What good is dual gig ethernet?

Nasty_Savage

Nasty_Savage

Fully [H]
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Mar 19, 2001
Messages
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I can see if you were running a server, but does it do anything for a workstation or a game rig? :confused:
 
Well, if you have a gig router/switch, it's awesome for file transfer.

Otherwise the GigE is just future-proofing. 2 of them is mostly decoration, unless you have specific needs.
 
If I spent the cash to upgrade the rest of my network, it'd be very beneficial to all the video moving to and from the htpc.....
 
I'd love to sell off/trade my 24 port 10/100 for an 8 port gig switch....every system I have has gigabit now...


as for dual gigabit usefullness...there's limited use for dual LAN anyway...but those of us who do use dual LAN tend to appreciate dual gigabit.
 
Uh, last I heard, 1000mbit is completely useless for the "standard" computer. This is ebcause the hard drives don't output data fast enough to even today, use the full potential off 100mbit, even if it's not full-duplex. So, unless you have a massive array of 15k SCSI drives, yea... Gigabit and GigE are not only overkill, but completely useless.
 
Nasty_Savage said:
I can see if you were running a server, but does it do anything for a workstation or a game rig? :confused:
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Um, the "definative answer" is NO. But there are lots of examples of this "bigger, faster = better mentality" in the computer industry. And it gives the "geeks" something to brag about. :rolleyes:
 
Cannydog said:
Um, the "definative answer" is NO. But there are lots of examples of this "bigger, faster = better mentality" in the computer industry. And it gives the "geeks" something to brag about. :rolleyes:
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Gigabit makes your e-penis longer.
 
Pixeleet said:
Uh, last I heard, 1000mbit is completely useless for the "standard" computer. This is ebcause the hard drives don't output data fast enough to even today, use the full potential off 100mbit, even if it's not full-duplex. So, unless you have a massive array of 15k SCSI drives, yea... Gigabit and GigE are not only overkill, but completely useless.
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Check your math.

Suppose that the average hard drive can sustain 40-50MB (megabytes) per second.

Now, convert 100mbit to bytes: 100/8 = 12.5MB/sec.

In this equation: hard drive speed > network speed, thus indicating the network is the bottleneck.

Now suppose you have a GigE network: 1000mbit/8 = 125MB/s, which is about twice what the hard drive can perform at. Idealistically .5GigE would be the best balance for today's hardware ;) Then again, a pair of 74 gig raptors in Raid0 could nearly fill 1000mbps...
 
I believe that Hard Drives, eg DMA and Ultra DMA, 100/133 respectively, refer not to their megabit transfer but rather their theoretical megabyte transfer maximums. SATA goes all the way to 150mbytes/s.
Networking:
10mbit = 1.25 mbytes/s
100 = 12.5
1000 = 125, which can be used.

Plus, gigabit is very useful in cluster setups. Say, you are really loyal to [H] folding or running a large lab at a university for something.
Peak data rates from NIC have little to do with your hard drives then. Comps speaking directly to each other's north bridges and cpu's at 125mbytes a second can truly help. Much cheaper solution than optical networking.

Think of it as SLi between comps, I guess.

But for gaming, it's useless.

I am on a 1mbit network in my neighborhood, and it is FULLY utilized when I play q3 with my neighbor, to the point where a 3rd player would lag out.
 
Schro said:
Now suppose you have a GigE network: 1000mbit/8 = 125MB/s, which is about twice what the hard drive can perform at. Idealistically .5GigE would be the best balance for today's hardware ;) Then again, a pair of 74 gig raptors in Raid0 could nearly fill 1000mbps...
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What, like a direct 1394a link? :p

Dual GigE could be useful if you're on a GigE network and want to temporarily bridge something onto it; for example, with two computers, maybe your company or whatever doesn't want to give you another port for your laptop if you have your work desktop. So you bridge.

But that's stretching the bounds of reality.

Having GigE and 100MBit could be really useful, though, if you're making a router/firewall/server box out of a PC. 100MBit to your broadband service, GigE to the home network.
 
I figgered as much. The bridging I could see, I was thinking more along the lines of gaming mobos having dual gigs. I guess if there was a true sli function on a LAN it would be useful, just wondered if there was any practical application to this (such as a specific game or two or a proggy that enables load balancing or something) Think I was wondering because I was peeking at the DFI Lanparty board...
 
Nasty_Savage said:
I figgered as much. The bridging I could see, I was thinking more along the lines of gaming mobos having dual gigs. I guess if there was a true sli function on a LAN it would be useful, just wondered if there was any practical application to this (such as a specific game or two or a proggy that enables load balancing or something) Think I was wondering because I was peeking at the DFI Lanparty board...
Click to expand...
the lanparty has ONE gigabit and ONE 10/100 the nforce2 does the 10/100 and the gigabit uses a realtek chipset
 
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