Asus A8N SLI Firewall, Windows or NV. Update, also Norton Firewall.

[majmera]

I thought the nVidia firewall was hardware optimized and part of the MCP so it probably does have lower CPU utilization. Here's a quote from an anandtech article about the nforce3 chipset.

The nVidia Firewall is a hardware-optimized solution and an integrated component of nVidia nForce media and communications processors (MCPs)....Because it is native, the nVidia Firewall eliminates many issues with software conflicts, improves throughput and protection, and lowers CPU utilization

 

[JMag]

Originally posted by: icepik
I do not use the WinXP firewall at all. I use the NV firewall and ZoneAlarm. Works great. I never had a problem with Windows update. I agree with the post above that the NV firewall is tied to the Nvidia LAN port. When I enabled the firewall for the first time I wend to the Shilds UP web site
http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
and performed a TCP port scan. I checked the firewall log and could see it blocking traffic on numerous ports. When I moved my Internet connection to the other LAN port I didn't get any more log entries when this scan was run. When I moved back to the NVidia port I had firewall log entries again after running the scan. This tells me that the firewall can only monitor traffic on the NVidia LAN port.

Which is also probably the reason why some reviews are showing that the Marvell LAN port is faster...

I too noticed that when disabling the NVLAN Port in the BIOS the NV firewall seemed to be not functioning (it was hard to tell for me, cause port scans were all blocked by my router anyway)

 

[TheNiceGuy]

How about this, running only nVidia firewall: bittorrent software won't accept most incomming connections, and neither KAV or bundled NAV will update. But other updates (ie AdAware, Windows) and all online games work perfectly.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=29&threadid=1506788

 

[babyjocko]

Originally posted by: majmera

The nVidia Firewall is a hardware-optimized solution and an integrated component of nVidia nForce media and communications processors (MCPs)....Because it is native, the nVidia Firewall eliminates many issues with software conflicts, improves throughput and protection, and lowers CPU utilization

Then either that is wrong or it is not taking into consideration the running applications and services that NV Firewall utilizes while operating. There is app_filter service for one that I know of, then there is nsvcappflt.exe running, not to mention the overhead of the accompanying NAM.

Look, if you guys want to utilize NV Firewall and other stuff, be my guest! If it makes you feel warm and cozy, then enjoy it. I'm just saying that it is unnecessary overkill that can cause more problems than it can ever solve. But, the logos look pretty and it adds to the features of the chipset. "What other BS can we thow in there, Jim?," is what is probably often said at nVidia staff meetings.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

As I mentioned, I can't even install my own firewall.
I haven:t tried in BIOS, and I don't want to reformat. I washoping to at least give it a go. Besides the above issues, the nvidia firewall seems to work well, and my internent activity is blistering fast.

 

[Glpster]

Originally posted by: babyjocko
NV Firewall sucks. Don't even load it. And that means that you won't load NAM either. NAM has way too much overhead. And that means that if you load the NV LAN driver then you would have limited settings because most of its settings is in NAM. But, don't worry because NV LAN sucks, too! Load the Marvell driver. The Marvell LAN works great!

nVidia needs to get their act together. They may make decent hardware, but I am not impressed with their software, including drivers.

What's a NAM? And why is it so Gawd-Awful that you don't want it loaded on your system?

 

[Glpster]

Originally posted by: icepik
I do not use the WinXP firewall at all. I use the NV firewall and ZoneAlarm. Works great. I never had a problem with Windows update. I agree with the post above that the NV firewall is tied to the Nvidia LAN port. When I enabled the firewall for the first time I wend to the Shilds UP web site
http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
and performed a TCP port scan. I checked the firewall log and could see it blocking traffic on numerous ports. When I moved my Internet connection to the other LAN port I didn't get any more log entries when this scan was run. When I moved back to the NVidia port I had firewall log entries again after running the scan. This tells me that the firewall can only monitor traffic on the NVidia LAN port.

I'm not having many problems with NV Firewall yet. Although I just installed it, so....

Anyhow, you say NV Firewall can be run with ZoneAlarm? They don't conflict?

Doesn't using ZoneAlarm defeat the purpose of using the hardware optimized NV Firewall (which is less CPU overhead)?