RB2011UiAS performance with touchscreen

RouterOS General
1

Now I know that the RB2011UiAS is a pretty low end device CPU wise with just a single core MIP 74kc CPU running at 600MHz. But it’s cheap and functional so a small set-up such as the charity I’m installing it at is okay (and I didn’t charge them for installation). Just got to run three computers and public throttled Wi-Fi connected to FTTC @ 70Mbps.

But I’ve just configured it at home connected to my 250Mbps Virgin Media connection. All Gbps wired. But when I did the ubiquitous speed test, it was struggling to get >160Mbps. Weird I thought because I’ve got an identical unit at different site that can easily handle the 400MBps wired connection.

Turns out that I was messing about with the touchscreen controls - I’ve usually left them on defaults. But I’d changed the default to display the stats of the WAN link. That must take a lot of CPU because that’s why the speed test was slow. Turn the display off and voila back to full speed.

You live and learn.

2

You need CPU cycles to play with the touchscreen, on such a slow CPU any extra load will be noticeable.
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/rb2011uias-rm-lcd-causing-high-cpu-and-ping-spikes/101488/4
I’ve seen spikes in rb3011 too, I keep all of mine disabled. Waste of resources. You don’t stare at the rack all day anyway.

3

I disable the LCD on all lower-end models.

On CCR devices that support it, I set a timeout for it to disable itself, and simply tap if I need to look at it.

4

Setting the timeout (to 5 mins) and having to tap is a perfectly workable solution for me. The LCD screen could be removed entirely for most of my installs as it’s often hidden in a cupboard.