How do I get Gigabit throughput on Home network?

I am a networking novice and need a little advice. I currently have three
computers connected to an SMC7004VBR Broadband Router. All three connect to
the Internet via the Router and also share a lot of large files. I was
happy until I read an article in PC Magazine that reminded me I have Gigabit
controllers on all the Motherboards and yet they are running at 100. Is
there a Broadband Router/Switch that supports Gigabit file transfers between
computers? Or is the better/cheaper to just go buy an SMC8505T Gigabit
Switch and connect it to the SMC7004VBR? If I buy the Switch do I connect
it to one of the ports on the Broadband Router and connect the PC's to the
Switch - Is there anything I have to tell WinXP on the PC's or does the
Switch handle the traffic between the PC's and know when to go to the
Broadband Router for an Internet request or response? Lots of dumb
questions but I learning. Thanks in advance.

I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it. And yes, all
you'd do is have all your wired computers that support gigabit hooked into
the switch, and then take a cable hooked into the net switch's "uplink" port
(some have a dedicated/separate uplink port, some have a button to switch a
certain port), and hook it to one of the lan ports on your current router.

And no, you won't need to change anything in windows or set stuff up
differently. The only exception would be if there's a setting in the
network cards' drivers to turn on gigabit support or not.... I don't have
any gigabit cards so I don't know if they auto sense or if you have to
manually turn it on or something. Also, make sure all your network
cables (patch cords, any cables run in the wall, etc...) are at least
Cat5e.



"Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>I am a networking novice and need a little advice. I currently have three
>computers connected to an SMC7004VBR Broadband Router. All three connect
>to the Internet via the Router and also share a lot of large files. I was
>happy until I read an article in PC Magazine that reminded me I have
>Gigabit controllers on all the Motherboards and yet they are running at
>100. Is there a Broadband Router/Switch that supports Gigabit file
>transfers between computers? Or is the better/cheaper to just go buy an
>SMC8505T Gigabit Switch and connect it to the SMC7004VBR? If I buy the
>Switch do I connect it to one of the ports on the Broadband Router and
>connect the PC's to the Switch - Is there anything I have to tell WinXP on
>the PC's or does the Switch handle the traffic between the PC's and know
>when to go to the Broadband Router for an Internet request or response?
>Lots of dumb questions but I learning. Thanks in advance.
>

Sounds good - just needed a little encouragement! Thanks for the input.

"nicklax" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:97Odnc9nX6ien4HYnZ2dnUVZ_o-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
> networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
> switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it. And yes, all
> you'd do is have all your wired computers that support gigabit hooked into
> the switch, and then take a cable hooked into the net switch's "uplink"
> port (some have a dedicated/separate uplink port, some have a button to
> switch a certain port), and hook it to one of the lan ports on your
> current router.
>
> And no, you won't need to change anything in windows or set stuff up
> differently. The only exception would be if there's a setting in the
> network cards' drivers to turn on gigabit support or not.... I don't have
> any gigabit cards so I don't know if they auto sense or if you have to
> manually turn it on or something. Also, make sure all your network
> cables (patch cords, any cables run in the wall, etc...) are at least
> Cat5e.
>
>
>
> "Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>>I am a networking novice and need a little advice. I currently have three
>>computers connected to an SMC7004VBR Broadband Router. All three connect
>>to the Internet via the Router and also share a lot of large files. I was
>>happy until I read an article in PC Magazine that reminded me I have
>>Gigabit controllers on all the Motherboards and yet they are running at
>>100. Is there a Broadband Router/Switch that supports Gigabit file
>>transfers between computers? Or is the better/cheaper to just go buy an
>>SMC8505T Gigabit Switch and connect it to the SMC7004VBR? If I buy the
>>Switch do I connect it to one of the ports on the Broadband Router and
>>connect the PC's to the Switch - Is there anything I have to tell WinXP on
>>the PC's or does the Switch handle the traffic between the PC's and know
>>when to go to the Broadband Router for an Internet request or response?
>>Lots of dumb questions but I learning. Thanks in advance.
>>
>
>

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:15:49 -0500, "Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Sounds good - just needed a little encouragement! Thanks for the input.
>
If you are home you will not get 1 gigabit thorughput. Cable and DSL
just do not provide that kind of speed yet. You should be able to get
faster than the average person though.

>"nicklax" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:97Odnc9nX6ien4HYnZ2dnUVZ_o-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
>> networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
>> switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it. And yes, all
>> you'd do is have all your wired computers that support gigabit hooked into
>> the switch, and then take a cable hooked into the net switch's "uplink"
>> port (some have a dedicated/separate uplink port, some have a button to
>> switch a certain port), and hook it to one of the lan ports on your
>> current router.
>>
>> And no, you won't need to change anything in windows or set stuff up
>> differently. The only exception would be if there's a setting in the
>> network cards' drivers to turn on gigabit support or not.... I don't have
>> any gigabit cards so I don't know if they auto sense or if you have to
>> manually turn it on or something. Also, make sure all your network
>> cables (patch cords, any cables run in the wall, etc...) are at least
>> Cat5e.
>>
>>
>>
>> "Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>>>I am a networking novice and need a little advice. I currently have three
>>>computers connected to an SMC7004VBR Broadband Router. All three connect
>>>to the Internet via the Router and also share a lot of large files. I was
>>>happy until I read an article in PC Magazine that reminded me I have
>>>Gigabit controllers on all the Motherboards and yet they are running at
>>>100. Is there a Broadband Router/Switch that supports Gigabit file
>>>transfers between computers? Or is the better/cheaper to just go buy an
>>>SMC8505T Gigabit Switch and connect it to the SMC7004VBR? If I buy the
>>>Switch do I connect it to one of the ports on the Broadband Router and
>>>connect the PC's to the Switch - Is there anything I have to tell WinXP on
>>>the PC's or does the Switch handle the traffic between the PC's and know
>>>when to go to the Broadband Router for an Internet request or response?
>>>Lots of dumb questions but I learning. Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>
>>
>

It is not the Internet connection I am trying to speed up - it is the file
transfers between in-house computer.

"f/fgeorge" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:15:49 -0500, "Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>Sounds good - just needed a little encouragement! Thanks for the input.
>>
> If you are home you will not get 1 gigabit thorughput. Cable and DSL
> just do not provide that kind of speed yet. You should be able to get
> faster than the average person though.
>
>>"nicklax" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:97Odnc9nX6ien4HYnZ2dnUVZ_o-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
>>> networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
>>> switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it. And yes,
>>> all
>>> you'd do is have all your wired computers that support gigabit hooked
>>> into
>>> the switch, and then take a cable hooked into the net switch's "uplink"
>>> port (some have a dedicated/separate uplink port, some have a button to
>>> switch a certain port), and hook it to one of the lan ports on your
>>> current router.
>>>
>>> And no, you won't need to change anything in windows or set stuff up
>>> differently. The only exception would be if there's a setting in the
>>> network cards' drivers to turn on gigabit support or not.... I don't
>>> have
>>> any gigabit cards so I don't know if they auto sense or if you have to
>>> manually turn it on or something. Also, make sure all your network
>>> cables (patch cords, any cables run in the wall, etc...) are at least
>>> Cat5e.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>>>>I am a networking novice and need a little advice. I currently have
>>>>three
>>>>computers connected to an SMC7004VBR Broadband Router. All three
>>>>connect
>>>>to the Internet via the Router and also share a lot of large files. I
>>>>was
>>>>happy until I read an article in PC Magazine that reminded me I have
>>>>Gigabit controllers on all the Motherboards and yet they are running at
>>>>100. Is there a Broadband Router/Switch that supports Gigabit file
>>>>transfers between computers? Or is the better/cheaper to just go buy an
>>>>SMC8505T Gigabit Switch and connect it to the SMC7004VBR? If I buy the
>>>>Switch do I connect it to one of the ports on the Broadband Router and
>>>>connect the PC's to the Switch - Is there anything I have to tell WinXP
>>>>on
>>>>the PC's or does the Switch handle the traffic between the PC's and know
>>>>when to go to the Broadband Router for an Internet request or response?
>>>>Lots of dumb questions but I learning. Thanks in advance.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>

nicklax <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
> networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
> switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it.

I have been informing myself about this topic lately and my research
tends to support your conclusion (i.e., get a separate switch).

There is a D-Link cable/dsl router -- actually there are two models,
wired and wireless -- with gigabit ethernet through the four LAN ports.
They are aiming it particularly at online gamers.

http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=371

cheers,

Henry

Yea, not being in the market for one yet I just haven't looked, though I'm
sure the major companies are starting to put out some gigabit models,
though as always, I'm sure they'll be charging a premium for the feature....


"Henry" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1hmey5u.vm47nhuvq8tdN%(E-Mail Removed)...
> nicklax <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
>> networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
>> switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it.
>
> I have been informing myself about this topic lately and my research
> tends to support your conclusion (i.e., get a separate switch).
>
> There is a D-Link cable/dsl router -- actually there are two models,
> wired and wireless -- with gigabit ethernet through the four LAN ports.
> They are aiming it particularly at online gamers.
>
> http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=371
>
> cheers,
>
> Henry

nicklax <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Yea, ... I'm
> sure the major companies are starting to put out some gigabit models,

Don't be _too_ sure.

What is the Netgear model? What is the Linksys / Cisco? Buffalo? Belkin?

In fact, at the consumer level this equipment is still very very rare --
which is why I thought it worthwhile to mention the D-Link.

cheers,

Henry

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 13:10:22 -0400, "nicklax" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
>networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
>switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it. And yes, all
>you'd do is have all your wired computers that support gigabit hooked into
>the switch, and then take a cable hooked into the net switch's "uplink" port
>(some have a dedicated/separate uplink port, some have a button to switch a
>certain port), and hook it to one of the lan ports on your current router.
>
>And no, you won't need to change anything in windows or set stuff up
>differently. The only exception would be if there's a setting in the
>network cards' drivers to turn on gigabit support or not.... I don't have
>any gigabit cards so I don't know if they auto sense or if you have to
>manually turn it on or something. Also, make sure all your network
>cables (patch cords, any cables run in the wall, etc...) are at least
>Cat5e.

I recently bought a 3com gigabit switch, a couple of cat6 cables and a
pair of Intel PRO/1000 pci-e NICs hoping to dramatically improve file
transfer speeds over the old 100 Mb interface. I transfer a lot of
movie and TV files (.AVI) and Virtualbox disk images (10+ GBytes)
among the three computers that are on this network; I used the built
in NIC on the third computer as it only had PCI slots. I use a program
called DUMeter to detect real speeds.
I've been somewhat disapointed at the speeds I've witnessed. First of
all, they bounce all over the place. And the top speed I've seen is
about 235 Mb/s (thats bits) with the average being 140-195 Mb/s. I was
hoping to see at least 600-700 Mb/s. I just read a consumer oriented
switch roundup on Tom's Hardware and all the switches are getting
600-700 Mbps. My 100Mb/s switch commonly got around 93 Mb/s.
Intel has a ton of options in their control panel for their NICs and
I've tried them all; jumbo frames, flow control and many others and
all I've done has not made any difference. The Intel diagnostics
report nothing wrong and also tell me that my cables are of good
quality. The switch supports 9k jumbo frames as well.
I asked this question on another forum, and someone mentioned "windows
network throttling", but gave no other advice. Anyway, if you use
gigabit equipment I would appreciate it if you could chime in with
your speeds (provided you have the ability to monitor it). I think
DUMeter works for 30 days until requiring registration. Get it here:
http://www.hageltech.com. Or if you have any sage advice for Intel NIC
settings.

My machines:
MSI K8N Neo, Athlon-64 dual core 4800 (939) 1 GB ram, Seagate 320 GB
SATA 300, Intel PRO/1000 PT Desktop pci-express NIC

MSI P6N SLI (not using 2nd video slot), Core2Duo 6600, 2 GB ram,
Samsung T166 400 GB SATA 300, Intel PRO/1000 PT Desktop pci-express
NIC

MSI NEO2-FISR, Pentium 4 3.0, 500 MB ram, ! Maxtor 250 GB SATA 150,
1 Seagate 200 GB SATA 150, Onboard Intel gigabit ethernet

all machines using XP Pro SP3 beta

Com 5 port gigabit switch: 3CGSU05

TIA for any help/advice -HAL-

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 13:10:22 -0400, "nicklax" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> I'm sure that there are some routers out there that now support gigabit
>> networks, but probably the easiest/cheapest way is to just get a gigabit
>> switch like you said and hook all your computers up to it. And yes, all
>> you'd do is have all your wired computers that support gigabit hooked into
>> the switch, and then take a cable hooked into the net switch's "uplink" port
>> (some have a dedicated/separate uplink port, some have a button to switch a
>> certain port), and hook it to one of the lan ports on your current router.
>>
>> And no, you won't need to change anything in windows or set stuff up
>> differently. The only exception would be if there's a setting in the
>> network cards' drivers to turn on gigabit support or not.... I don't have
>> any gigabit cards so I don't know if they auto sense or if you have to
>> manually turn it on or something. Also, make sure all your network
>> cables (patch cords, any cables run in the wall, etc...) are at least
>> Cat5e.
>
> I recently bought a 3com gigabit switch, a couple of cat6 cables and a
> pair of Intel PRO/1000 pci-e NICs hoping to dramatically improve file
> transfer speeds over the old 100 Mb interface. I transfer a lot of
> movie and TV files (.AVI) and Virtualbox disk images (10+ GBytes)
> among the three computers that are on this network; I used the built
> in NIC on the third computer as it only had PCI slots. I use a program
> called DUMeter to detect real speeds.
> I've been somewhat disapointed at the speeds I've witnessed. First of
> all, they bounce all over the place. And the top speed I've seen is
> about 235 Mb/s (thats bits) with the average being 140-195 Mb/s. I was
> hoping to see at least 600-700 Mb/s. I just read a consumer oriented
> switch roundup on Tom's Hardware and all the switches are getting
> 600-700 Mbps. My 100Mb/s switch commonly got around 93 Mb/s.
> Intel has a ton of options in their control panel for their NICs and
> I've tried them all; jumbo frames, flow control and many others and
> all I've done has not made any difference. The Intel diagnostics
> report nothing wrong and also tell me that my cables are of good
> quality. The switch supports 9k jumbo frames as well.
> I asked this question on another forum, and someone mentioned "windows
> network throttling", but gave no other advice. Anyway, if you use
> gigabit equipment I would appreciate it if you could chime in with
> your speeds (provided you have the ability to monitor it). I think
> DUMeter works for 30 days until requiring registration. Get it here:
> http://www.hageltech.com. Or if you have any sage advice for Intel NIC
> settings.
>
> My machines:
> MSI K8N Neo, Athlon-64 dual core 4800 (939) 1 GB ram, Seagate 320 GB
> SATA 300, Intel PRO/1000 PT Desktop pci-express NIC
>
> MSI P6N SLI (not using 2nd video slot), Core2Duo 6600, 2 GB ram,
> Samsung T166 400 GB SATA 300, Intel PRO/1000 PT Desktop pci-express
> NIC
>
> MSI NEO2-FISR, Pentium 4 3.0, 500 MB ram, ! Maxtor 250 GB SATA 150,
> 1 Seagate 200 GB SATA 150, Onboard Intel gigabit ethernet
>
> all machines using XP Pro SP3 beta
>
> Com 5 port gigabit switch: 3CGSU05
>
> TIA for any help/advice -HAL-


I use only 3Com OfficeConnect Gigabit switches. 5 and 8 port models.
I've not measured throughput until tonight. Might be a little slower
than the Netgear and D-Link gigabit switches they replaced even when
transferring to my primary drive (WD Raptor 150) from a RAID1 server
(2-WD250's). All ethernet interfaces are gigabit. Getting around the
same speed you are.

But I also changed virus checkers to AVG which may impact speed.

Haven't tried any really large files. I'll rip a DVD and test transfer
speeds. I'll report if there are any differences.