Summary
This article provides a practical performance evaluation of the MikroTik RB3011, explaining its architecture, throughput ceilings, VPN limits, and optimization strategies for SMB and ISP deployments.

MikroTik RB3011 Performance Architecture Review

Overview: What the RB3011 Was Designed For

The MikroTik RB3011UiAS-RM has long been viewed as a cost-effective router for small ISPs and SMB networks. Internally, it uses a dual-core ARM Qualcomm IPQ-8064 CPU clocked at 1.4 GHz and two independent switch chips dividing its ten Gigabit Ethernet ports into two groups. This approach reduces cost and power usage while keeping switching fast, but it also creates architectural constraints that affect routing performance. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index="0"}

The device includes 1 GB of RAM, 128 MB NAND, a passive cooling design, PoE-in on Ether1 and PoE-out on Ether10, plus a simple LCD for basic monitoring. Thermal conditions are stable, though sustained use above 80–90 °C can shorten lifespan.

Architectural Strengths and Limitations

The RB3011’s internal structure works well when traffic stays inside the same switch chip. In these cases, forwarding is hardware-offloaded, achieving wire speed with negligible CPU load. However, when traffic crosses port groups or requires routing, all packets must traverse the CPU—this is where bottlenecks appear. With two cores handling routing, NAT, firewall, queueing, PPPoE, and VPN encryption, it’s easy to saturate the CPU under high packet-rate conditions. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index="1"}

Another constraint is the 1–2 Gbps link between each switch chip and the CPU. This means the RB3011 cannot sustainably push full gigabit routing on all ports simultaneously.

Throughput: What You Actually Get in Production

MikroTik’s own RFC2544 benchmarks show ideal routing throughput up to ~4 Gbps with 1518-byte packets using FastPath. But this does not represent real-world internet traffic, which contains many small packets.

At 64-byte frames, throughput falls dramatically to ~231 Mbps because the CPU hits its packets-per-second ceiling. Realistic workloads usually mix small and large packets, resulting in 600–800 Mbps as the practical upper bound for routing-only scenarios. With NAT and firewall rules active, users report 300–600 Mbps depending on rule complexity and RouterOS version. RouterOS v7, which removed route caching from v6, typically performs worse on older CPU architectures like the RB3011. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index="2"}

Tip: FastTrack is essential on RB3011. Without it, routing+NAT throughput may drop below 350 Mbps.

Firewall, Queues, and CPU Pressure

CPU-only processing becomes evident when enabling firewall rules or queue trees. In MikroTik’s tests, 25 firewall rules reduced throughput to ~60 Mbps at 64-byte packets. Even at larger packet sizes, throughput hovered under 500 Mbps. Queueing also reduces performance significantly, with many setups observing 40–60% throughput loss under moderate queue loads. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index="3"}

This makes the RB3011 suitable for moderate filtering but not for heavy UTM-style workloads.

VPN Performance: IPsec, PPPoE, and Others

IPsec performance on RB3011 is surprisingly good with large packets (up to ~780 Mbps), thanks to ARM NEON acceleration. However, with small packets, throughput drops to ~38 Mbps. Mixed real-world VPN workloads reach ~300 Mbps. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index="4"}

PPPoE, being single-threaded, maxes out one CPU core, usually hitting ~500 Mbps even with FastTrack.

Protocols like OpenVPN perform poorly due to CPU-only encryption and TCP overhead.

Practical Optimization Checklist

1. Enable FastTrack for IPv4 traffic.
2. Use hardware-offloaded bridging when possible.
3. Minimize firewall rule count and complexity.
4. Avoid deep queue trees when shaping Gigabit links.
5. Keep the RB3011 cool and well-ventilated.
6. Align port usage so high-demand paths remain within the same switch chip.

Where MKController helps: With monitoring, inventory, alerts and centralized management, MKController makes it easier to track CPU saturation, temperature, and throughput trends across many MikroTik devices.

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