[vortex] Performance tests with 3c905B

[Bogdan Costescu]

On Mon, 17 Sep 2001, Thomas Ackermann wrote:

> I tested with that commandm reading file from the filesystem and coping to
> /dev/null on the destination host:

This is usually not a good way to measure network speed, as you include
other parameters, like disk speed, cache performance, etc. which might be
bottlenecks. Usually, network performance is best measured using tools
like ttcp or netperf which are network specific (send data from their own
buffer(s) directly using TCP or UDP, thus not involving any disk/cache).

> By the way, what do you think or know, is the *best* 100Mb PCI-NIC for
> Linux - regarding sheer performce (or maybe what's the best such NIC for
> a server and for a client)?

Heh, you are talking about 3c905B and asking for a better card ? 8-)

On the beowulf (for which network performance is a must) mailing list,
people seem to agree that Intel cards (driven by eepro100/e100), 3Com
cards (driven by 3c59x) or DEC 21040 and derived cards (driven by tulip)
give good results; also that Realtek 8139 (driven by rtl8139/8139too)
should be avoided.

Sincerely,

Bogdan Costescu

IWR - Interdisziplinaeres Zentrum fuer Wissenschaftliches Rechnen
Universitaet Heidelberg, INF 368, D-69120 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Telephone: +49 6221 54 8869, Telefax: +49 6221 54 8868
E-mail: Bogdan.Costescu@IWR.Uni-Heidelberg.De