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TP-LINK TG-3468: A $12 Linux PCI-E Gigabit Network Adapter

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  • #21
    People's love of cars are so strong within their hearts and I'd be looking for a car-free place to live (I hate cars with a passion).

    Thanks.

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    • #22
      I used car in a metaphore just to get message across.

      I lean toward prudent use of it in real life. I have old Vauxhall Corsa 1.7dTi ( diesel) and I am OK with it.

      It gets me where I need to be in a reasonable time with no hassle and relatively cheaply.

      I do repairs and maintenance myself, so when I assess the pleasure/pain ratio with a car, I have to account for the time I was lieing under it.

      Same with computer gear. I am totally happy with cheapest no-name gear if it does what I expect from it.

      So, when I started clocking significant amount of hours headscratching, debugging, cardswapping, emailing with support etc etc, it seemed prudent to pay extra few € for a solution that worked flawlessly.
      Extra performance was just a bonus.

      WRT to your example with dual card, yes, intel based ones tend to be significantly more expensive. But they also do offer extra capabilities that you might find valuable in such setups.

      Furthermore, in 4x setups they are pretty much only choice and they have options that don't cost much more than 4 separate cards would.

      Comment


      • #23
        There are a few things that I would like to say.

        First thank you to phoronix to this review. IMO, there is not much NIC reviews specifically tested on Linux and knowing that a given HW has been tested on Linux is really helping for a purchase decision.

        Realtek Ethernet controllers are everywhere! I have 2 laptops and 2 desktops and they all have Realtek ethernet and wifi controller except for 1 desktop that have the Intel controllers built in the MB. It is with the Asus P9X79 WS MB.

        Realtek controllers are not perfect but are working fine. I've found and fixed a problem in their Wifi driver:



        I had a IP broadcast issue on my LAN and I digged like crazy what was my problem. It turned out to be a very boring Ethernet switch "feature" called a Broadcast Storm protection but while searching for the cause of my problem I went up to the point to read the Ethernet drivers code.

        I must say that Intel driver source code seemed a bit better. For one thing Intel driver is more flexible such as allwoing the user to adjust rx/tx ring buffer size with 'ethtool'. Such finetuning can help reducing the # of RX packet drops. I have also seen on Intel website that they claim their HW to offload significantly the CPU but by viewing the driver code source I could not tell exactly what Intel HW is doing specifically to offload the CPU. I would be intesrested to know if someone know about that.

        To conclude, if I had a MB with a 1Gbps NIC built-in whether Realtek or Intel, I would have no problem to use it but if I had to buy a PCI NIC card, I think that I would go for an Intel card that is a bit more expensive. ie: You have few ones at 30-35$ on newegg.

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        • #24
          Originally posted by pdffs View Post
          Intel or bust, seriously.
          I usually agree (I'm in the DPI business and we rely solely on Intel NICs), however, keep in mind that for most home users that have multiple WIFI devices and one single file server connected to el-cheapo WIFI router, they won't even come close to saturating a low-end Realtek 1GbE NIC, let alone a high-end Intel server 1GbE (or 10GbE) NIC.
          I cannot be begin to count the number of times I solved performance issues with family and friends, but replacing a 4-wire CAT-something cable with 8-wire CAT-5E...

          Having said all that, I should point out that we have a lot of Realtek 1GbE PCI and PCI-E NICs (mostly for desktops) and while working fine on no-name desktops (especially AMD based) we did have some issues installing these cards on Intel (Manufactured) boards.

          - Gilboa
          Last edited by gilboa; 23 April 2014, 01:16 AM.
          oVirt-HV1: Intel S2600C0, 2xE5-2658V2, 128GB, 8x2TB, 4x480GB SSD, GTX1080 (to-VM), Dell U3219Q, U2415, U2412M.
          oVirt-HV2: Intel S2400GP2, 2xE5-2448L, 120GB, 8x2TB, 4x480GB SSD, GTX730 (to-VM).
          oVirt-HV3: Gigabyte B85M-HD3, E3-1245V3, 32GB, 4x1TB, 2x480GB SSD, GTX980 (to-VM).
          Devel-2: Asus H110M-K, i5-6500, 16GB, 3x1TB + 128GB-SSD, F33.

          Comment


          • #25
            bonded gig-e on home servers?

            err...ignore the title.. submitted too soon.

            I find it very confusing to compare specs of ethernet adapters when shopping for my Fedora server. It's like the manufacturers want to intentionally mislead, even between their own devices.

            I was looking on Realteks page not long ago and for each adapter, then spec different features for each, that, to a non networking person, is quite confusing. Intel wasn't much clearer in this regard.

            What are the general 'good-to-have' features on a NIC running under Linux? I take it jumbo frames is one, but are there more? WOL is everywhere I guess, so that's a given.
            Last edited by finite9; 23 April 2014, 04:53 AM. Reason: wrong title

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            • #26
              Originally posted by finite9 View Post
              err...ignore the title.. submitted too soon.

              I find it very confusing to compare specs of ethernet adapters when shopping for my Fedora server. It's like the manufacturers want to intentionally mislead, even between their own devices.

              I was looking on Realteks page not long ago and for each adapter, then spec different features for each, that, to a non networking person, is quite confusing. Intel wasn't much clearer in this regard.

              What are the general 'good-to-have' features on a NIC running under Linux? I take it jumbo frames is one, but are there more? WOL is everywhere I guess, so that's a given.
              Can you give some rough information about your setup? *
              E.g.
              I've got X servers with X HDDs/SSDs connected to a wired/wireless 100MbE/1GbE/10GbE switch/router.
              I've got X clients connected to a wired/wireless 100MbE/1GbE/10GbE switch/router.
              The main usage of this setup is X.

              * If most of your clients are connected via 802.11b/g (or even 802.11n over more than 10m) than spending money on a fully featured Intel NIC is a waste of money. If you're already using a mid/high-end 1GbE switch and all your clients are sitting on a wired network, then I'd throw the extra cash and get an Intel server NIC.

              - Gilboa
              oVirt-HV1: Intel S2600C0, 2xE5-2658V2, 128GB, 8x2TB, 4x480GB SSD, GTX1080 (to-VM), Dell U3219Q, U2415, U2412M.
              oVirt-HV2: Intel S2400GP2, 2xE5-2448L, 120GB, 8x2TB, 4x480GB SSD, GTX730 (to-VM).
              oVirt-HV3: Gigabyte B85M-HD3, E3-1245V3, 32GB, 4x1TB, 2x480GB SSD, GTX980 (to-VM).
              Devel-2: Asus H110M-K, i5-6500, 16GB, 3x1TB + 128GB-SSD, F33.

              Comment


              • #27
                Originally posted by gilboa View Post
                Can you give some rough information about your setup? *
                E.g.
                I've got X servers with X HDDs/SSDs connected to a wired/wireless 100MbE/1GbE/10GbE switch/router.
                I've got X clients connected to a wired/wireless 100MbE/1GbE/10GbE switch/router.
                The main usage of this setup is X.

                * If most of your clients are connected via 802.11b/g (or even 802.11n over more than 10m) than spending money on a fully featured Intel NIC is a waste of money. If you're already using a mid/high-end 1GbE switch and all your clients are sitting on a wired network, then I'd throw the extra cash and get an Intel server NIC.

                - Gilboa
                1 server with 4 HDDs in raid0 and raid 1 config/1 x SSD for OS. connected to wired 1 Gig-E switch (Netgear GS105E unmanaged)
                ive got 5 clients connected via wired and wireless through other identical Netgear switches or a Linksys WRT-610nv2 N-router running E3000 version of dd-wrt firmware. wireless router is just working as a pure access point, nothing else. wired clients are 100MB/s and one Gig-E client.
                using a Fit-PC 1.0 running pfSense as wired gateway to Internet.

                main usage of this setup is file server/media server (NFSv3) serving an ATV2 with xbmc, and 4 tablets/phones over wireless running xbmc. tablets and phones are running wireless (as is work pc when needed) but everything else is on CAT6 wired through my Netgear switches.

                Comment


                • #28
                  Originally posted by finite9 View Post
                  1 server with 4 HDDs in raid0 and raid 1 config/1 x SSD for OS. connected to wired 1 Gig-E switch (Netgear GS105E unmanaged)
                  ive got 5 clients connected via wired and wireless through other identical Netgear switches or a Linksys WRT-610nv2 N-router running E3000 version of dd-wrt firmware. wireless router is just working as a pure access point, nothing else. wired clients are 100MB/s and one Gig-E client.
                  using a Fit-PC 1.0 running pfSense as wired gateway to Internet.

                  main usage of this setup is file server/media server (NFSv3) serving an ATV2 with xbmc, and 4 tablets/phones over wireless running xbmc. tablets and phones are running wireless (as is work pc when needed) but everything else is on CAT6 wired through my Netgear switches.
                  Sorry for the late reply.
                  In this case, I'd get an Intel 1GbE Desktop or Server NIC for the wired, and getting a el-cheapo NIC for the wireless router.

                  ... BTW, why RAID0?

                  - Gilboa
                  oVirt-HV1: Intel S2600C0, 2xE5-2658V2, 128GB, 8x2TB, 4x480GB SSD, GTX1080 (to-VM), Dell U3219Q, U2415, U2412M.
                  oVirt-HV2: Intel S2400GP2, 2xE5-2448L, 120GB, 8x2TB, 4x480GB SSD, GTX730 (to-VM).
                  oVirt-HV3: Gigabyte B85M-HD3, E3-1245V3, 32GB, 4x1TB, 2x480GB SSD, GTX980 (to-VM).
                  Devel-2: Asus H110M-K, i5-6500, 16GB, 3x1TB + 128GB-SSD, F33.

                  Comment


                  • #29
                    Originally posted by phoronix View Post
                    Phoronix: TP-LINK TG-3468: A $12 Linux PCI-E Gigabit Network Adapter

                    For those that may be looking for a PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet adapter, the TP-LINK TG-3468 is a suitable choice and costs just $12 USD and runs well with Linux...

                    http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTY2ODQ
                    I am wondering if you are still using this ethernet card. Because I own it too, but cannot make Wake On Lan working. And it seems in your article that you succeeded.

                    I also saw on the web that I am not the only one to fail to make WOL working with Realtek chips.

                    Code:
                    01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 02)
                    02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 01)
                    My mother board also uses the same chip. My BIOS is configured to wake up for PCI and PCIe events. And I don't try to send a magic packet after a cold start (the leds on the ethernet connctors are ON).

                    I would greatly appreciate your feedback

                    Comment


                    • #30
                      Originally posted by phoronix View Post
                      Phoronix: TP-LINK TG-3468: A $12 Linux PCI-E Gigabit Network Adapter

                      For those that may be looking for a PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet adapter, the TP-LINK TG-3468 is a suitable choice and costs just $12 USD and runs well with Linux...

                      http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTY2ODQ
                      I am wondering if you are still using this ethernet card. Because I have it too, but cannot make the Wake On Lan working. And it seems in your article that you succeeded.

                      I also saw on the web that many people fail to make WOL working with Realtek chips.

                      Code:
                      01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 02)
                      02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 01)
                      My mother board uses the same chip. But WOL is also not working on it. I activated PCI and PCIe events in the BIOS to wake up the machine. I don't send magic packets after a cold start: the leds are ON on the connectors. And I activated the WOL with ethtool. So everything seems well configured

                      I would greatly appreciate your feedback

                      Comment

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