Razer reveals Sila 5G router for low-latency gaming even on the move
5G mesh router system looks very promising for online gaming
Over at CES 2020, Razer has revealed a new take on its Sila router (first released back in 2018), the fresh twist being support for 5G.
The Sila 5G Home Router is a mesh router offering like the original, but it focuses on delivering mobile gaming as well as playing games at home, coming with an integrated rechargeable battery, and the ability to act as a mobile 5G hotspot when you’re on the move.
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The company promises ‘latency-free tournaments’ wherever you might roam, although of course that will really depend on the quality of your mobile broadband connection (which is, of course, where 5G steps in to take mobile gaming to the next level).
Like the previous Sila router, the device uses Razer’s FasTrack system, an adaptive QoS (quality of service) feature that ensures maximum bandwidth is prioritized for those gaming on the network (or apps that are streaming, too) – and all this can be taken care of automatically and seamlessly in the background.
It’s possible to prioritize by specific game, or device, and the router gives users notifications of any priority changes (and where they rank in the bandwidth pecking order).
And just as with the existing Sila offering, Razer is promising Android and iOS apps to make configuring the router and tweaking settings easy to do.
Hardware innards
As for the actual hardware inside, the Sila 5G Home Router will come equipped with a Qualcomm Hawkeye IPQ8072A chip plus Snapdragon X55 5G modem, supporting 4G LTE and 5G (naturally), along with support for Wi-Fi 6 4x4. You’ll also get a 2.5Gbps WAN port, four Gigabit LAN ports, plus a USB 3.0 connector, and a SIM slot.
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The mesh node satellites will run with a Qualcomm Atheros IPQ6000 chip, and will boast support for Wi-Fi 6 2x2, with the same range of connectors as the main router unit except there’s no SIM slot.
Razer was tight-lipped about any release timeframe or pricing details at CES, so we’ve no idea when the Sila 5G Home Router might land. As soon as we hear more, however, we'll let you know.
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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).