Monday, August 3rd 2026
ASUS ROG Quietly Launches 10 Gbps Ethernet USB Dongle
If you've been looking at adding faster networking at home, but either don't have a spare PCIe slot in your PC or need it on a laptop, then ASUS ROG might just have launched what you've been waiting for. Its new ROG USB-C10G USB dongle brings 10 Gbps Ethernet in a fairly compact form factor of 85 x 32 x 19 mm and 38 grams, without the cable. ASUS went down what we'd call the correct route here by not having a captive cable, instead the dongle has a USB Type-C port and is supplied with a short USB-C to USB-C cable that also comes with a USB-C to USB-A adapter.
As this is most likely a Realtek RTL8159 based Ethernet dongle, it has one quirk that means it won't work with some computers, as this is a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 device. Yes, that's 20 Gbps, but as the USB protocol has quite a bit of overhead, USB 3.2 Gen 2 won't be enough for 10 Gbps Ethernet, instead you end up somewhere between 6 and 8 Gbps based on tests we've seen of other RTL8159 dongles. This means that it's not compatible with Macs, as Apple only supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 and USB4/Thunderbolt. This also means that you will limit the throughput if you use the USB-C to USB-A dongle. ASUS hasn't provided any official pricing, but we found a listing online from a Norwegian retailer that stocks it for around US$139, including 25 percent VAT, suggesting it might retail for US$100-120 once it becomes more broadly available.
Source:
ASUS ROG USB-C10G
As this is most likely a Realtek RTL8159 based Ethernet dongle, it has one quirk that means it won't work with some computers, as this is a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 device. Yes, that's 20 Gbps, but as the USB protocol has quite a bit of overhead, USB 3.2 Gen 2 won't be enough for 10 Gbps Ethernet, instead you end up somewhere between 6 and 8 Gbps based on tests we've seen of other RTL8159 dongles. This means that it's not compatible with Macs, as Apple only supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 and USB4/Thunderbolt. This also means that you will limit the throughput if you use the USB-C to USB-A dongle. ASUS hasn't provided any official pricing, but we found a listing online from a Norwegian retailer that stocks it for around US$139, including 25 percent VAT, suggesting it might retail for US$100-120 once it becomes more broadly available.
6 Comments on ASUS ROG Quietly Launches 10 Gbps Ethernet USB Dongle
A few days ago I bought the Club3D RTL8159 10 GbE adapter (actually two, did not unbox them yet). I intend to test them on USB4, TB3 (fallback to Gen2), USB 3.2 Gen2 and Gen1 ports, both C and A (own adapter from C to A needed for Club3D, captive C cable only). I understand it will have lower bandwidth, but still it will work faster than 1 GbE even on 10 GbE-only switches (i.e. non-MultiGig), having higher speed uplink. I don't have any USB 3.2 Gen1/Gen2/Gen2x2 pass-through power meter (yet... any suggestions?), though, so no power measurements expected.
I'm still waiting for new fanless, more power efficient switches based on last year Realtek PHYs. For testing I got TP-Link TL-SX105... is anything else coming up?
Not like my friend's totally lame grey-box adapter, that was barely €30 more, attached to his refurbished dell precision that looks like a boomer computer, but some how his ping is 5 and he says he's streaming 4K at the same time, while doing backups or something.I checked the drivers package, it does seem to be that one.