The Nighthawk X8 uses Wave 2 AC WiFi. It is powered by a 1.4GHz dual core processor; patent-pending Active Antennas; and three WiFi bands with quad-streams, 1,024-QAM, and MU-MIMO. It also has six Gigabit Ethernet ports, including two that can be aggregated for faster file transfers. The router has eight antennas, four internal and four patent-pending external Active Antennas to boost wireless range by amplifying the WiFi signal within the external antenna itself.
A SmartConnect feature is engineered to segment slower and faster devices into the most appropriate WiFi band for better performance. The tri-band capability can be used to segment traffic by devices or application. For example, video streaming and Internet gaming traffic can each operate on separate bands. The router also offers a dynamic QoS prioritization capability.