What is the absolute fastest WDS throughput possible with Mikrotik ROS ?

RouterOS Wireless Networking
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What is the absolute fastest microwave PTP or multi-PTP WDS throughput possible with Mikrotik ROS (in a real-world installation of several miles) ?

I am currently running several Mikrotik AC mimo 2x2 WDS links using the NV2 protocol with the following settings:

  • NV2 Cell Radius: 10
  • NV2 TDMA Period Size: 2ms
  • All boards over-clocked to maximum (720 MHz on my 922UAGS-5HPacD RB equipment)
  • Passing lots of 802.1q tagged vlans
  • hundreds of MAC addresses on different vlans on both sides of the WDS link.
  • No firewall rules - no routing - only WDS bridging
  • No CPU resource consuming scripts or configuration (just keep it simple and as fast as possible)

I suspect I am running out of CPU throughput capability when I sustain 400 meg and faster throughputs.
At 500 meg sustained throughput , I often see a sustained CPU load of 75 percent or higher.

Am I correct in guessing the less than 1 GHz CPU on the various Mikrotik routerboards just can’t handle that kind of throughput work load without introducing some propagation delay times in the networks ?

I normally consider any CPU load on any network equipment greater than 10 percent a potential need for hardware upgrade.
I normally consider any CPU load on any network equipment greater than 20 percent as broken.
(higher CPU loads = network propagation delay)

So - I ask a couple of questions:
#1 - using 100 percent Mikrotik hardware/software, is there a faster throughput solution ?
#2 - using ROS on an Intel CPU (non Mikrotik motherboard) with Mikrotik wireless mini PCI-e (mini PCI express) cards, can I build a faster WDS outdoor-tower-mounted hardware solution ?


A 720 MHz 922UAGS-5HPacD RB tops out at 1.5 gig when performing a UDP btest to 127.0.0.1
A 3 GHz Xeon based motherboard running VMware ESXi hosting a 32-bit ROS tops out at 19 gig when performing a UDP btest to 127.0.0.1
I am guessing that directly booting ROS instead of using a hypervisor will provide even faster results closer to 20 or 30 Gig.

Has anybody built and tested something like an Alix 1pu1d motherboard (or something else) running ROS in a WDS tower-mounted environment using AC NV2 mimo 2x2 or 3x3 ???

Any advice and information is welcome.
I am ready to buy and try …

North Idaho Tom Jones

What is the absolute fastest WDS throughput possible with Mikrotik ROS ?
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Who would happen to be using a mini-ITX or nano-ITX motherboard with ROS and pushing high-throughput loads through wireless ?

I am beginning to consider getting a mini-ITX or nano-ITX motherboard with a Xeon cpu with lots and lots of CPU cache (or i7) and a mini PCI express interface - put it all in an outdoor case. Then try to build up some AC 2x2 or 3x3 WDS links.

I would like to ask anybody using a mini-ITX or nano-ITX - What is your CPU ? - What to you get on a UDP btest to 127.0.0.1 ? - How well does it work with NV2 ?


North Idaho Tom Jones