Gigabit Ethernet cards?

[Matt Brodeur]

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On Thu, Jun 10, 2004 at 09:26:33AM -0400, Ben Scott wrote:

>   Anyone here have any practical opinions on good Gigabit Ethernet interface
> cards?  Likewise, bad experiences, teaching things to avoid, are also
> valuable.

   I'm going to go against what everyone else is saying and report bad
experiences with e1000 cards.  A few years ago (which might make some
difference) I tried using a handful of Pro1000/XT cards, both copper
and fiber.  While they "worked" just fine, performance was erratic and
generally poor.  I was lucky to see >500Mb/s, and that took a lot of
work.  I actually had better luck with a cheap ($90) Netgear GA622.
   Where I needed serious speed I eventually went with a pair of
Syskonnect SK9821 copper cards.  At $500 each it was slightly painful,
but probably worth it.  In machines with 64bit/33MHz PCI I could push
750-800Mb without needing jumbo frames, which our switches wouldn't do
anyway.

   None of this is likely helpful, as it's ancient history by now.
I'm sure the e1000 driver has improved greatly, and the problems I had
have just gone away.  My only recent experience was with an IBM T41
which "just worked" although I never took it above 100Mbit. 

- -- 
Matt Brodeur                                                            RHCE
MBrodeur at NextTime.com                                http://www.NextTime.com

Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else. 
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