Why ramips devices can perform with only 32MB of ram

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hello,

despite every warning (4/32 is dead, rip, etc.) I made some testing with a WR512-3GN device (should be the same architecture as these famous $5 a5-v11 mini router - if I'm right) which is only packed with 32MB of ram and comes with a lightweight 4mb of flash.

I needed to cook a custom image because the one provided is only for the 8/32 edition of the device I don't own.

I stripped some things out (-ppp -ppp-mod-pppoe -kmod-ppp -ip6tables -odhcp6c -kmod-ipv6 -kmod-ip6tables) while adding another few things (uhttpd uhttpd-mod-ubus libiwinfo-lua luci-base luci-app-firewall luci-mod-admin-full luci-theme-bootstrap). For the kernel configuration I removed crashlog, debug info and debug kernel, kmod-ppp, ppp and ipv6

This was my first shot and it's working :tada:

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The 'user' experience for me is the same as it was on 18.x or even 15.x. No lags in luci or anything.

I really wonder why rampis devices perform so good (actually without any limitation as far I can see) but other device architectures like atheros for example suffer (or even fail) a lot with only 32MB of ram? :man_shrugging:

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2

I think services degradation start to appear after about 1 week of production usage - running as gateway or repeater for at least 1 user that connects each day

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3

Very interesting. I will build a little demo setup with server (probably a little arm thingy hooked up by ethernet) and some clients (guess I will use some esp which gather some data and transfer it over wifi to the server) to create some traffic and will monitor how it behaves in time.

If the network is isolated (no uplink, not setup as gateway or repeater) you think it will not cause troubles @maurer? Just when I add uplink things could start to fail in your opinion?

4

I only had failures on ar71xx ptf on a 8/32 device in repeater mode but with internet traffic - no simulations.
That s why I recommended to use it as your production internet gateway/ap at least for some time

5

I'm now running my ralink device with 4/32 and 19.07 in repeater mode with heavy internet traffic and it works very reliable!

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