From owner-freebsd-isp  Sat Nov 22 12:58:43 1997
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-isp>
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id MAA25585
          for isp-outgoing; Sat, 22 Nov 1997 12:58:43 -0800 (PST)
          (envelope-from owner-freebsd-isp)
Received: from implode.root.com (implode.root.com [198.145.90.17])
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id MAA25580
          for <freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG>; Sat, 22 Nov 1997 12:58:40 -0800 (PST)
          (envelope-from root@implode.root.com)
Received: from implode.root.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by implode.root.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA08765;
	Sat, 22 Nov 1997 13:00:49 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <199711222100.NAA08765@implode.root.com>
To: Suresh Rajagopalan <sraja@cinenet.net>
cc: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Ethernet card for NFS server 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Sat, 22 Nov 1997 00:44:24 PST."
             <Pine.GSO.3.95.971122003931.12237C-100000@hollywood.cinenet.net> 
From: David Greenman <dg@root.com>
Reply-To: dg@root.com
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 13:00:49 -0800
Sender: owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

>For a  Freebsd NFS server, I'm looking for a NIC with a decent amount of
>cache memory. Most of the 10/100 NIC's on  the market have very small
>buffer caches, typically < 8k .
>
>This used to be a big problem in the ISA/EISA days.  Is it no longer a
>problem with the PCI NIC's?

   PCI ethernet cards such as the 'de' and 'fxp' cards do PCI DMA and don't
need more than about 2K of fifo RAM to assure reliable packet delivery.

-DG

David Greenman
Core-team/Principal Architect, The FreeBSD Project