Gigabit Ethernet

[ROYP123]

I was looking at the Intel board D865GBFL and I see they have the same board with " gigabit Ethernet " instead of a regular Lan for $ 12.00 more.
Question: since I use cable modem would the gigabit ethernet make more sense?

[DrZaius]

Hi ROYP123,

Even 10MBps is faster than a cable internet connection, so you won't see any advantage. However, if you setup a home network with 1000MBps equipment (NICs, hubs) then you'll definitely see the speed in LAN sharing.

[gunrunnerjohn]

In truth, for 99.99% of the usage, I doubt that gigabit networking would be all that apparent in his environment. You end up being limited by a host of other issues when you get past the 100mbit Ethernet that most folks are using. Not that it wouldn't be cool to be the first kid on the block with gigabit networking. :D

[Floppyman]

Are gigabit hubs/switches (with gigabit ports-- not a gigabit uplink) even available/affordable yet? TIA.

[mbossman2]

Originally posted by Floppyman
Are gigabit hubs/switches (with gigabit ports-- not a gigabit uplink) even available/affordable yet? TIA.

Yup.

there are several 10/100/1000 switches out there:

3com, Cisco, HP, D-link, Dell all have gigabit switches out there.

[ktkendall]

Think about this too.. What is the fastest your cable connection is able to download at??? Maybe 2Meg or so!! And from LAN port on cable modem most of those are going to give U 10Meg so thats already 5x the actual downstream speed of the connection, and how many PC's can U realistically have at home and how much LAN traffic, and Can U afford Gigabit ethernet equipment all around?? Probably not.. 10/100 is generally more than sufficient for home network sharing broadband...Businesses with hundreds of PC's on a network will most likely benefit greatly from gigabit ethernet...

[mbossman2]

Gigabit ethernet is the "coming" thing. it feeds into the bigger badder faster frenzy that follows the computing field. At this time, the vast majority of networks only benefit from Gigabit when it is used as a switch interlink. For the average file and print sharing network, gigabit is over kill, as network utilization for low to mid range users never really gets up over 30%.

Also don't forget, that if you have an all gE network, you may cause bottlenecks at your switch uplinks and have to consider moving upstream to 10gE for your switch interlinks.

Gigabit really comes into play with "converged" networks (voice, video and data on the same line) and networks that move immense files around (engineering, publishing, tv productsion etc). right now, I am not convinced that it is worth the additional cost.

For the home user? absolutely no advantage until internet transport speeds get up into the 100mbps range.

[Byte 2.0]

I know my cable is only 1.7 Mbits at the max but I did notice a difference going from a Cheap 10bt nic provided by comcast to a 10/100 brand name.
speed tests went from 800kbps to 1300kbps, tweaks got me on up to 1.7mbits.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by byte
I know my cable is only 1.7 Mbits at the max but I did notice a difference going from a Cheap 10bt nic provided by comcast to a 10/100 brand name.
speed tests went from 800kbps to 1300kbps, tweaks got me on up to 1.7mbits.
You obviously reduced the latency by going to 100mbit, but any additional gain going to gigabit would be pretty small. I'll have to admit, it would be cool to have gigabit, but I'm not willing to spend all the money to buy the switch and NICs for 10 systems. :)

[Byte 2.0]

my router is only a 10/100 so I would get no gain by going to a Gigabit Ethernet nic, but i would install one if I got a really good deal.

[mbossman2]

the only routers I know of that have gigabit interfaces (and can fully exploit them) are the very highend routers, like Cisco's 7200 series, GSR series as well as Foundry's similar products and the routing blades that go in higher end switches like the Extreme Summit or Cisco's Catalyst 6500 series.

And as byte points out, you can get 'em, you just gotta pay for 'em.

BTW, gigabit level routers are usually used to terminate multiple T3's, multiple OC (12's, 48's and 192's) pipes and the like.