gigabit nics only transferring at 9000kb/s

[st4rk]

Yes, 9000kb/s, not bits, bytes.

Theoretically shouldn't gig transfer at around 120kb/s?

Anyways, both nics have updated drivers. Both are running XP pro sp1. I am using a straight through cable, and not a crossover (remember: crossover not needed for gig!) But it gets weird, before I get into that here are specs of the comps:

Machine 1
-------------
AMD 2100+
80gb Western Dig. 8mb cache 7200 rpm
387mb ram

Machine 2
-------------
AMD Barton 3000+
SATA Seagate hd
1gb ram


So obviously the HD's and comps cannot be the bottleneck....to the best of my knowledge.

Now, when I transfer a 800mb file from Machine 1 TO Machine 2, it averages 8000 to 9000 kb/s. When I transfer from Machine 2 TO Machine 1, it will stay around 9000kb/s, then gradually increase (towards the way end) to about 16000kb/s. But that is still unreasonably slow for what gig is rated at!

When I ftp to my xbox and transfer files, it will get a good 11000kb/s. Keep in mind xbox' only have 100full nics. And they are not that powerful either, packing a subpar 12gb seagate hd.

I have tried transfers in auto negotiate mode, and manually setting both nics to 1000full. No avail.

Anyone have any idea what's going on? Or is this normal for Gig? The cable is perfectly fine. Both computers are at idle, nothing in the background. And yes, all updates for xp as of today.

[chpalmer]

1 gigabit = 1000 megabits or 125K Bytes

1 gbps = 125 KBps


quote= "Yes, 9000kb/s, not bits, bytes."

thats 9 gigaBytes or 72 gigabits, quite a bit faster than your nics were designed to run.

Since I think you've simply misquoted what your seeing, how do you know your cable is good? How long is it? What is it, cat 5e or cat 6? How long does it take you to transfer your 800 MegaByte file from one to the other?


I wouldnt trust the numbers your computer is spitting out at you before you actually do the math
:D

[JackMDS]

Giga means that the Internal Clock is running 1000MHz. Trying to attribute it to “Speed of Transfer” is a Marketing thing.

Current Giga NICs are highly dependent on the OS and System used. Nowhere in the real world it is close to 1000% (x10) improvement.

Under “normal situation” between two home computers on a peer to peer Network. The gain of “Speed” might be only 25% to 50% (x .25 to .50)

I.e. if your system is 100Mb/sec. and yields 10MB/sec. transfer, by replacing the NIC with Giga NICs and the Switch with Giga Switch the Network will probably yield 12.5MB/sec. to 15MB/sec. (if your hardware is fast).

If one of the computers is equipped with OS like Windows 2003 the “Speed” from Server to client might improve by 150% i.e. you will get 25MB/sec. (x2.5)

If you install Giga on Double Xenon Computers with fast SCSI RAID, and Server Software you might get 400% (x4) improvement.

All numbers are approximation for demonstration proposes. YMMV.

Note: 1GHz = 1000MHz. 1000Mb/sec. (b=bit) is 125MB/sec. (B=Byte) 8bits = 1Byte. For Byte you use Capital B.

.

[Jeremy]

there are lots of possible bottlenecks concerning ethernet, particularly gigabit ethernet.

your hard disks may not be able to keep up if they are older or fragmented. newer 7200rpm drives usually average about 30-70MB/sec in optimal conditions. you really need SCSI drives or an array.

MS's TCP/IP protocol is not optimized for such high speed communication. you might need to try a non-windows os. i heard soemwhere that even with server-grade hardware windows machines have managed 400mbps, vs Sun servers closing in on around 800mbps.

long/subpar cables. keep them short and buy high quality ones.

CPU overhead. in your case your systems are probably fast enough, although i have noted that transferring a file from A to B is fastest when A initiates the transfer rather than B.

[pat376]

I dont have any help for your problem but I will post my results.

I have just moved from a 100mbps to a gigabit network.

Computer #1
PIII 1ghz win xp home
linksys EG1032 ver.2 (marvell 88E8003) NIC
9566 kb/s on old network
24180 kb/s on gigabit

Computer #2
AMD 3200 xp win xp home
on motherboard marvell 88E8001 NIC
14267 kb/s on old network
37448 kb/s on gigabit

Linksys EG005W Switch

All my cables and jacks are CAT6 and no longer than 60 feet.
About 70 feet between computer #1 and #2

I used SiSoftware Sandra 2004 Network/LAN bandwidth benchmark before and after upgrading.

I did notice a speed improvement when moving large files and a very small improvement on other computers that still have 100kbps NICs.
(4 total computers 2 gigabit and 2 not)

Like you, I would like to know any tweaks for gigabit. Maybe when more people start using gigabit there will be more info.

Pat

[cyberskye]

The quality of Gigabit switches varies greatly too. Don't ever think that you'll see much improvement if these are netgear switches or the like (maybe the hi-end ones, gold plated, will egt better results)

Could get higher speeds on a high-end managed 100Mb switch vs a 'budget' gigabit switch/hub. Lotsa factors, though, beyond NICs and cabling.