If you're a PC-gaming enthusiast, you know about speed.

Gaming rigs are good only if they're tricked out with the latest and fastest CPUs, lots of memory, the quickest solid state drive (SSD), and, of course, the best graphics cards.

But while that combination will definitely give you a fast machine, online gaming performance can still be hampered if it's connected to a crowded network with an internet connection controlled by an overburdened or old-fashioned wireless wifi router for gaming.

Plus, home networks are more taxed than ever, now that so many folks are working from home. So if game performance is important to you, it's well worth your time to take a close look at optimizing your network.

Start with what's connected. A whole family's worth of gear can mean oodles of phones, tablets, TVs, streaming video/music devices, and smart home gear all connecting to—and hammering—the beleaguered household router.

(It's not an exaggeration that some households will have dozens of devices.) Any online gamers in the house must compete for that router's bandwidth with not only everyone else but also all those smart devices. And that can lead to unpredictable, often subpar, performance.

Now, on a basic level, many routers, even those we classify as budget wifi router for gaming, offer Quality of Service (QoS) settings that let you give priority to devices or applications that require lots of bandwidth.

But not many of them offer the gamer-centric settings and wifi router for gaming that you get with a dedicated wifi router for gaming. If network lag is messing with your game, read on to find out which wifi router for gaming we recommend.

After the list of top picks, we'll go into more detail about how to choose the one that best suits your household, your play style, and your budget.