The Quest: Cheapest route to full-gigabit utilization

[thezlog]

This thought process originated from me looking into the AMD Fusion 350 APU setup that is getting a lot of attention. I started wondering how much more one would have to invest to get full (or near-full) gigabit utilization with consumer equipment.

If people could post any configurations they have that allow them to reach the higher-ends of gigabit utilization - say perhaps 85-90% or higher, please post your system info and test method, along with any relevant information.

That being said, I don't yet have all of my parts in for the rig I'm building. I will post the specs of what I've ordered. Keep in mind again that my goal is to build the least-expensive (while maintaining reliability and quality parts) gigabit monster. I'm going to run the system through it's paces and adjust components until a negative performance impact is documented. I'll be populating this system with either 6 or 8 2TB HDDs, but I am getting them through different retailers to avoid same-batch drives,

CPU: Intel i3-2120 3.3GHz Sandy Bridge
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB)
NIC: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Network Adapter PCIe
PSU: Diablotek PHD Series PHD550 550W (Only 6 SATA rails, so if I go 8 drives I will need to adjust this)
Case: NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black ATX Mid-Tower

 

[marcusmarcus]

I have an Intel Atom and I get about 40-45MBps transfers with CIFS from A Windows 7 PC to my FreeNAS, but I just found out over the weekend that when I setup a iSCSI target on my FreeNAS and connected to it from my Windows 7 machine and set it up as a drive, I was actually able to reach over 100MBps transfer rate to my FreeNAS, Don't remember what the network utilization was, but I never had it transfer that fast before. I tried it a few times with different files to make sure and it was transferring that fast with 1GB+ files, I did not test to see how fast small files transferred. It blew me away. I tested transferring files between local disks on my Windows machine and they were actually transferring slightly slower than the iSCSI drive.
So if it's an option, try and see if iSCSI transfers faster once you do get it built.

EDIT:
Just ran some more tests on my iscsi drive. small files are about the same as over CIFS. Tried a couple large files and today it hits 100MBps for a coulpe seconds than drops down to average just over 80MBps (still faster than CIFS but not what I was getting over the weekend, not sure what changed or if it was a fluke over the weekend). Noticed that it would randomly slow down to 50MBps and then jump back up to 80MBps. Also noticed a couple times I initiated a copy, it would reach only 56-16MBps, then the next copy I did would be back up to 80MBps. Copying from the iSCSI target back to my local machine seemed about as sketchy and would start at 110MBps and slowly slow down over the transfer until it leveled out at just under 70MBps. So iscsi does not seem very constant right now, at least on my machine.

 

[thezlog]

Thanks Marcus, I will try that. It's not surprising that iSCSI is faster, but it is surprising *how* much faster it is even on the Atom.

 

[hoongern]

Hi, I just finished my Freenas build (details), and using the Intel G620 processor (same Sandy Bridge but just lower end and cheaper) & Intel DH67BL mobo, I was able to max out my integrated NIC (Intel Mobo) at 112MB/s over SMB/CIFS, both ways. (I'm not sure which end maxed out - the Intel board or my other computer with a Realtek Gigabit NIC) CPU utilization was ~25% measured through top.

Obviously, my board only has 5 SATA + 1eSATA ports... but it seems that it's not too difficult to achieve good gigabit speeds!

 

[matthewowen01]

i have an e7400, 8GB of ram, with a raidz2 of 8 drives. i can do 2 gb/s in and out over my 2 nics.

 

[golemcito]

This thought process originated from me looking into the AMD Fusion 350 APU setup that is getting a lot of attention. I started wondering how much more one would have to invest to get full (or near-full) gigabit utilization with consumer equipment.

If people could post any configurations they have that allow them to reach the higher-ends of gigabit utilization - say perhaps 85-90% or higher, please post your system info and test method, along with any relevant information.

That being said, I don't yet have all of my parts in for the rig I'm building. I will post the specs of what I've ordered. Keep in mind again that my goal is to build the least-expensive (while maintaining reliability and quality parts) gigabit monster. I'm going to run the system through it's paces and adjust components until a negative performance impact is documented. I'll be populating this system with either 6 or 8 2TB HDDs, but I am getting them through different retailers to avoid same-batch drives,

CPU: Intel i3-2120 3.3GHz Sandy Bridge
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB)
NIC: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Network Adapter PCIe
PSU: Diablotek PHD Series PHD550 550W (Only 6 SATA rails, so if I go 8 drives I will need to adjust this)
Case: NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black ATX Mid-Tower

Do you have the computer installed? Do you get 90%?