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gaming MTU and MSS values?

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2001 2:10 pm
by SuckMyPopadidge
right now mine are 1500/1460 (defaults) with a rwin of 128480... My pings range from 80-150 ms ;/. line is rated at 768/128 and i get about 610/100 (which is pretty average i guess). From what i understand, smaller MTU and MSS values transmit data faster and thus would result in lower ping times (to a point, after too much the useful amount of data in the packet becomes too small and more data ends up being transmited). Now my question is it really worth lowering your MSS/MTU values? and how far is far enough?

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2001 12:18 am
by ImPAcT
Good luck getting an answer to this one.... The same question has been asked several times with no answer given.. All i know is that it can help to lower it according to http://www.speedguide.net/editorials/packet_size.shtml
But by how much I've been wondering the same thing..

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2001 9:02 am
by BlackSword
I spent a whole day changing my MTU to try and decrease ping for gaming. LOL,, didnt help, I leave mine maximized. (possibly it is my ISP, for you maybe it will help)

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 4:04 pm
by qEin
Eighteen Years later and I'm sitting here with the same question, any new data on this?

This post seems to answer most of the questions: [external link removed by admin]

Good luck

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:56 pm
by Philip
What is the question?

Smaller packets generally may travel a bit faster. However, most games control the flow of data and the size of packets with game servers. Furthermore, the MTU is augmented by your router, and eventually repackaged by your ISP for traveling through their backbones. It is generally best left at a large value that doesn't have to be fragmented by your router, i.e. 1500, or 1492 for PPPoE.

We have gaming and MTU articles on the main site.

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 5:48 am
by n1kobg
Reducing your MTU along with RWIN improves the hit-registration in FPS Shooters for example. How small - That depends on the internet connection but you have to reduce both for best result. The thing is you neeed 2 MTUs. One for gaming and one for every day browsing. Thats the catch. The best alternative is to find that sweet spot which is not ideal but the easiest approach. On poor connections the impact is more visible. Some go as low as 500 but as a general rule dont go below 1000.

Ah now i see why qEin says "Eighteen Years later and I'm sitting here with the same question, any new data on this?"

I cant believe no one answered this question 18 years :D