Router for gaming

[geminis3]

Do you have bufferbloat on your line?

[slh]

With 1 GBit/s WAN speed -and especially your gaming requirements-, the only sensible advice is x86_64 (i5 upwards or ryzen).

[BIGFAT]

i5 or similar ryzen is an overkill. Any newer celeron soc or the raspberry pi4 can do the job with sqm/cake and even gigabit full-duplex.

You dont need to waste 40 watt of electricity on this.

[badrisuper]

No, I dont have buffer bloat.

[badrisuper]

I am not that much into networks. But interested to learn. First time I am hearing Raspberry pi4 for network. Could you please point me some tutorial or documentation to how to build pi4 for networking

Thanks
Badri M

[pwned]

@badrisuper

First time I am hearing Raspberry pi4 for network. Could you please point me some tutorial or documentation to how to build pi4 for networking

If you want to go the raspberry pi approach you have to do some things by yourself in terms of configuring a network (but it is not that difficult).

You would need:

• raspberry pi 4 with proper case (maybe active cooling) and psu (with at least 2 GB RAM; would recommend 4 GB variant) ~75 EUR
• an usb-to-lan adapter (you could work without this, but network setup is more complex then) ~15 EUR
• a (web-)managed switch (with at least 5 ports; better 8) ~20-30 EUR

All in all you would end up ~120 EUR.

Raspberry Pi 4 released

Yep, in its way to my home.

Rpi4 < $(community_build)

Seems there is some demand... so... let's get the ball rolling [spiceforrice_login] This build is a combination of tweaks and setup that suit my purpose... and accommodations to try to make it flexible enough to be used by most... CONS it's messy extroot-overlay is not supported on this build ( use usb-mount and point service data there if needed ) IF YOU WILL BE USING NON VOLATILE LARGE DATA - GITGUIDE traditional backup / restore is different more involved on this build …

A few SQM benchmarks

Someone asked about setting smp_affinity for the ASIX USB 3.0 gigabit Ethernet adapter. I got an error when trying to assign the USB xhci_hcd smp_affinity, so I settled for this in /etc/rc.local. Perhaps I should try moving these interrupts to CPU1 and CPU2 instead, so that they both avoid CPU0 where the xhci_hcd interrupt ends up. #CPU0 - eth0 189 echo "1" >/proc/irq/31/smp_affinity #CPU1 - eth0 190 echo "2" >/proc/irq/32/smp_affinity Here is how /proc/interrupts looked at the end of the Pi…

https://www.zahradnik.io/raspberry-pi-as-a-home-router/

If you have a Gigabit connection and want to max it out your raspberrypi is working at 100% cpu usage to reach this. If you enable sqm/bufferbloat to gain better pings then you cannot max it out anymore and you have to go for a real cpu like @slh said already. Especially if you enable VPN on top. VPN is a really huge impact here!

Think about your needs. Are your 15-20 devices demanding high bandwith up to that what your line is giving you at same time you are gaming and devices using VPN? Then go for that what @slh has written.

[EnfermeraSexy]

@pwned

would recommend 4 GB variant

wow, why not the 8GB variant? 2GB of ram for openwrt is just enought for everything. You won't use more than 512 MB probably.

[moeller0]

@pwned

If you have a Gigabit connection and want to max it out your raspberrypi is working at 100% cpu usage to reach this. If you enable sqm/bufferbloat to gain better pings then you cannot max it out anymore and you have to go for a real cpu like @slh said already.

I am not sure that is completely right. IIRC @dlakelan has been showing data with a HFSC shaper at 1gbps with no individaul CPU exceeding 50%, but the asix USB3 adapter seems to be a CPU hog.

[pwned]

@EnfermeraSexy

You won't use more than 512 MB probably.

Really!? You know what others are doing, could do, want to do with their installation?
My current RAM usage is 452912 MB. Mostly caused by a 7MB blocklist. I would not buy a 1 GB device. 2 GB is good enough I've written. If you want to do other things and run your OpenWrt in a docker environment then you want probably more then 2 GB.

[EnfermeraSexy]

Did badrisuper say that he want to do anything special with openwrt apart from using it with a VPN? If you need toons of RAM is your particulary case, but recommending buying the 4GB variant its a bit overkill for using openwrt just as a simple router, he probably won't use that RAM and he will waste his money.

[pwned]

@moeller0

I am not sure that is completely right. IIRC @dlakelan has been showing data with a HFSC shaper at 1gbps with no individaul CPU exceeding 50%, but the asix USB3 adapter seems to be a CPU hog.

Thanks for this! Things are still in flow for raspberrypi 4. I'm not up to date in any detail. That's why I referenced this SQM benchmark thread (to read and ask for the thread starter). Even the decision to buy an USB-to-Ethernet adapter or running all over one Ethernet device has a huge impact.

[pwned]

@EnfermeraSexy

he probably won't use that RAM and he will waste his money.

We don't even know what he/she expects. So nothing is wasted so far. Between 1 GB variant and 2 GB varaint is no price difference at all. From 2 GB to 4 GB there is a gap about ~15 EUR. As I wrote 2 GB is enough. But I would still recommend 4 GB:

• Running things in a container to do more then just OpenWrt
• If I had to go for x86 (because VPN and SQM @ 1GB connection) then I would not buy like 1GB RAM just because its enough for OpenWrt. Same for a raspberrypi. (personal opinion!).
• Who knows what he/she wants to do later with this device for just 15 bucks more.

[badrisuper]

Except USB to Ethernet adaptor I have everything in hand.

Raspberry Pi4 with 4GB ram
Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch 5xp
And Archer C7 as AP

I will try Raspberry Pi see how it performs when gaming. I have no problem when streaming videos. But when gaming I can feel the difference.

When I test bufferbloat it is decent but sometimes there are high spikes.

At present I am using Netduma R2, which is much better than my previous one but not meeting the expectation.

So I want to try different solution and compare which one is good.

Thanks
Badri M

[badrisuper]

I dont know what other feature I can use other than gaming and vpn. Its going to be a learning for me to know what other feature I can use.

I do stream game play in Twitch and Youtube.

Thanks
Badri M

[badrisuper]

What USB to ethernet adaptor do you suggest?

Thanks
Badri M

[moeller0]

Look at https://forum.openwrt.org/t/rpi4-routing-performance-numbers/53996, it seems people use TP-Link's USB 3 UE300 (realtek r8152 based IIRC).

[badrisuper]

Do I need 2 USB to Ethernet adaptor? In the link you mentioned dlakelan 2 adaptor required.

Thanks
Badri M

[moeller0]

@badrisuper

In the link you mentioned dlakelan 2 adaptor required.

No, the Pi4B has one built-in gigabit ethernet adapter and socket, so you only need one additional one. @dlakelan tested both an ASIX based one and the UE300 and the UE300 was demonstrably better suited to the task of processing data at gigabit speeds.

[badrisuper]

Thanks I have placed order for everything.

How do I set it up? Any documents I can refer?

Edit: I got it here - https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_fwdownload. But any instruction I can find somewhere about how to flash and do setup?

Thanks
Badri M

[moeller0]

@badrisuper

But any instruction I can find somewhere about how to flash and do setup?

I believe @dlaklan's thread has some information. I have no Pi, let a lone a 4B and have no first hand experience with setting it up, so I will refrain from making wild guesses;)