Routers and FPS Gaming

Hi there,

I'd like to share a recent experience here, well, I'm talking about a specific FPS game -- CSGO.

I'm currently testing two routers and I've seen some really interesting stuff. The two routers are Ubnt ER-X (offloading on) and ASUS AX86U(HW Acceleration on). I have to say that the ER-X experience is very good, except for the gaming aspect. It always gets the most stable and lowest latency, always 12ms from London to Frankfurt (the game server). And the AX86U is always staying at 13ms. BTW, they were using the same LNS server.

Then, the game experience is the opposite, with ER-X, it seems that the enemy always sees me earlier (then he will seem to do a "pre-fire"). And when using AX86U everything is "normal".

I try to understand what's going on behind this, because ER-X seems to have the best latency (always). I'm not using the "add-on" in either router (only NAT I believe), even temporarily turning off the firewall. I might try updating the ER-X to the OpenWrt firmware, and see what happens, as I don't think it's a hardware limitation but a software one.

Oh yes, I should probably use a cable to connect the ONT directly to the PC and have the results as a baseline.

Let me know your thoughts, guesses, or even other indicators in terms of gaming.

Do a bufferbloat test on both router setups and see what the results look like.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Do a bufferbloat test on both router setups and see what the results look like.

Ah, yes. Thanks Pheasant. I will be looking for the opportunity to do this, at the same time, my flatmates are busy using the Internet and I need to find the gap.

I should highlight that the gaming experience (especially this competitive nature) is "personal". Maybe I was wrong, or I might benefit from "latency compensation", or I'm more used to "slow". So don't let my words overkill your guesses!

Could you enlighten me as to where one finds HW Acceleration on the AX86U please?

In reply to a post by Otuuu:

Hi there,

I'd like to share a recent experience here, well, I'm talking about a specific FPS game -- CSGO.

I'm currently testing two routers and I've seen some really interesting stuff. The two routers are Ubnt ER-X (offloading on) and ASUS AX86U(HW Acceleration on). I have to say that the ER-X experience is very good, except for the gaming aspect. It always gets the most stable and lowest latency, always 12ms from London to Frankfurt (the game server). And the AX86U is always staying at 13ms. BTW, they were using the same LNS server.

Then, the game experience is the opposite, with ER-X, it seems that the enemy always sees me earlier (then he will seem to do a "pre-fire"). And when using AX86U everything is "normal".

I try to understand what's going on behind this, because ER-X seems to have the best latency (always). I'm not using the "add-on" in either router (only NAT I believe), even temporarily turning off the firewall. I might try updating the ER-X to the OpenWrt firmware, and see what happens, as I don't think it's a hardware limitation but a software one.

Oh yes, I should probably use a cable to connect the ONT directly to the PC and have the results as a baseline.

Let me know your thoughts, guesses, or even other indicators in terms of gaming.

In reply to a post by Bryer:

Could you enlighten me as to where one finds HW Acceleration on the AX86U please?

In reply to a post by Otuuu:

Hi there,

I'd like to share a recent experience here, well, I'm talking about a specific FPS game -- CSGO.

I'm currently testing two routers and I've seen some really interesting stuff. The two routers are Ubnt ER-X (offloading on) and ASUS AX86U(HW Acceleration on). I have to say that the ER-X experience is very good, except for the gaming aspect. It always gets the most stable and lowest latency, always 12ms from London to Frankfurt (the game server). And the AX86U is always staying at 13ms. BTW, they were using the same LNS server.

Then, the game experience is the opposite, with ER-X, it seems that the enemy always sees me earlier (then he will seem to do a "pre-fire"). And when using AX86U everything is "normal".

I try to understand what's going on behind this, because ER-X seems to have the best latency (always). I'm not using the "add-on" in either router (only NAT I believe), even temporarily turning off the firewall. I might try updating the ER-X to the OpenWrt firmware, and see what happens, as I don't think it's a hardware limitation but a software one.

Oh yes, I should probably use a cable to connect the ONT directly to the PC and have the results as a baseline.

Let me know your thoughts, guesses, or even other indicators in terms of gaming.

I am using Asuswrt-Merlin 386.7_2 firmware. It should be enabled by default. You can verify it at: Tools- Network- HW acceleration Runner: Enabled - Flow Cache: Enabled..

The bufferbloat is the same on both routers (A).