On Fri, 2009-12-11 at 10:17 +0100, Franco Fichtner wrote:
[...]
> At work we're also using ubuntu which comes with the r8169 driver,
> and had to deal with network dropouts while trying to benchmark
> heavy loads. This is what the support of our boxes told us:
> 
> >Please use 8168 instead of 8169. Please see the notice about this
> >important point in May..
> >
> >The situation you observed should be a misjudgment by the Linux Kernel.
> >Driver 8168 is recommended by Realtek. Please use this revision.
> 
> 
> No more problems since then. Hope that helps!

Realtek releases separate r8168 and r8169 drivers for controllers
attached to a PCI Express or PCI bus, but they are largely identical.
The in-tree r8169 driver is based on a combination of the two Realtek
drivers.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Kids!  Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous.  Do not attempt it in
your own home. - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, `Good Omens'