From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 1 14:26:08 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: questions@FreeBSD.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D920416AD87 for ; Thu, 1 Jun 2006 14:26:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from danial_thom@yahoo.com) Received: from web33309.mail.mud.yahoo.com (web33309.mail.mud.yahoo.com [68.142.206.124]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7981E43D45 for ; Thu, 1 Jun 2006 14:26:08 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from danial_thom@yahoo.com) Received: (qmail 66805 invoked by uid 60001); 1 Jun 2006 14:26:07 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:Cc:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=j+c7Vbpb36Xko2qzLhcq0pF/P7I7wAkVZeOgh7W70op1vPJveN32FMnWUKhbkFZto5cu0dQgIZ8FwI+d7cMiv+chN1ukZaGchpk0K5tRBFwb3NTRpqOU7/FLcBE8E2V/lHUaxjkw8PrSZTUySBfx6RHDhzCHAu3/8Ri9XmOwddc= ; Message-ID: <20060601142607.66803.qmail@web33309.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Received: from [65.34.182.15] by web33309.mail.mud.yahoo.com via HTTP; Thu, 01 Jun 2006 07:26:07 PDT Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 07:26:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Danial Thom To: Heinrich Rebehn In-Reply-To: <447EF695.6090506@ant.uni-bremen.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Recommendation for 1000BASE-SX card? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: danial_thom@yahoo.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:26:09 -0000 --- Heinrich Rebehn wrote: > Danial Thom wrote: > > > > --- Heinrich Rebehn > > > wrote: > > > >> Danial Thom wrote: > >>> The intel cards that use the EM driver are > >> the > >>> best performing cards in FreeBSD that we've > >>> tested. We've test cards made by the same > >> company > >>> that use the broadcom controllers and the > >> intel > >>> cards are substantially better (ie use less > >> CPU > >>> passing the same amount of traffic). > >>> > >>> Be careful using on-board controllers. > >> Usually > >>> vendors, for some reason, don't wire them > to > >> the > >>> pci-x bus. Most supermicro boards wire the > em > >>> controllers to the 32bit/33mhz bus and the > >> tyan > >>> and supermicro opteron boards we've tested > >> wire > >>> the broadcoms to a shared 1x PCI-E, both of > >> which > >>> will not only give you poor performance, > but > >> are > >>> not capable of running full gigabit rates. > >>> > >>> DT > >>> > >> The Intel card would be an INTEL Pro1000MF, > >> right? This would be quite > >> expensive (~ EUR 430), but good performance > and > >> stability would warrant > >> that. > >> ATM, we are using the onboard controller > >> (Broadcom BCM5704C wired to the > >> pci-x bus). I did not have opportunity to do > >> performance measurements, > >> but we do have problems with our Linkpro > >> 1000SX/1000TX converters, the > >> 3rd of which has already died. > >> That's why i want to give a PCI-X card with > >> fiber interface a try. > > > > No, that would be the 1000MT, the MF is a > fiber > > card I believe. They are about US$120. in the > US. > > Our building has fiber cabling, that's why i am > looking for a fiber > card. The 1000SX/1000TX converters that we use > are just to unreliable. > > > > How do you know its wired to the PCI-X bus, > since > > I don't believe that the controller has a way > of > > reporting the way that the intel controller > does? > > What MB do you have? > > It is a Tyan Thunder K8SD Pro S2882-D > > http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunderk8sdpro_spec.html > > The spec says that the BCM5704C is connected to > PCI-X Bridge A > (64Bit,100MHz). > > > > Also keep in mind that the bge driver is a > piece > > of crap; driver quality is a much more > telling > > factor in these free OS's than the card in > many > > cases. The EM and FXP are the only drivers > worth > > anything (mainly because neither were written > by > > mass-driver mill man Bill Paul). > > That really sounds bad. I wonder if others can > confirm that. I clarified this in a second post, sorry. I'd recommend trying a copper card with your converter. I've tested that MB and I don't believe the controller is connected to a 64/133Mhz bus. Its less than have the speed (ie twice the load) as an EM card in the PCI-X slot. You can, of course, connect a part to a pci-x buss at 32bits and 33Mhz. Nevertheless, the bge driver with the mobo is suspect (we've had to hack it a bit to get it to work properly with bridging at all). It doesn't seem to want to come up at a gigabit unless you give it an address. The driver is really junk, IMO. DT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com