GIGABIT NETWORK VERY SLOW

[Burny1]

Hi guys,

Not sure if this is the correct area to ask this question, however gonna do it anyways and hopefully it will be moved to the correct space if needed.

Ok, my problem is this. I have 2 PC's with gigabit cards in them. when i transfer files between them, the transfer speed never goes over 170mbps = 21MB/s. I have linked them via a switch and also with just a cable between the 2 and the result is the same. One is a Visa business machine and the other XP Media centre. I previously ran a test between 2 vista machines and the result was the same.

Any ideas as to what else i can try?

Thanks for your help!

burny

 

[Pyro]

If you're using windows copy, that could be quite normal. Try using a 3rd party copy util, and see what speed you get.

 

[Burny1]

Hi Pyro,

i did a test with iperf and it seems the network is running at 1gigs. Seems that the problem lies with the HDD's in that it cannot supply the data fast enough. Is there any way to test the HDD throughput?

Thanks

 

[pieterbotes]

Hi Pyro,

i did a test with iperf and it seems the network is running at 1gigs. Seems that the problem lies with the HDD's in that it cannot supply the data fast enough. Is there any way to test the HDD throughput?

Thanks

Yes there is but are you running VISTA SP1?

Some nice reading on here:

http://keznews.com/3824_Vista_SP1_will_deliver_big_network_speed_boost

and if you don't want to install SP1 then try this:

http://www.chapterzero.co.uk/articles/windows-vista-slow-network-issues.aspx

 

[Praeses]

From what I have read, onboard ethernet cards are to blame. Supposedly proper dedicated cards will deliver proper speeds.
I also run a gigabit LAN at home with the same issue as you've described. I don't feel like buying 3 gigabit lan cards to see if it helps

 

[Sapphiron]

You can use HDtune to test the hard drive. google it.

PCI based gigabit cards tend to top out between 250 and 300mbits. Some only onboards are on the PCI bus. Ideally to get 1000mbits, you need a PCI-E based onboard or descrete card.

 

[Pyro]

You can use HDtune to test the hard drive. google it.

PCI based gigabit cards tend to top out between 250 and 300mbits. Some only onboards are on the PCI bus. Ideally to get 1000mbits, you need a PCI-E based onboard or descrete card.

That sounds like a good explanation. Even though the sync speed is 1Gbps, the actual 'card' can't get enough data to the sending buffer to send that much data.

 

[Conradl]

The onboard card should have little to do with the problem; adding a dedicated card will not make anything faster. The problem is simply that the HDD cannot supply data fast enough to the network card.

As far as the speed of PCI is concerned, you can easily run a dual SCSI/RAID controllers with multiple HDD drives attached and run them all at full speed without a problem on a single PCI slot.

Also remember that not all switches are equal, and you are not guaranteed to get full 1GB to each port on all switches; especially cheaper ones.....

 

[pieterbotes]

The onboard card should have little to do with the problem; adding a dedicated card will not make anything faster. The problem is simply that the HDD cannot supply data fast enough to the network card.

As far as the speed of PCI is concerned, you can easily run a dual SCSI/RAID controllers with multiple HDD drives attached and run them all at full speed without a problem on a single PCI slot.

Also remember that not all switches are equal, and you are not guaranteed to get full 1GB to each port on all switches; especially cheaper ones.....

Correct, and also I do this for a living on CISCO and 3Com and a few cheaper ones and believe me with 1GB connections you need to have proper equipment and do that same test between 2 XP machines and be surprised, between 2 VISTA machines with SP1 on them also fine but between VISTA non SP1 and anything else and you'll wait abit. We've done this in our lab a few times.