Ethernet Performance

The current motherboard test suite includes LAN performance measurements. All of these boards utilize PCI Express controllers with the only difference being the supplier of the core logic.

The Windows 2000 Driver Development Kit (DDK) includes a useful LAN testing utility called NTttcp. We used the NTttcp tool to test Ethernet throughput and the CPU utilization of the various Ethernet Controllers used on the Intel 975x motherboards.

We set up one machine as the server; in this test, an Intel system with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and this seemed a reasonable choice to serve our Gigabit LAN clients.

At the server side, we used the following Command Line as suggested by the VIA whitepaper on LAN testing:
Ntttcpr -m 4,0,‹server IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000
On the client side (the motherboard under test), we used the following Command Line:
Ntttcps -m 4,0,‹client IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000
At the conclusion of the test, we captured the throughput and CPU utilization figures from the client screen.

Ethernet Throughput

Ethernet Throughput

The Intel 82573L PCI Express x1 LAN solution exhibits excellent throughput and CPU utilization rates. The Broadcom 5789KFB option on the Gigabyte board offers excellent throughput, but at a slightly higher CPU utilization compared to the other solutions. The Marvell 88E8062 PCI Express x4 LAN solution continues to offer the highest standard throughput of the tested options.

All standard Ethernet tests were performed with standard frames and the NVIDIA Active Armor suite disabled unless otherwise noted. Gigabit Ethernet supports Jumbo frames as well and provides a further reduction in CPU overhead. We added another test scenario in which ActiveArmor and Jumbo frames were enabled on the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe board via the 6.82 WHQL platform driver set. This is shown for illustrative purposes and shows the favorable impact of this technology.

Firewire and USB Performance Audio Performance
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  • BigP - Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - link

    Im a self build Virgin - but I'm going in at the deep end. Intel's site makes their Dual Core stuff sound awsome!(a) Is it?(b)Should I look to spend my cash elsewhere when considering a motherboard/processor?
  • Gary Key - Saturday, July 15, 2006 - link

    This board is fine for stock performance and if you get rev-0304 it works very well with Core 2 Duo.
  • FOXY25 - Sunday, February 4, 2007 - link

    hi that are my system setting. My system sometimes make complete restart and i dont know why. I have change entire board with another and nothing. Do y think that could be in memory i have 2x DDR2 1024 MB at 800 Mhz Kingmax. thanks for answer.Foxy


    ====== Board ======
    Manufacturer Intel Corporation
    Product Name D975XBX
    Version AAD27094-306
    Serial Number BQBX645001ND
    BIOS Version BX97510J.86A.1476.2007.0119.1334
    BIOS ROM Size 512 KB
    BIOS Release Date 19.1.2007

    ====== Processor ======
    Manufacturer Intel(R) Corporation
    Processor Name Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2,13GHz (2 Cores)
    Bus Speed 1067 MHz
    Processor Speed 2,133 GHz
    Stepping 6
    Form Factor Other
    Hyper-Threading Technology Status Not Supported

    ====== Cache ======
    L1 Cache Data Cache 32 KB, Code Cache 32 KB Per Processor Core
    L2 Cache 2048 KB Unified Cache (2048 KB Cache Per 2 Cores)

    ====== Memory ======
    Error Correction Single-bit ECC
    Maximum System Memory 4 GB
    Memory Slots 4

    ---- CHAN A DIMM 0 ----
    Socket Designation CHAN A DIMM 0
    Current Memory Type DDR2
    Installed Size No Module Installed

    ---- CHAN A DIMM 1 ----
    Socket Designation CHAN A DIMM 1
    Current Memory Type DDR2
    Installed Size 1024 MB
    Memory Speed 800 MHz

    ---- CHAN B DIMM 0 ----
    Socket Designation CHAN B DIMM 0
    Current Memory Type DDR2
    Installed Size No Module Installed

    ---- CHAN B DIMM 1 ----
    Socket Designation CHAN B DIMM 1
    Current Memory Type DDR2
    Installed Size 1024 MB
    Memory Speed 800 MHz

    ====== Onboard Devices ======
    #Device Type Ethernet
    Device Description Intel (R) 82562 Ethernet Device
    Device Status Enabled
    #Device Type Sound
    Device Description Intel(R) Azalia Audio Device
    Device Status Disabled
    #Device Type Other
    Device Description Silicon Image 3114 SATA RAID Controller
    Device Status Disabled
    #Device Type Other
    Device Description Texas Instruments TSB82AA2 1394A/B Controller
    Device Status Disabled

    ====== Hard Drive ======
    #Model ST3320620AS
    Max. Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA/133)
    Active Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA/100)
    S.M.A.R.T. Status Enabled
    Size 298,09 GB
    #Model ST380811AS
    Max. Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA/133)
    Active Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA/100)
    S.M.A.R.T. Status Enabled
    Size 74,53 GB

  • JarrettV - Thursday, February 23, 2006 - link

    Does this board support dolby digital live in the sigmatel audio chipset? I'm looking to replace my old SoundStorm setup.

    Also, does Intel High Definition = Dolby Digital Live support?
  • neilfeier - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link

    Unlike most users of this motherboard that want to use the dual x8 PCIe slots for graphics, I want to use them for benchmarking a pair of x4 data acquisition boards we are developing. I want to test max rates to and from memory, as well as peer-to-peer transfers between the two boards (assuming the MCH allows this).

    So my question is: Do you think I can I put a x16 or x8 PCIe graphics card in the third x4 PCIe slot hanging off the south bridge? I don't care about graphics performance too much, I just want a dual monitor card that will work in that slot and leave the main two slots free.

    And ideas on this would be helpful. Thanks!
  • Gary Key - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link

    I will try it this weekend and report back.
  • neilfeier - Friday, March 3, 2006 - link

    Thanks Gary, I anxiously await the results of your experiment.

    Neil
  • Gary Key - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    Hi Neil,

    I had video working in this slot. I updated to the new bios release today and will test the performance in a couple of days.

    Thanks,
    Gary
  • Gary Key - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link

    Neil,

    Performance is average but it works.

    Gary
  • Missing Ghost - Monday, January 30, 2006 - link

    quote:

    The x16 interface supports full duplex transfers up to 8 GBytes/second in x16 operation and single-ended transfers are supported up to 4 GBytes/second in x8 operation.

    error! That's not how pcie works! pcie is always full duplex, and never single-ended!

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