Re: Broadcom 5700/5701 Gigabit Ethernet Adapters

Richard Gooch
2002-03-12T06:20:33Z

David S. Miller writes:
> From: Richard Gooch <rgooch@ras.ucalgary.ca>
> Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 12:48:43 -0700
>
> David S. Miller writes:
> > NAPI is really only going to help with high packet rates not with
> > thinks like raw bandwidth tests.
>
> You're saying that people should just go and use jumbo frames? Isn't
> that a problem for mixed 10/100/1000 LANs?
>
> No, I'm saying that the current situation is fine with most cards
> and most uses.
>
> Ben pointed out that interrupt-mitigation challenged cards like the
> NatSemi do gain, but that is the only case I can imagine at this
> time.
>
> Unless you have a card like the NatSemi (no interrupt mitigation) or
> your interfaces are being hit with 120,000 packets per second EACH,
> then NAPI is not going to be an explosive gain for you.
>
> Look, we were able to get world records in web serving without NAPI,
> right? :-)

:-) I'd be happy to get near 1 Gb/s (800 Mb/s is acceptable) with a
cheap card and MTU=1500. Ben's message about his tweaks is
encouraging. Pity the P3 is so piss-poor.

Regards,

Richard....
Permanent: rgooch@atnf.csiro.au
Current: rgooch@ras.ucalgary.ca