Realtek NIC card Advanced Settings? Help!

BlueMonster

Uber PC Nut Case
Power User
Hi~

I use an on board NIC card that comes with my Gigabyte MoBo, which is fine.

My Question is:: How do I adjust these Advanced Setting for Maximum

Performance


Speed, I want my Connection as Fast as Possible and have NO clue HOW TO SET

these Advanced Setting shown here::

24wat02.jpg


I run Vista HP 64bit with Sp2.

Big Thanks IN advance!!

It's a Realtek RTL81688/811B (don't think that has anything to do with my

Question), but thought I'd include the info.

Blue ;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    BlueMonster Mfg. (me)
    CPU
    Intel Wolfdale @ 3.5Ghz 45nm
    Motherboard
    GigaByte EP35-DS3R
    Memory
    8 GIG's Gskill RAM 8500/1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    NV EvGa GTX275 WTF 900meg.
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC889A HD Audio 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SONY Trinitron 21" CRT P1130b
    Screen Resolution
    1280X1024
    Hard Drives
    2X250 GIG Caviar 2, 32 meg Cashe,
    PSU
    TX750 CORSAIR
    Case
    Antec Tower Blue w/ a gang of Fans.
    Cooling
    AC Freezer Pro
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Reclusa Razer
    Mouse
    Blue LED Diamondback 1600dpi
    Internet Speed
    Up to 6mg/sec
    Other Info
    Labor of Love, Kick down a REP point, throw a guy a bone once in awhile. : ) Pleeease!!
Short answer - leave 'em alone cos the defaults are what you'd want in 99% of cases :)

All of the "offload" settings should be enabled, but they probably already are. Don't enable the "interrupt moderation" one because that will throttle the network stack in order to decrease processor utilisation.
 

My Computer

Short answer - leave 'em alone cos the defaults are what you'd want in 99% of cases :)

All of the "offload" settings should be enabled, but they probably already are. Don't enable the "interrupt moderation" one because that will throttle the network stack in order to decrease processor utilization.

Thanks H2SO4 ;)

I disabled the "interrupt moderation" as you sad, but I don't understand what you mean by {All of the "offload" settings should be enabled} could you maybe be more specific, I'd be Grateful.

I'm Horrible with Networking Stuff, I admit it.

Thank You!!

Blue :zip:

I gave you a REP point too, BTW.... :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    BlueMonster Mfg. (me)
    CPU
    Intel Wolfdale @ 3.5Ghz 45nm
    Motherboard
    GigaByte EP35-DS3R
    Memory
    8 GIG's Gskill RAM 8500/1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    NV EvGa GTX275 WTF 900meg.
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC889A HD Audio 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SONY Trinitron 21" CRT P1130b
    Screen Resolution
    1280X1024
    Hard Drives
    2X250 GIG Caviar 2, 32 meg Cashe,
    PSU
    TX750 CORSAIR
    Case
    Antec Tower Blue w/ a gang of Fans.
    Cooling
    AC Freezer Pro
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Reclusa Razer
    Mouse
    Blue LED Diamondback 1600dpi
    Internet Speed
    Up to 6mg/sec
    Other Info
    Labor of Love, Kick down a REP point, throw a guy a bone once in awhile. : ) Pleeease!!
Short answer - leave 'em alone cos the defaults are what you'd want in 99% of cases :)

All of the "offload" settings should be enabled, but they probably already are. Don't enable the "interrupt moderation" one because that will throttle the network stack in order to decrease processor utilization.

Thanks H2SO4 ;)

I disabled the "interrupt moderation" as you sad, but I don't understand what you mean by {All of the "offload" settings should be enabled} could you maybe be more specific, I'd be Grateful.

I'm Horrible with Networking Stuff, I admit it.

Thank You!!

Blue :zip:

I gave you a REP point too, BTW.... :D

You actually gave me six rep points, so thank you :)

Overall, I would advise you not to modify these settings away from their defaults because that can sometimes cause weird symptoms which may not be obvious and easy to troubleshoot. Instead, if you think there's a problem with your machine's networking, perhaps you could explain what you're observing and someone may be able to help. Otherwise, if you simply want a speed boost, a better ISP or a higher-performing internet plan is pretty much the only way to fo.

As for the settings themselves...

Interrupt moderation - whenever the NIC hardware notices that it has received an inbound packet, it has to invoke the OS and driver code for dealing with the situation. The way it does that is by issuing an "interrupt" which literally diverts the system (very briefly) from whatever else it may have been doing and causes the packet reception routines to run. If the machine is receiving hundreds or even thousands of packets per second - which is by no means abnormal - the combined processor hit can be substantial, so "interrupt moderation" causes the NIC to hold its interrupts and batch them together once it has received a certain number of packets, at its own discretion. Disabling moderation causes each incoming packet to immediately trigger an interrupt. That can have a positive effect on the speed of network transfers, but it also means sacrificing processor cycles which would otherwise be spent elsewhere. (To be honest, Realtek is like the McDonalds of NIC vendors, and it's entirely possible that your NIC is not capable of moderation in the first place.)

TCP Checksum Offload - every packet that's leaving your machine has fields for "checksum" values in several of the protocol headers. Think of it as parity information. When the recipient on the other end of the network link receives packets from your machine, the first thing it does is to run the same checksum algorithm over the packet contents, and then compare the result to the info in the packet's "checksum" field. If the two don't match, it concludes that the packet has been corrupted en route, and the packet is unceremoniously dumped. Hence, calculating the correct checksum for each outgoing packet is an important task. It's also a computationally expensive task, in the sense that the OS/processor has to do a fair amount of work to calculate one or more checksums (on different protocol layers) for each outgoing packet. That's where "checksum offload" steps in - it leaves it up to the NIC hardware to calculate outgoing packet checksums, thus freeing up the processor(s) for other tasks.

IP checksum offload - same thing, different protocol layer.

UDP checksum offload - same again.

Note that these settings are in the Device Manager and not in the "networking" control applet. That's because they control low-level NIC behaviour and not its networking stack settins.
 

My Computer

Short answer - leave 'em alone cos the defaults are what you'd want in 99% of cases :)

All of the "offload" settings should be enabled, but they probably already are. Don't enable the "interrupt moderation" one because that will throttle the network stack in order to decrease processor utilization.

Thanks H2SO4 ;)

I disabled the "interrupt moderation" as you sad, but I don't understand what you mean by {All of the "offload" settings should be enabled} could you maybe be more specific, I'd be Grateful.

I'm Horrible with Networking Stuff, I admit it.

Thank You!!

Blue :zip:

I gave you a REP point too, BTW.... :D

You actually gave me six rep points, so thank you :)

Overall, I would advise you not to modify these settings away from their defaults because that can sometimes cause weird symptoms which may not be obvious and easy to troubleshoot. Instead, if you think there's a problem with your machine's networking, perhaps you could explain what you're observing and someone may be able to help. Otherwise, if you simply want a speed boost, a better ISP or a higher-performing internet plan is pretty much the only way to fo.

As for the settings themselves...

Interrupt moderation - whenever the NIC hardware notices that it has received an inbound packet, it has to invoke the OS and driver code for dealing with the situation. The way it does that is by issuing an "interrupt" which literally diverts the system (very briefly) from whatever else it may have been doing and causes the packet reception routines to run. If the machine is receiving hundreds or even thousands of packets per second - which is by no means abnormal - the combined processor hit can be substantial, so "interrupt moderation" causes the NIC to hold its interrupts and batch them together once it has received a certain number of packets, at its own discretion. Disabling moderation causes each incoming packet to immediately trigger an interrupt. That can have a positive effect on the speed of network transfers, but it also means sacrificing processor cycles which would otherwise be spent elsewhere. (To be honest, Realtek is like the McDonalds of NIC vendors, and it's entirely possible that your NIC is not capable of moderation in the first place.)

TCP Checksum Offload - every packet that's leaving your machine has fields for "checksum" values in several of the protocol headers. Think of it as parity information. When the recipient on the other end of the network link receives packets from your machine, the first thing it does is to run the same checksum algorithm over the packet contents, and then compare the result to the info in the packet's "checksum" field. If the two don't match, it concludes that the packet has been corrupted en route, and the packet is unceremoniously dumped. Hence, calculating the correct checksum for each outgoing packet is an important task. It's also a computationally expensive task, in the sense that the OS/processor has to do a fair amount of work to calculate one or more checksums (on different protocol layers) for each outgoing packet. That's where "checksum offload" steps in - it leaves it up to the NIC hardware to calculate outgoing packet checksums, thus freeing up the processor(s) for other tasks.

IP checksum offload - same thing, different protocol layer.

UDP checksum offload - same again.

Note that these settings are in the Device Manager and not in the "networking" control applet. That's because they control low-level NIC behaviour and not its networking stack settins.

Thanks Again H2SO4 ;)

It's not that I'm having issues, really, I'm not. I just wanted to know what all this

Mumbo Jumbo, means, LOL!! :D

You explained things very well, again Thanks!!

At least now I have an idea of what the Heck is going on!! As I said networking

is my Weakest PC area. So I may or may not fiddle around in there, it appears to me

the Default settings are probably pretty much Best. Now I'm afraid to touch the

settings, if at all. Boy you sure know your Stuff about this TOPIC!! WOW!! :shock:

I'll post again, if I screw everything up!! I now know I'm fine though.

Which is all I wanted to know, that and what all this stuff does.

Peace!!

Blue :zip:

McDonald's!! :geek: LOL!!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    BlueMonster Mfg. (me)
    CPU
    Intel Wolfdale @ 3.5Ghz 45nm
    Motherboard
    GigaByte EP35-DS3R
    Memory
    8 GIG's Gskill RAM 8500/1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    NV EvGa GTX275 WTF 900meg.
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC889A HD Audio 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SONY Trinitron 21" CRT P1130b
    Screen Resolution
    1280X1024
    Hard Drives
    2X250 GIG Caviar 2, 32 meg Cashe,
    PSU
    TX750 CORSAIR
    Case
    Antec Tower Blue w/ a gang of Fans.
    Cooling
    AC Freezer Pro
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Reclusa Razer
    Mouse
    Blue LED Diamondback 1600dpi
    Internet Speed
    Up to 6mg/sec
    Other Info
    Labor of Love, Kick down a REP point, throw a guy a bone once in awhile. : ) Pleeease!!
I'll post again, if I screw everything up!! I now know I'm fine though.

Which is all I wanted to know, that and what all this stuff does.

Peace!!

Blue :zip:

McDonald's!! :geek: LOL!!

Yeah, the default settings in this area are fine for almost all situations :)

The McDonalds comment was not meant to be harsh. The machine on which I'm sitting also has a Realtek NIC. They're "consumer oriented" though - you'd almost never see that brand in server hardware, and that's because its capabilities are limited with respect to much of the fancier functionality.

You probably don't want to be paying $1000 for a server NIC though, just because it's got better offload. I know I don't. There are far better ways to improve the performance of a home system (faster processors, more RAM...).
 

My Computer

I'll post again, if I screw everything up!! I now know I'm fine though.

Which is all I wanted to know, that and what all this stuff does.

Peace!!

Blue :zip:

McDonald's!! :geek: LOL!!

Yeah, the default settings in this area are fine for almost all situations :)

The McDonalds comment was not meant to be harsh. The machine on which I'm sitting also has a Realtek NIC. They're "consumer oriented" though - you'd almost never see that brand in server hardware, and that's because its capabilities are limited with respect to much of the fancier functionality.

You probably don't want to be paying $1000 for a server NIC though, just because it's got better offload. I know I don't. There are far better ways to improve the performance of a home system (faster processors, more RAM...).

Well I think 8 GIG's of Ram should be ok for Vista. It runs like a Swiss watch Honestly. I checked the connection at Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test and it seems fine?

So I'm ok, unless you think that site is bad?? :sarc:

Look, is this acceptable??

11c8av7.jpg


Let me know?? Please, by all means. :huh:

Blue

Edit:: That's San Francisco to LA. USA.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    BlueMonster Mfg. (me)
    CPU
    Intel Wolfdale @ 3.5Ghz 45nm
    Motherboard
    GigaByte EP35-DS3R
    Memory
    8 GIG's Gskill RAM 8500/1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    NV EvGa GTX275 WTF 900meg.
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC889A HD Audio 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SONY Trinitron 21" CRT P1130b
    Screen Resolution
    1280X1024
    Hard Drives
    2X250 GIG Caviar 2, 32 meg Cashe,
    PSU
    TX750 CORSAIR
    Case
    Antec Tower Blue w/ a gang of Fans.
    Cooling
    AC Freezer Pro
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Reclusa Razer
    Mouse
    Blue LED Diamondback 1600dpi
    Internet Speed
    Up to 6mg/sec
    Other Info
    Labor of Love, Kick down a REP point, throw a guy a bone once in awhile. : ) Pleeease!!
Given your numbers are approximately 6 times better than mine (to my local node), you'll get nothing but sullen envy from me on this topic ;)

Seriously, your machine is fine. There's nothing wrong with its networking and 8GB is plenty.
 

My Computer

Given your numbers are approximately 6 times better than mine (to my local node), you'll get nothing but sullen envy from me on this topic ;)

Seriously, your machine is fine. There's nothing wrong with its networking and 8GB is plenty.

Thank You H2SO4 ;)

It's my Baby, a Labor of LOVE, So to Speak. I could clock my CPU faster, but why??

It's just fine the way it is, though I'm waiting on the GTX 300 Series cards.

I was going to get the GTX 275 FTW EvGa GFX card, but, my 260 is Great for now.

Then there's that Money thing!! LOL!! Always an obstacle :cry:

I just installed SP2 for Vista HP 64bit and it runs even better, IMHO.

Blue
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    BlueMonster Mfg. (me)
    CPU
    Intel Wolfdale @ 3.5Ghz 45nm
    Motherboard
    GigaByte EP35-DS3R
    Memory
    8 GIG's Gskill RAM 8500/1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    NV EvGa GTX275 WTF 900meg.
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC889A HD Audio 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SONY Trinitron 21" CRT P1130b
    Screen Resolution
    1280X1024
    Hard Drives
    2X250 GIG Caviar 2, 32 meg Cashe,
    PSU
    TX750 CORSAIR
    Case
    Antec Tower Blue w/ a gang of Fans.
    Cooling
    AC Freezer Pro
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Reclusa Razer
    Mouse
    Blue LED Diamondback 1600dpi
    Internet Speed
    Up to 6mg/sec
    Other Info
    Labor of Love, Kick down a REP point, throw a guy a bone once in awhile. : ) Pleeease!!
i have a gigabyte motherboard also and find no problem with my NIC, in speed test i usualy get close to max on my internet connection. i am only on 5MB line though
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    intel core 2 quad Q9450
    Motherboard
    gigabyte EP45-DQ6
    Memory
    8gb Gskill PC6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Visiontek Radeon 4870x2 2GB
    Sound Card
    X-FI fatality FPS 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VG2230wm
    Screen Resolution
    1680X1050
    Hard Drives
    VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM,
    WD CAVIAR black 750GB
    PSU
    Antec TruePower New TP-750 watt
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF932
    Cooling
    XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
    Internet Speed
    comcast 16mb\second
guys, i have ADSL broadband connection... my con speed is set to 4 Mbps from ISP.... i am using thomson speedtouch ST585 ADSL gateway... i am getting 1.47 Mbps on 1 ethernet port and 4 Mbps on rest of 3 ports... kindly help me out... why there is low speed on one port ...speedtouch config page shows DSL con speed of 4.7 Mbps.......

I have tried connecting my ethernet wire to various ports but issue remains the same.

Do I have to modify any realtek NIC settings?

[connection speed tests were done at speedtest.net]
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Non-branded PC (Assembled)
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 duo E4600 @ 2.4GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel D945GCNL
    Memory
    2 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce 7300SE 256MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer AL1917 LCD
    Hard Drives
    WDC3200JS 320 GB
    Cooling
    Normal
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    4 Mbps
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