How long should file transfers take?

[imagoon]

I meant for the connection where take and connect the two computers together to check.

This is what someone told me in another forum. What is true about this?

For 1Gbit LAN to work, you'll need GBLan adapters and cables (yes, these are different than
"Normal" CAT-5 cables) in all devices on your network, including switches & routers.

I did not think routers would affect it after it is hooked up to the switch.

My network goes like this. Internet in to a 2wire modem/router-----gig switch-----computer-- also from the gig switch------ to another switch in another room------ to another computer, bluray, denon 3808CI, NAS(soon).

Cat5 is rated for gigabit. There are Cat5e, Cat6 etc but for a simple patch to check, Cat5 is fine. The key to check is if all 8 wires are terminated. Some cheaper 'Cat 5' (which isn't spec) drops 2 of the pairs and connects only 2 pairs effectively forcing that cable to 100mbps only.

Auto MDX should handle the crossover needs on the 1gig nics. Ones that don't AutoMDX have become pretty rare.

When it comes to the network, you need 1GB hardware but not all devices need to be 1 Gig unless you have one of the super junk switches that drops to 100mbps if a single 100mbps device is attached.

Jumbo frames is different. All devices need to support what ever frame size you pick. The gain for Jumbo frames is pretty minimal except in situations where TCP/IP overhead becomes an issue. With home hardware, I really doubt that you are having that issue.

Your network design looks 'typical.' It can be better to pull drops back to a single switch but in most cases it won't matter much.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Would it be better to get pci or pci express nic cards? Or would it make a difference?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106122

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106036

Will there be a difference?

 

[imagoon]

Would it be better to get pci or pci express nic cards? Or would it make a difference?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106122

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106036

Will there be a difference?

In theory PCI-E > PCI but that is less and less so as most devices are not on the PCI bus anymore. PCI theoretically hits 133 MB/s, Gig Ethernet theoretically hits 125MB/s. Those numbers are not reality though. Since video and south bridge etc are not on the PCI bus anymore, there is less contending for bandwidth than there used to be so the net result is probably "it is the same."

 

[ingeborgdot]

What does this say about the lan on my computer?

Onboard LAN 2 - Realtek RTL8110SC - PCI Gigabit Ethernet controller
Is that saying it is a PCI onboard controller? Would that only give it pci speeds?

 

[imagoon]

What does this say about the lan on my computer?

Onboard LAN 2 - Realtek RTL8110SC - PCI Gigabit Ethernet controller
Is that saying it is a PCI onboard controller? Would that only give it pci speeds?

It might be. The PCI bus is faster than 1gig ethernet anyway so it isn't a bottleneck.

 

[ingeborgdot]

that means your "onboard" ethernet is not chipset-powered at all, because the chipset does not support onboard ethernet. So your motherboard put an extra chip on the PCB that incorporates an ethernet NIC and PHY - and connects that to your PC via the PCI bus. It would be the same as using a 5-dollar realtek PCI-card.

Using PCI either for storage or networking is bad for performance. If both are on PCI its a nightmare with very low performance.

This was sent to me. I really think it is the main problem. If not, I will let you know.

 

[imagoon]

that means your "onboard" ethernet is not chipset-powered at all, because the chipset does not support onboard ethernet. So your motherboard put an extra chip on the PCB that incorporates an ethernet NIC and PHY - and connects that to your PC via the PCI bus. It would be the same as using a 5-dollar realtek PCI-card.

Using PCI either for storage or networking is bad for performance. If both are on PCI its a nightmare with very low performance.

This was sent to me. I really think it is the main problem. If not, I will let you know.

Ok what are you trying to gain here? For home, built in NIC meet the requirements of 99% of the users out there. Most business PC's also use the same built in chips. Ethernet from one to one device will rarely if ever max out the the line. The line can't ever max out the PCI bus.

Now that next part is something to thing about. If the SATA controllers on your PC share the same PCI bus as the NIC then you can have contention because 2 high speed devices are sharing the bus and between them they can exceed the limits of the bus. However, your computer can have more than one PCI bus that can be tied together in several fashions. Also another thing to look out for, PCI-E appears to the system as a PCI bus. It is emulated at the logical level. Go in to device manager and do a "show devices by connection" and see how the system thinks everything is laid out. Everything will be under "PCI Bus."

If you see something like
PCI bus -> bridge chip -> Onboard NIC, Storage controller (they will look like they are attached) then yes they are sharing. If you see something like:

PCI Bus -> Bridge chip -> Nic
PCI Bus -> Storage controller

Then they are not likely sharing the same bus.

EDIT:

You mentioned 90MB / sec up top... that is "damn good" for a home network.

You may need to step back to the basics. Disable Jumbo frames on all devices. you don't need them. They are more hassle than they are worth for home. Make sure you have a quality switch in the mix. Make sure *all* the cables are good. Purchased patch cables, properly installed keystones / jacks if applicable.

Make sure that all the drivers are up to date on all devices. System board and nic drivers especially.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Any ideas for the switch? I have two but if need be will switch the switch.

 

[imagoon]

Little guys like this:

http://www.procurve.com/products/switches/HP_ProCurve_1810G_Switch_Series/overview.htm

Work really well. Some of the cheaper dell switches (used only as unmanaged switches...) work really well also. I use Dell 2724's as unmanaged switches at temporary job trailers with good success. The Dells have a managed mode but run away screaming. The dells have a flip switch to turn off the 'brains' and when I do that they tend to be very solid.

 

[ingeborgdot]

This is what I bought. The Intel EXPI9301CT 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter. I have this nic card and it sure made a difference. The one nice thing it did was find that I had a bad cable. I never found that with anything else I had. With the new nic I got an extra 200Mbps and when it found the bad cable it gave me another 100Mbps. I just want to know if anyone has this card and how to tweak it. Man are there a lot of settings. I got two of them. One for each computer on the net. How does the master/slave work. There is also teaming. How do I use it and should I? If anyone has perfected any of these settings please help me out. Thanks.

 

[imagoon]

Out of curiousity, did you try the old nic when you found out that layer one was faulty? I am not doubting a better card would give you and edge but I am guessing the real fix was replacing the bad cable. The nic just improved it a little more. You need a switch that supports teaming, also teaming wont give you 2 gig because each session will only go to one nic.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I still have the other nic and tried a comparison. The new nic out performs the one by 250Mbps when I compare. The cable worked but was only letting stuff go at 100 instead of 1000. I got another 100Mbps with the new cable. I have gained 350Mbps now and it is running much better but I will always shoot for better.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I don't expect it to give me 2 gig. I am always shooting for better though. Will the teaming give me any advantage that you know of? How would I know if the switch I has supports teaming or not?

 

[ingeborgdot]

Little guys like this:

http://www.procurve.com/products/switches/HP_ProCurve_1810G_Switch_Series/overview.htm

Work really well. Some of the cheaper dell switches (used only as unmanaged switches...) work really well also. I use Dell 2724's as unmanaged switches at temporary job trailers with good success. The Dells have a managed mode but run away screaming. The dells have a flip switch to turn off the 'brains' and when I do that they tend to be very solid.

How would a ProCurve 1400 be as compared to the 1810? Just curious. I have an opportunity for a good buy on both of these? Or would you recommend the Dell first?

 

[ingeborgdot]

Does anyone know how the ProCurve 1400 compares to the 1810? imagoon is taking the weekend off I guess and I want to order tomorrow if possible. From searches it looks good but I would like some first hand experience if possible. Thanks.

 

[ingeborgdot]

How much more complicated is the 1810 to operate than the 1400? Thanks for answering all my questions.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Well, I finally got a chance to put another computer on the other end of the line that was having problems and I find out I don't have to change my line. It was a whopping 89-91 MB/s to this other computer. I am wondering if the problem could be the computer itself or if it is that I am running vista and that computer had xp pro. The one I put in it's place had W7. Well, at least I don't need to drag new lines. Now I just need to try a computer with xp on it.