Is RB751G-2HnD performance enough?

Hardware MikroTik hardware general
1

Hi everyone,

I’m thinking of buying RB751G-2HnD for home use, but not sure whether its performance is enough. Please, advise.

Target internet connection is 100 Mbps L2TP without encryption over 100 Mbps ethernet. Moreover, ISP has IPTV and interesting traffic-generating resources in local network, so router will be routing my requests both to internet and to local network.

In addition to wan port I need at least 2 gigabit lan ports to transfer big amounts of data from time to time between my home computers.

Usually router will be servicing one desktop via ethernet link and 2-3 notebooks via 802.11n. Speed is vital only for desktop and MacBook Air late 2011, which both will frequently download torrents. So 500-1000 torrent client connections mustn’t be a problem for router.

It will be a big plus to have an ability to prioritize traffic without losing much performance in order torrents not to prevent all of my home computers from using internet.

So the questions are.

  1. Is RB751G-2HnD performance enough?
  2. If not, what about RB433GL (it has better CPU and more RAM) + wifi minipci module? Is RB433GL + wifi minipci module performance enough?
  3. RB435G has 800 Mhz tests enlisted on its page, however its CPU frequency is told to be 680 Mhz. What’s this? Is RB435G @ 800 Mhz + wifi minipci module performance enough?
  4. And one support question. I’ve heard some our local mikrotik resellers sell current models with old routeros preinstalled, i. e. 4 when 5 is available. Does this mean I won’t be able to upgrade to routeros 6 when it is available for free?

Thanks in advance.

P. S. It is much better for me to buy an integrated solution than to assemble routerboard + wifi module + case myself. It’s a pity mikrotik doesn’t have ready-to-use RB751G-2HnD analogue with better CPU and RAM. By the way, are there any plans to provide such in the nearest future? I’m ok to spend no more than 200 $, the lesser the better of course.

2

I think it can be too weak for your requirements… see http://routerboard.com/RB751G-2HnD - and remember, that the tests are with simple routing (and conntrack=on), without any queues, tunnels etc. - and they are also CPU consuming. The best way would be to test… I cannot repeat your configuration on my device, but I’m pretty sure it would end up with CPU=100%…

Maybe… as above - the best would be to test and check :slight_smile:.

Those CPUs can be overclocked to 800MHz and MikroTik even encourages to do so :wink:. See /system routerboard settings.

You will be able to upgrade to v5 and v6, there is no problem with it.

There are plans - see http://routerboard.com/RB2011L-IN, the future versions will have also integrated wireless. And for more demanding networks - I think the only way is to have separate “heavy” RB1xxx for routing, queueing, tunneling, etc., and separate wireless access point. Such configurations would be too “specialized” to create one integrated solution :slight_smile:.

3

I can’t get it for tests I think (except buying and then returning back with growing probability of denial with every next return).
About tests - is there any info on or can you explain me how to read those tests? For instance, RB751G-2HnD:

  • the tests are for 5 ports loaded simultaneously and I’m not going to load more than 3 ports at a time at all,
  • I don’t know what conntrack is, will I need it, will it affect performance in my case,
  • I don’t know how to measure average frame size of my ISP,
  • and I am not sure whether I need IP firewall functionality (however I think I will).

So there are no two separate models with different CPU, it’s just one model with CPU downclocked by default. Thanks.

But docs say license allows me to upgrade current version + 1 (+2 for L5) max. Do I misunderstand docs?

Can you recommend two-devices configuration for my needs?

4

conntrack is connection tracking. It keeps a track of all port / address translations going through the router so the chances are you will have it on as you will likely have many private devices sharing a public IP via NAT?

Transferring files over 1gbit ports between LAN PC’s shouldn’t affect the performance of the router too much as it will be managed in the switch chip.

The big question is probably the torrent usage. I have the RB751G and right now with two active torrents over a wired connection the cpu load is jumping from 1-86% at random intervals. I haven’t done much testing to work out if it’s the torrents causing this but I doubt there is much else going on.

I’d be happy to run some tests if you are still wondering about the performance of this router however as your last post is two weeks ago you may have made a decision already…

5

Thanks for your reply. No, I haven’t made a decision yet - waiting for RB2011US-2HnD.

Yes, it seems I will need Conntrack.

Does your provider require you to access internet through VPN? I think it will eat much CPU compared to MAC-address authorized internet access. What is your internet access speed?

If you can (and have enough number of devices), please, run following stress test: choose some 2 popular torrents with many seeders, start downloading one via ethernet link from one computer and another one via wifi link on second computer; don’t limit their speed; meanwhile, access internet and look through pages on third computer/mobile phone/tablet etc via wifi link. Will it all work? How much is CPU usage? Are there any problems connecting third device to router while it is being heavily loaded? Is router able to utilize your full internet bandwidth (mine current is capped on 12-16 Mbps throughput to internet - old router - while my internet connection speed is much higher).