 Gbps connection and the 2.5 Gbps port on many gaming routers. Its 5 Gbps downstream gaming port and three 2.5 Gbps networking ports, the GE650 should be more than enough for even the most ardent gamer.

Its USB 3.0 port can add network-wide storage that’s accessible to any connected device. The router’s USB Type-A port makes it nearly universal for flash drives and external storage with transfers that top out at 5 Gbps with the right drive.

There’s a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button on the router that doubles as a switch for turning the Wi-Fi transmissions on or off. It’s next to an On/Off button, a recessed reset switch and a key for turning the lights on and off. Turn the router over to see that the label has a QR code that helps get the device online and distributing data quickly. The default network names and passwords are also printed there.

The Archer GE650 has security covered with the company’s HomeShield router-based defenses. It can protect personal information from leaking out as well as block malware and limit a child’s Internet scope and use. Best of all, the base package includes lifetime updates.

The $36 a year Security Plus upgrade adds extra parental controls, YouTube restricted mode to screen out unsavory content and reward good online hygiene by family members. The big bonus is Avira security software for scanning devices for infections. There’s a 30-day trial.

TP-Link Archer GE650 review: Performance

The TP-Link Archer GE650 showed its stuff during testing, although it fell short of filling my 3,500 square foot home with Wi-Fi data. It came close with a few places on the periphery disconnected.

Using Keysight’s IxChariot networking benchmark to simulate 10 data-hungry users and an Acer Swift Edge 16 notebook, the Archer GE650 performed well. Given its $250 price tag, its performance was a surprise and a revelation.

To start, with the test system next to the router, it moved 2.288 Gbps of data, just behind the more expensive Asus RT-BE96U at 2.685 Gbps. With a wired 15 foot connection, the older brother of the Archer GE800 led the way with 4.449 Gbps of throughput versus a no less impressive 3.849 Gbps for the GE650.

When I set up the test system 15 feet from the GE650, it recorded a real-world throughput figure of 2.019 Gbps, well ahead of the more expensive Archer GE800’s 1.322 Gbps, the RT-BE96U’s 1.948 Gbps and the Netgear Nighthawk RS700S at 1.773 Gbps. In other words, this is the router to get for those with multi-gig data plans because it is the rare router that can use it all.

The Archer GE650 came in second place at 50 feet, where the 6 GHz band wasn’t active. Here, the GE650 moved 552.5 Mbps versus 691.8 Mbps for the Nighthawk RS700S. It blew away the 456.7 Mbps and 392.7 Mbps for the Archer GE800 and the RT-BE96U.

At 75 feet, the Archer GE650’s 238.2 Mbps of data flow was bested by the RT-BE86U’s 402.1 Mbps, but was no slouch, besting the GE800’s 197.1 Mbps. It barely made contact at our terminal distance of 90 feet with 4.3 Mbps of throughput available, about enough for a low-grade video feed or grabbing email. That was it for the GE650’s 90-foot range; the GE800 and RT-BE96U stayed online for 105 feet.

The router transmitted a strong signal across my 20 foot office and into an adjacent room with 954.9 Mbps of available throughput, just missing the gigabit throughput barrier. It just about matches the GE800’s 931.7 Mbps but fell short of the RT-BE96U’s 1.810 Gbps.

I used the Archer GE650 for everything from emails and downloading and playing new games to running video calls and listening to music. It never let me down, even when I tried to overload the network with lots of data flying back and forth. I set up four systems, including a MacBook Air playing UHD videos, an Acer Swift Edge 16 streaming the BBC WorldService news feed and a Samsung Galaxy Book playing Spotify tunes. All this was going on while an HP Dragonfly shuffled data onto and off my network RAID server. Everything came through loud and clean with no lost frames, freeze ups or anomalies.

The Archer GE650 is a bit of a power hog at 16.5 watts while moving lots of data back and forth. If it’s left on 24/7 and you pay the national average of 16 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, expect it to add about $23 to your annual power bill. That’s about one third lower operating expenses compared to the Archer GE800’s $37.50 a year. Over two weeks of heavy data movement, it stayed cool without resorting to needing a fan at a maximum temperature of 103.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

TP-Link Archer GE650 review: Setup

Getting the Archer GE650 set up started with unboxing it, where I was happy to see a card with six of the device’s main attributes explained. It’s a nice touch and shows TP-Link’s attention to detail.

I set up the Archer GE650 using TP-Link’s Tether app and my Samsung Galaxy S25 phone but could have used a connected browser. I created a TP-Link account while waiting for the vertical LEDs to pulse blue and red.

I added fingerprint access and two-step authentication, followed by tapping “+” in the upper right of the interface and scanning the QR code underneath the router to feed the connection data into the app. It found the hardware and the app changed my phone’s Wi-Fi connection to match the router’s default LAN.

I set a device password and allowed the app to interrogate my Internet connection; it correctly assigned it as Dynamic IP addressing. It can be manually set to PPOE, Static IP, L2TP and PPTP connections.

I added new network names and passwords for the combo 2.4-5 GHz LAN and the 6 GHz one and allowed the router to check its time every morning online.

I thought I was done at 7 minutes and 30 seconds, but the app offered to set up the router’s Game Boost, Same Server Acceleration and Gaming LAN Port. It worked on the first try.

TP-Link Archer GE650 review: Configuration

Like so many other routers, TP-Link allows configuration with the app (with versions for iOS and Androids) or a connected browser. While the former is visual and easy to master, the latter provides more choices, including a deeper set of gaming choices.

The app is good for quickly seeing what’s going on inside the router with down- and upload rates and a router illustration with a simulation of the current LED light sequence up top. Its overall appearance is dark and it says it’s “Working Well,” when it is.

Scroll down to see details, like how many devices are online, what the current light show is and the online status. There’re places to check on the data flow for games and see weekly security reports.

Along the bottom are tabs for quickly getting to the main Gaming page as well as Security (for HomeShield settings) and Family (for parental controls).

The More tab is where the action is for redoing the set up and Internet Connections as well as creating Guest and IOT Networks. There’s a place to use the GE650 in a mesh network, optimize the LAN and check for a firmware update.

Just as dark, the browser connection allows more in-depth work. I like its LAN topology with the 2.4, 5.0 and 6.0 GHz bands standing out in yellow, blue and green, next to the number of connected devices. A box below has the type of connection, Mac address, IP address as well as how long the current networking session has lasted.

Image 1 of 2

Its main page has tabs across the top for Game Center, which we’ll go over later, as well as Internet with connections details and Wireless for changing a slew of parameters. It was where I started using Multi-Link Operations.

Image 1 of 2

My favorite is the Advanced tab with its familiar gear logo. It yields everything from Internet, LAN and Dynamic DNS to DHCP Server, Routing and using the router to set up a network-wide storage drive with its USB port.

TP-Link Archer GE650 review: Gaming

The Archer GE650 has a load of goodies for gamers and general purpose home computing alike. In fact, it’s just as good for flying a simulated airplane as for getting into a World War II tank battle. Its Game Boost can accelerate your favorite games. You’ll have to set its bandwidth limits, though.

The app and browser interface both have places to start using TP-Link’s Game Server Acceleration. Based on the Gamers Private Network’s WTFast protocol, it shows where in the world the fastest (and slowest) connections are.

At the Game Center there is a wide assortment of possibilities, like changing the router’s LED pattern and seeing the current network traffic. I particularly liked the router’s CPU and memory usage in figures and a horizontal graph.

In addition to game port forwarding, the interface has an entry for the Game Detector to optimize the connection to suit its data demands. It has 10 popular games listed. Below is the Game Diagnostics, which uses a Ping to help figure out why things aren’t connecting properly or quickly.

The Archer GE650’s warranty lasts two years and TP-Link’s tech support goes for the life of the product. This is much better than Netgear’s 90 day policy. In addition to a well-stocked FAQ section and downloads, the support pages have videos and troubleshooting help.

TP-Link Archer GE650 review: Verdict

One of the hottest gaming routers on the planet, the Archer GE650 brings together everything from low latency, 5 Gbps ports and an LED light show for when you’re bored blasting aliens. The gaming enhancements will warm the heart of devoted gamers and the router has an extra layer of security so you shouldn’t feel vulnerable when battling someone on the other side of the earth.

That said, little things could have made it a more powerful gaming ally, like faster wired ports and more range, but at $250, the GE650 sells for half or less compared to gaming gear from the competition. Make sure it’s at your next LAN party.