Greg_lino

Exactly! I totally understand what you’re saying — and yes, I know that packet management is shared across the NIC, the operating system, the protocols, and the overall network quality. You explained it perfectly. I just want to make it clear that, in my case, switching from a Realtek onboard NIC to an Intel i226-V made a noticeable difference in-game. Footsteps, shot registration, and overall smoothness improved because the Intel card handles packet queues much better than my old onboard, especially under high-speed traffic. I agree with everything you said, but sometimes practical experience highlights differences that theory alone doesn’t capture. And just to be clear: I’m not interested in any course. Even though this is just a hobby for me, my knowledge isn’t that bad compared to some of the so-called “specialists” on this forum. Lol. For other forum members to understand, the equipment was added and optimized gradually over time: Fiber + ONU + Netduma R3 → total disappointment. Lots of stuttering and instability, mainly because the Netduma struggles with PPPoE. Fiber + ONU + TP-Link switch (PPPoE) + Netduma → reduced the Netduma’s stuttering, but still not ideal. Static IP → left CGNAT, noticeable improvement in latency and connection stability. Switched from Realtek onboard NIC to Intel i226-V → noticeable improvement in shot registration and enemy footsteps. Data packets arrived faster, without delays. Switched from TP-Link switch to OpenWRT router (Fiber + Banana Pi SFP + Netduma) → significant improvement in network stability. PPPoE is now handled by OpenWRT, while the Netduma takes care of QoS and Geo-Filter.

In my post, I’m not sure if it was clear, but I mentioned that this is my case. For your situation, research and run your own tests. I switched from a Realtek onboard NIC to an Intel card with a modern chip that handles packet queues better, among other improvements. As I said before, in my case! In my setup, I went from ONU + Netduma R3 dialing PPPoE to fiber directly into the SFP port of a switch dialing PPPoE + Netduma R3 for geofilter and QoS. As I said and made clear: IN MY CASE! Why did I do this? First, because Netduma performs poorly with PPPoE. If you didn’t know that, you’re in the wrong forum! My old ONU was extremely limited, causing mini stutters and adding latency. Today, I use a switch — in my case, a Banana Pi R4 with OpenWRT installed — whose job is to manage the network and handle the PPPoE connection. About the network card improving sound: we’re not talking about audio frequency or equalizers. None of that! Honestly, it shouldn’t even need explaining; anyone familiar with networking should know this. What I’m talking about is data packets transmitted from the server to your client. A network card that handles these packets and queues better ensures that the data arrives without delay. These packets carry critical info, like enemy footsteps and shot registration. With an efficient NIC, they don’t get delayed or ignored. The card you mentioned might even be better than the Intel one I used, but in my case, the noticeable difference was switching from the Realtek onboard to the Intel i226-V.

Bullpoopy? My K/D went from 1.3 to 3 after fixing my connection. The R3 isn’t perfect, but QoS + geofilter do work. I also mentioned other relevant stuff in the process. Not a waste of money for me. Don’t do what I did and use the Netduma in PPPoE — that’s nonsense and actually a waste of money!

Fique a vontade

E ai cara, vou mandar a msg inglês. Tmj Hey man! I read your posts and I’ll try to help. I also play COD (Warzone) and had a lot of issues with my internet, but I managed to improve it a lot. Went from a 1.3 K/D to 3 in WZ. Hopefully this helps you decide which setup to go for. The Netduma R3 is really good at what it’s made for. The QoS works well and the geofilter is by far the best feature for COD/WZ. But it does have some issues, especially with PPPoE. If your ISP uses PPPoE, keep in mind that the R3 doesn’t handle it well. Here’s what I did to fix my connection: Step 1: Call your ISP and ask for a static or public IP. This takes you out of CGNAT, which usually gets overloaded during peak hours. Just this change alone gave me about 50% improvement. Step 2: Put your ISP’s ONU in bridge mode and let the Netduma handle the whole network (QoS, packets, IPs). This gave me another 20% improvement. Step 3: Swap your onboard NIC for a PCIe card with the Intel i226-V chip. Highly recommend it! Even footstep audio got cleaner. This chip avoids micro-delays and improves reg hit. I’d say around 15% improvement here. Step 4: Replace the ISP’s ONU with a switch that has an SFP port. This improves the network infrastructure and also solves the PPPoE problem with the Netduma, since the PPPoE dial-up is handled by the switch, leaving the R3 only with QoS and traffic management. 👉 But keep in mind: depending on your ISP, this swap is pretty technical, so I only recommend it if you already have some networking knowledge. For me, it added another 10% improvement. The rest is just using quality cables and optimizing your PC. Overall, I do recommend the Netduma R3. It still has things to improve, but it offers some great features.

PC exclusively for gaming! Or better yet, a PC exclusively for Warzone rsrs (what a frustrating game). But anyway, I’m going with the port forwarding method. If it works just as well, I’ll stick with it.

It’s definitely a bad idea from a security perspective. But apparently, it solved the game’s audio problem.

Guys who play COD/WZ, I made some configurations that drastically improved my audio. Maybe this will also help those who are experiencing bad audio. I couldn’t hear anything—an enemy could be dancing right next to me, and I wouldn’t hear a thing. Rarely, when the server was stable and the game was running smoothly, I could hear well! But that was rare—out of 10 days, only one day would have 4 or 5 matches like that. That’s when I realized the audio isn’t processed locally on my PC. The enemy audio comes from the server. That’s how I managed to fix my problem: First, I put my PC in DMZ (I believe manually opening the ports would have the same effect). Then, I completely disabled the Windows Firewall—not just through the normal method, but by disabling it 100% via Regedit, because using the standard method, Windows still keeps the firewall running in the background. I believe this happens because, even when “disabled,” the firewall still blocks or delays some audio packets, preventing the game from playing them properly. Something like that must be happening. It could be a placebo effect, or maybe I just got lucky with a good server, as I mentioned earlier. But I played all day, across different modes, servers, and locations, and the audio remained perfect. I hope this helps someone else who’s struggling with the same issue!

Maybe this tip can solve your problem. It partially solved mine, but it's playable! Here's what I did: I performed a factory reset and then installed firmware 4.0.478 (I don't recommend it as it has many bugs). However, I believe a factory reset alone might solve the issue for you! After configuring the R4 with the provider's username and password, I disabled UPnP, disabled SmartBoost, and ran a speed test. In QoS, I set 25% for download and 50% for upload. That's it—I kept the settings as simple as possible. In the bufferbloat test, I got the lowest latency I've ever seen on my connection. In Warzone, my shots hit hard, and it doesn't feel like I'm lagging! Maybe this will work for you too! Netduma R3 doesn't deliver what it promises, so keep its configuration as simple as possible to avoid overloading it.

For those using the PPPoE feature, it becomes quite complicated to skip the entire initial setup process just to clone the MAC address later in the WAN menu. I understand that very few users face this issue and that it could be resolved by simply calling the provider to inform them about the router change. However, it would be a simple implementation that would greatly help PPPoE users.

I would like to test this out. plz