New network adapter, but still at 100Mb speed

[delvxe]

Hello,

I am stumped. I just installed a new network card, but am still getting 100Mb network speeds. I installed the D-Link DGE-530T card in my Dell Inspiron 530 which is connected via cat5e to a gigabit switch (NETGEAR GS108) and my gigabit NAS (D-Link's DNS-321). When I test the network, it still says that it is 100Mb. This is consistent with the file transfer speeds I observed. The network card driver is up to date.

Any thoughts or help is appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[digitalprospecter]

Is the Cat5e Network Patch Cable kinked. Badly kinked cables can cause slow connections?

In the network card properties is the cards speed hard set to 100Mbps instead of Auto or 1000Mbps?

 

[delvxe]

Oops. I just realized that I had an intermediary switch I was running through. Now speeds are up, but still in the 15 MB/second range.

I know this is now a different question, but any suggestions?

 

[digitalprospecter]

Actual speeds of Gigabit transfer is usually ~ 250-350Mbps (~ 30-40MB/s).
Depending on the quality of your cable, hard disk, router, and network adpaters the normal sustained speeds would fall between 5MB/s and 35MB/s.

I would suggest:

1. Cat 6 cable should squeeze more speed out of your connection
2. Cable length - Keep it as short as possible
3. Your best speed results will be between 2 computers with gigabit connections. Internet usage speeds will be lower in most cases.
4. Make sure jumbo frames are set in network properties for your network adapter. Set to the max value which is 9k.
5. Hard Disk speed can bottleneck your gigabit transfers

 

[digitalprospecter]

Additional Thoughts:

Upgrade firmware in your Router to latest version

Download and install latest network adapter drivers, if any newer versions are available.

 

[Kewlx25]

CAT6 won't help unless you're having signal issues, even then, signal issues would show up as lots of dropped packets and CRC errors.

I got a cheap Dell, and I get 110MB/sec (946mbit/sec) with only 4% kernel time. It's a single HD, some white label 640GB hd. Wife can copy 100+MB/sec off my comp and I won't even notice while playing games unless loading levels/etc.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Wow kewlx25. The gigabit ethernet max theoretical sped is 110MB/s. You seem to have lucked into a computer and network configuration that is perfect, even with 'a cheap' Dell, better hang onto it! I'd be interested in more info on your hard disk and nic in the Dell. As well as what router and antivirus you are running. The transfer would only be as fast as the slowest equipment involved, so your wife's computer would have to be just as good. Is she running the same unit?

Delvxe, another possiblity is your antivirus/firewall software. Try testing your connection without those software apps running and see what the difference is.

 

[Kewlx25]

Wow kewlx25. The gigabit ethernet max theoretical sped is 110MB/s. You seem to have lucked into a computer and network configuration that is perfect, even with 'a cheap' Dell, better hang onto it! I'd be interested in more info on your hard disk and nic in the Dell. As well as what router and antivirus you are running. The transfer would only be as fast as the slowest equipment involved, so your wife's computer would have to be just as good. Is she running the same unit?

Delvxe, another possiblity is your antivirus/firewall software. Try testing your connection without those software apps running and see what the difference is.

actually, 1,000,000,000bits/etc divide by 8 = 125,000,000 bytes/sec divide by 1024 = 122,070.3125KB/sec divide by 1024 = 119.20928955078125MB/sec.

110MB/sec with jumbo frames leaves 9.2MB/sec for overhead.

Just means my HD is faster than 1gbits/sec and my NIC can handle the actual spec.

 

[digitalprospecter]

It is nice that your system meets spec which is preferrable but not the average for sure. Jumbo frames is good if the data you are transferring is not in smaller packets, so all in all it sounds as if your hardware and its usage is such that you can get optimium performance out of the standard.

Nice!

 

[thehelo]

Max read speed i normally get from my 7200rpm sata II HDs is between 70 and 80 MB/s, which obviously is less than the full speed of a gigabit connection. To max out the gigabit connection for transfering files, you would probably need to have raid or an SSD, or a high rpm HD

 

[gtvr]

Is the Cat5e Network Patch Cable kinked. Badly kinked cables can cause slow connections?

Uh... don't think so. Unless something is actually torn. Copper is pretty flexible.

The NAS could be the limiting factor. Also depends on the protocol - MS SMB for example has more overhead than FTP.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Uh... don't think so. Unless something is actually torn. Copper is pretty flexible.

The NAS could be the limiting factor. Also depends on the protocol - MS SMB for example has more overhead than FTP.

Hi gtvr,

Sharp bends and kinks can severly effect transmission speeds, that is why there are installation standards in place to limit bend radius within walls and ceilings. Copper is indeed flexible and a good conductor.

Here is the The TIA-568 standards committee statement:
"Do NOT allow the cable to be sharply bent, twisted, or kinked at any time. This can cause permanent damage to the geometry of the cable and cause transmission failures."

Many speed and connection problems have been solved by replacing especially the patch cable from the wall to the computer.

Cheers!

 

[digitalprospecter]

Hi delvxe and gtvr,

I am just suggesting that one of your considerations be the cable.

Case in point (this quote from a cabling companies guidlines):

"I strongly recommend that anyone who installs UTP cabling take the rules very seriously. An ill planned, or poorly installed cable plant, can easily become a nightmare in the future. Please also be aware that the faster the data speed, the more important the rules become. Many poorly done installations can run 10 Mbps with ease, but they may run into trouble when the network is upgraded to run higher data speeds."

Cheers!

 

[delvxe]

I have the newest driver for the NIC. The drive in the NAS is a Seagate Barracuda something with 7200 spindle speed. Disabling the firewall and antivirus did not help. Still around 14 MB per second. Network protocol is SMB.

No obvious kinks in the cabling, but I wouldn't completely rule that out. I ran a second line from my server closet recently that is not completely connected. I was a bit more careful with the cable than when I ran the currently-in-use line. I know there are no sharp kinks in it, but it was tugged and twisted more that is recommended. I will try finishing the new connection and testing that speed.

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

[Guest]

Any more on this? I have the exact same problem.

This is what im running:
Windows 7 Athlon 64 2.21 Ghz, 40gig Intel SSD, 1,5 GIG RAM, Dlink DGE-528T PCI Gigabit adapter
D-Link DGS1005D 5-Port Gigabit Swich
Linksys WRT320N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (does not support jumbo frames)
Seagate BlackArmor 420 NAS with 4 1TB disks in Raid 5
All new cat 6 cables

I still dont get more then 15mb/s between my computer and the NAS.

I really need speed and security as my girlfriend is a wedding photographer and works with large RAW files. A wedding can be 20-40 gig of photos.

should i get an internal PCI raid controller instead?