Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 07:26:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Danial Thom <danial_thom@yahoo.com> To: Heinrich Rebehn <rebehn@ant.uni-bremen.de> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Recommendation for 1000BASE-SX card? Message-ID: <20060601142607.66803.qmail@web33309.mail.mud.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <447EF695.6090506@ant.uni-bremen.de>
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--- Heinrich Rebehn <rebehn@ant.uni-bremen.de> wrote: > Danial Thom wrote: > > > > --- Heinrich Rebehn > <rebehn@ant.uni-bremen.de> > > 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
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