Does it make sense to have a motherboard with two RJ45 ports on it but they use different drivers?

[Floyd]

I have a ASRock Rack `E3C236D2I - Mini-ITX` motherboard that comes with two `2 x RJ45 Ethernet` ports. I'm using to run TrueNas Core v12 on.

I noticed that one Ethernet jack is using the `em` driver the other is using the `igb` driver.

So I'm wondering if this is a problem. Both ports work fine and I don't notice much difference in speeds (although it's hard to tell with my slow home network) but the point is, does make sense to do? And if not should I switch them to use the same driver. If so which would be the preferred one to use.

Thanks in advance,

Floyd

 

[Jailer]

Both ports work fine

I think that's your answer right there.

 

[Floyd]

Okay, but what if I want them to use the same driver. How can I switch them so they are both the same?

 

[c77dk]

Okay, but what if I want them to use the same driver. How can I switch them so they are both the same?

They're not the same chips - i210 and i219

 

[Floyd]

oh, wow. I’m not sure where you found that but I didn’t notice that they were different chips any where. They are both build into the board and sitting next to each other. Is this common for board manufactures to mix and match like that?

 

[c77dk]

oh, wow. I’m not sure where you found that but I didn’t notice that they were different chips any where. They are both build into the board and sitting next to each other. Is this common for board manufactures to mix and match like that?

it's in the specs https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C236D2I#Specifications
I've seen it on a lot of boards - not only serverboards, but also gaming systems. Guess it's a way to save a little money (and in the long run that adds up to a lot of money with the amount of boards produced)

 

[Floyd]

Holy cow. I never noticed they were different. (2 x RJ45 GLAN by Intel i210 + Intel i219). Okay. I guess that's the answer. Thanks for the help.

 

[Ericloewe]

The i219 is the front-end for the GbE capabilities built into the PCH. The i210 is a full, standalone PCIe GbE controller.

 

[jgreco]

The i219 is the front-end for the GbE capabilities built into the PCH. The i210 is a full, standalone PCIe GbE controller.

Some boards like the Supermicro X9SCL/SCM mixed controllers for similar reasons but were met with such resistance from a major market segment (in this case, ESXi sites) that special versions of the board (X9SCL/SCM-iiF) were released that had dual 82574's, because the VMware support for the 82579LM was nonexistent. Historically, it sometimes happened because of feature support, such as WOL being available on a more expensive chip.

 

[Andrew Dinh]

I have a ASRock Rack `E3C236D2I - Mini-ITX` motherboard that comes with two `2 x RJ45 Ethernet` ports. I'm using to run TrueNas Core v12 on.

I noticed that one Ethernet jack is using the `em` driver the other is using the `igb` driver.

So I'm wondering if this is a problem. Both ports work fine and I don't notice much difference in speeds (although it's hard to tell with my slow home network) but the point is, does make sense to do? And if not should I switch them to use the same driver. If so which would be the preferred one to use.

Thanks in advance,

Floyd

Hello Floyd,
I've misplaced the driver CD for this mobo and can't find the ISO file anywhere on internet. Can you please help me out with this please? I just bought this mobo a moth ago. I had to downgraded a system to Windows 7 32bit from Windows 10 64bit and after re-installed the system, I just figured out I don't have the CD anymore. Now i'm sitting on hot water since that computer is for an important machine in my company T__T.
Thank you in advance.
Best,
Andrew

 

[jgreco]

Hello Floyd,
I've misplaced the driver CD for this mobo and can't find the ISO file anywhere on internet. Can you please help me out with this please? I just bought this mobo a moth ago. I had to downgraded a system to Windows 7 32bit from Windows 10 64bit and after re-installed the system, I just figured out I don't have the CD anymore. Now i'm sitting on hot water since that computer is for an important machine in my company T__T.
Thank you in advance.
Best,
Andrew

The AsRock Rack website with the manuals and drivers was literally in the post immediately preceding the one you replied to.

https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C236D2I#Download

 

[Andrew Dinh]

Never mind and please disregard my previous reply :) I downloaded the version 64bit for server from their website and most of the drivers on there work for Windows 7 32bit except the VGA drivers.