D-Link DGL-4300 Gaming Router:

Just got this in and hooked up. First thing you notice right out of the package is that the router is not the normal grey and silver 2-tone D-Link is known for. It is a 2-Tone Black with 1/4 high gloss black and the other 3/4 of it flat rubberized black.

Standard accessories in the box. Installation Guild, CD with .pdf manual, Ethernet cable (6') Power Cord, Clip-on Stands and Mounting Hardware. Then you come to the antenna and do a double take, a 5dBi antenna with a router, That is about 6" in tall? More on that later, will try and bench the distance at a later time as I have a after market 8dBi antenna that fit this router also.

This router other then its color and taller antenna looks pretty much like and other wireless router. It's size for any one that has an older non-wireless router will be no big deal, but to any one with a recent 802.11x D-Link router it may be a little larger.

Compare to an older D-Link DI-524 you can see the difference right away. A few other things set this router apart from the rest. Right off the top it is the first router to incoporate Four Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 auto-sensing LAN ports into a router. Next D-Links GameFuel which reduces latency and boosts network efficiency and performance for not only games as D-Link suggests, but any application port you like. The router does come preset with over 75+ game profiles defined and ready to go and  still leaves up to 256 policies to pre-configure to accommodate any games and applications you would like. "GameFuel was designed to provide the uninterrupted and latency-free gaming experience serious online gamers expect. Customized with game-centric features boasting maximum flexibility for configuration and performance."

One of the next thing that will be noticed as soon as you power it up, blue and sea green LEDs. This is a nice added change from the stock yellow that are on most routers today.

Now on to the setup which was pretty easy. After plugging in the power and hooking up the router the cable modem to it I entered the default IP (192.168.0.1) in to IE, I was at the internal setup page in no time. There was a blank password setup in the beginning like all other D-Link routers one of the things I do not like, right up there with wireless being enabled with no WEP right out of the box.

As soon as you login to this router you are brought to a wizard screen. After clicking the setup wizard you are prompted to enter a password, from there you click next and are prompted with a time zone screen.

Once you click next once again you are informed that step 3 is not needed as the router is already connected to the internet. The Next step is just to confirm you have completed the setup.

There are way to many advanced settings after this point to go over right now. I will be doing some benchmarking on both the wireless distance and the throughput of the gigabit ethernet in the near future. In all I think that for anyone looking to get a gigabit ethernet switch and/or a new wireless router this would be a good all round choice to fit both needs.