Gigabit & Jumbo Frames

[s_kinton]

Ok, I'm looking to change the switch in my home network and want to make sure I get the best setup. I need advice on Jumbo Frames too.

My PCs are listed in my signature and are connected to a standard Belkin 5 port gigabit switch - I dont think it supports Jumbo Frames.

Each PC uses onboard LAN with Jumbo Frame support for:

Server: 2-4kb MTU
Main PC: 2-9kb MTU
Both HTPCs have no onboard support for Jumbo Frames.

So my questions are:
- Will Jumbo Frames help with network speeds/smooth viewing? Particularly when transferring large files and watching HD content
- Any advice on low-profile NICs for the computers?
- What do all the different MTU sizes mean? What settings should I use
- I was thinking of getting a Netgear GS608v2 switch- any good? anything better?

Cheers

[s_kinton]

30 views and no replies.....

[kmac]

No idea if jumbo frames will help

With regard to Netgear switch the GS608 series has had issues with some caps blowing causing units to fail.

You can get a good quality Zyxel GS108B for £30 from Scan. It supports jumbo frames, has 8 ports and comes with full metal case (like the netgear)

I also posted a link on another thread for gigabit switch reveiws - intersting to note the result on the netgear

http://www.meetthegeeks.org/Networki...?id=83&pid=315

I used to sear by the blue netgear switches (i have an old 10/100 one) but found the reliability issue with thenewer GS60X series.

Does the v2 mean they have acknowledged this and changed the caps used?

edit - dabs has the managed version of the Zyxel and 3com switches for not much money

[kmac]

Have a look here to help with your other questions

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/conte.../30201/54/1/2/

[s_kinton]

Does the v2 mean they have acknowledged this and changed the caps used?

edit - dabs has the managed version of the Zyxel and 3com switches for not much money

Yes, I had read about that too. I'm not sure if v2 fixed the cap issue, but it did add layer 2 support and jumbo frames. I'll take a look at the Zyxel though.

From reading around it seems that there may be a performance improvement by having jumbo frames enabled, but all PCs in the same subnet need to support the same size MTUs. The cost of updating all my PCs and switch might be prohibitive though.

[javalord]

Jumbo frames can lower the cpu utilization when transferring at high speeds, but this depends partly on the OS stack and the NICs offloading and drivers.

It makes a big difference on big payloads, however you'll find that the receiving system's hard disk will become the limiting factor once the memory buffer is full, so dont expect full 1gigabit all the time.

MTU = Max transmission unit. Standard is 1500. Each system will need to be set to the same jumbo frame size (e.g. all 6k) to prevent fragmentation. The bigger common denominator the better (less packets per 1Mbyte = less cpu util, better throughput).

Having said all this, if your just streaming and copying over gigs not often, I wouldnt bother with the outlay.