Intel 945P Motherboards: Going from Hopeless to Enthusiastic
by Gary Key on November 15, 2005 12:02 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
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 nForce4 Ultra motherboards.
We set up one machine as the server; in this case, an Intel box with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and 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:
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 can provide a further reduction in CPU overhead.
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 nForce4 Ultra motherboards.
We set up one machine as the server; in this case, an Intel box with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and 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:
Ntttcps - m 4,0, -a 4 - l 256000 - n 30000On the client side (the motherboard under test), we used the following Command Line:
Ntttcpr - m 4,0, -a 4 - l 256000 - n 30000At the conclusion of the test, we captured the throughput and CPU utilization figures from the client screen.
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 can provide a further reduction in CPU overhead.
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Houdani - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
The other reviewers here at Anandtech offer their own style, thereby providing the "mix it up" factor. I personally don't think you need to adjust your style, as I happen to like the cultural infusion supplied by your literary quotes.Furen - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
Fair enough, I was just giving my personal opinion on the matter.bersl2 - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
What's wrong with being exposed to what the author believes to be wisdom? Surely you don't read these articles simply for the technical specifications; otherwise, you would read the spec sheet. Why, then, do you object to the author trying to relate an idea to you?Furen - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
I read the articles for their technical merits. Spec sheets do not show how the different components interact with one another nor can they show performance, stability, etc; and, most importantly of all, they're made by the manufacturer, who is hardly to be considered an unbiased source. The problem with throwing a strong idea in front of the reader before giving him article is that this idea becomes the filter through which the rest of the article is viewed. This is, of course, very effective if you are trying to persuade the user to reach the same conclusions as you, but it skews the reader's ability to analize the purely technical merits of the products.mbhame - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
What makes you so sure Conroe is the last P4? ;)JarredWalton - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
Conroe isn't a P4. It's the next generation architecture that Intel has not yet named - also referred to as the NGATIHNYN. :p