QOS Cake or FlexQOS/Adaptive for Gaming?

[Xruptor]

Hey everyone! I know there is a thread here talking about this but a few of them are quite old and one was derailed slightly on the second page (https://www.snbforums.com/threads/how-to-choose-between-cake-and-adaptive-flex-qos.72101/)

I have an RT-AX86U with a network that is quite complicated. I have several ROKU's, Android Devices, Alexa EchoDots, 1 media Server, wireless printer, several gaming devices on the network and a VOIP phone. There is a moderate amount of streaming done on the network with YouTube/NetFlex/Prime etc.. I have ALWAYS used QOS because at any given time my network could get bottlenecked depending on what's going on. In the past I used FlexQOS (FreshQOS) and it worked fine. I ALWAYS prioritize the gaming consoles over anything on the network. I want top notch performance from my gaming systems at all time above anything on the network. This is why I used FlexQOS.

However, with the recent router upgrade I now have access to Cake QOS and I was wondering if it was worthwhile to switch to it over FlexQOS. I was trying to lookout information on comparisons and only really came across a few threads. Mileage varies and some prefer Cake over FlexQOS and vice versa. OR Should I just use the basic Adaptive QOS?

So I'm looking for opinions based on my network and preference for gaming.

If I recall it was best to set your preferences to 90% or 95% of what you clock at in the speedtest. So ideally the settings should be like this.

Download -> ~320 to 322 MBps
Upload -> ~10 to 11 Mbps

It's also recommend to do fq_codel last I recall.

I've been using the built in speedtest on the router to determine my speeds. Unless I should use a browser based one (https://www.speedtest.net/ or https://speedtest.xfinity.com etc..), the one that comes with the router seems pretty good. Unless that one is not entirely accurate? These are a couple of my results.

If you'd recommend Cake QOS? What should I be looking at for the settings for an RT-AX86U? I see some folks talking about besteffort, diffserv4, etc..

What I'm confused as is that some folks say not to bother with Cake QOS if your internet speed is > 350 Mbps. Does that mean I should just automatically lean towards FlexQOS because I have 358 Mbps?

This is why I'm looking for suggestions and advice Thanks in advance!

 

[dave14305]

If you want one device to be prioritized above all others, you probably want to stick with Adaptive QoS/FlexQoS. CAKE is all about fairness and bandwidth equality for all active devices on the network.

 

[Kingp1n]

Hey everyone! I know there is a thread here talking about this but a few of them are quite old and one was derailed slightly on the second page (https://www.snbforums.com/threads/how-to-choose-between-cake-and-adaptive-flex-qos.72101/)

I have an RT-AX86U with a network that is quite complicated. I have several ROKU's, Android Devices, Alexa EchoDots, 1 media Server, wireless printer, several gaming devices on the network and a VOIP phone. There is a moderate amount of streaming done on the network with YouTube/NetFlex/Prime etc.. I have ALWAYS used QOS because at any given time my network could get bottlenecked depending on what's going on. In the past I used FlexQOS (FreshQOS) and it worked fine. I ALWAYS prioritize the gaming consoles over anything on the network. I want top notch performance from my gaming systems at all time above anything on the network. This is why I used FlexQOS.

However, with the recent router upgrade I now have access to Cake QOS and I was wondering if it was worthwhile to switch to it over FlexQOS. I was trying to lookout information on comparisons and only really came across a few threads. Mileage varies and some prefer Cake over FlexQOS and vice versa. OR Should I just use the basic Adaptive QOS?

So I'm looking for opinions based on my network and preference for gaming.

If I recall it was best to set your preferences to 90% or 95% of what you clock at in the speedtest. So ideally the settings should be like this.

Download -> ~320 to 322 MBps
Upload -> ~10 to 11 Mbps

It's also recommend to do fq_codel last I recall.

I've been using the built in speedtest on the router to determine my speeds. Unless I should use a browser based one (https://www.speedtest.net/ or https://speedtest.xfinity.com etc..), the one that comes with the router seems pretty good. Unless that one is not entirely accurate? These are a couple of my results.

View attachment 40984

View attachment 40985

If you'd recommend Cake QOS? What should I be looking at for the settings for an RT-AX86U? I see some folks talking about besteffort, diffserv4, etc..

What I'm confused as is that some folks say not to bother with Cake QOS if your internet speed is > 350 Mbps. Does that mean I should just automatically lean towards FlexQOS because I have 358 Mbps?

This is why I'm looking for suggestions and advice Thanks in advance!

I recently tried CAKE but I'm back with Flex. If you're into gaming just prioritize your gaming devices as @dave14305 stated. While using CAKE I noticed 1 of my wireless gaming device would slightly lag at random times (FPS game). With Flex, I've never had issues with online gaming (both wired and wireless device). You can always give a test but you did mentioned you used Flex before without any issues so I would stick with what has been working.

 

[Xruptor]

Hmm thanks for the insight. I suppose there isn't any benefit for me using CAKE and just stick to use FlexQOS then. I guess CAKE is on a different scale in terms of FlexQOS and is not really something I should be using for my particular scenario. I also read it doesn't use Hardware Acceleration so that could be a thing too.