Will changing MTU help online gaming?

[Dug]

I'm running on cable right now, and I'll be hosting a game. One of the players will be connecting through dial-up.

I don't really understand MTU and don't know if it help other players if I change my MTU to 576.

As I understand, WinME's default MTU is 1500. I've tried pinging with packets with a value of 1472 and I get high times (28ms avg). When I ping sending packets with a value of 548 I consistantly get lower times (10-14ms avg).

Anybody know what's best?

 

[JackMDS]

Ping time is the time it takes your computer to transfer information (and getting back conformation), to the computer that you ping.

Lower number indicates less time, i.e. faster system.

 

[spidey07]

Most game servers use relitively small frames (150 or less bytes) so I can't see how adjusting MTU could help.

If you ping a destination with a larger frame then of course it is going to take longer. This is called serialization delay and has to do with the fact that it just takes longer to place the frame on the wire. A 1500 byte frame takes three times longer to serialize than a 500 byte frame.

You can calculate serilization delay yourself by---frame bits/bandwidth.

1500 bytes = 12000 bits. 12000 bits/ 10,000,000 bits per sec for ethernet gives you 1.2 milliseconds.
64 bytes = 512 bits = 51 MICROseconds. big difference there.

Take your cable modem for instance. If upload speed is capped at 128k then
1500 bytes = 12000 bits = 94 milliseconds.
64 bytes = 4 milliseconds. again...BIG DIFFERNECE.

Hope this helps! Most latency on small pipes comes from serialization delay, as you increase bandwidth latency then comes from router processing and queuing.