Upgrading to Gbit LAN - any sense in that?

My mixed network (PC*-Netbook-Notebook-Sat receiver*-Printer*) works OK, but getting files of the set top box (Dream DM8000) is VERY slow (0,041 Mb/sec) through the LAN cable.

Thinking of upgrading to a faster LAN (currently using the mobo's LAN option) but does it make any sense, the slow current rate considered?
Do I need different cabling?
Currently using normal network cable.

Thanks, Barend

* LAN, rest WLAN

Upgrading the LAN may or May Not improve system transfer but that will depend entirely on the actual hardware involved - If the Sat STB has a network card that is limited to 100 or even 10 MB/s then this will be the maximum speed it will operate at.

Normal Cat 6 cable should handle the upgrade without issues and you would see a transfer improvement between suitably equipped devices but the connection will always run at the maximum speed of the slowest device involved

For example you want to transfer something from one computer to another, both computer have gigabyte internet ports. But your internet speed is no where near the 4 digit zone. Will it transfer at the speed of your internet or the speed of your computer's port?

imeem said:

For example you want to transfer something from one computer to another, both computer have gigabyte internet ports. But your internet speed is no where near the 4 digit zone. Will it transfer at the speed of your internet or the speed of your computer's port?

Click to expand...

The transfer would take place at the slowest speed in the actual transmission chain

PC --Router -- PC

All items (both PC's & Router) must be Gigabit capable to give a gigabit speed ( other factors will produce an actual speed that is less than the theoretical maximum ). If any one item is only at Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s) then this will be the maximum theoretical transfer speed

In a case where the internet is part of the chain then the speed will be limited to the upload speed of the PC initiating the transfer. This may be considerably lower than the advertised speed. (normally the d/l speed)

To clarify:
Transferring files among the Windows computers (W7, Notebook is XP) is quick enough.
But fetching films from the Dreambox (Linux based) by means of DCC (Dreambox Control Center) using ftp is sooo slow...
Could use an external usb HDD to save the recordings to, but I fear transferring these huge HD files from the ext HDD would also be slow, right?
Or am I not thinking straight and should I be fine as soon as the HDD is part of the desktop TC, where DVR Studio is installed?
This proggie can burn a Dream file to DVD or blu ray recorder (got both in my PC).

Depends on the actual hardware, as usual, but as the transfer speed of a current standard SATA II drive (internal or External Via eSATA connection) is 3Gb/sec this is far quicker than any normally available network, even USB2 with it's 40 Mb/sec throughput, can beat the 100 Mb/Sec Fast Ethernet

don't transferring things between computesr using your network consider as downloading? Like it uses bandwidth

imeem said:

don't transferring things between computesr using your network consider as downloading? Like it uses bandwidth

Click to expand...

This could be considered as downloading, from one device to the other, but the bandwidth used is not capped or limited in any way, (other than the hardware limitations discussed above), so will not affect any bandwidth limits you have with your ISP for internet use.

Generally, transferring between 2 computers on a network is not considered downloading.

Think of your network as water pipes. The larger the pipe, the more water can flow. The router is your pump. If 2 PCs connect to the router thru large pipes (both 1G LAN) then water can flow more freely. If 1 PC has a large pipe (1G LAN) and another has a small pipe (100M LAN) then water can't flow any faster between those 2 PCs then the smaller pipe can handle. Now if the router is connected to the internet via an even smaller pipe then water flowing from the internet to either PCs is restricted to the size of the pipe connecting to the internet. Not only that, but both PCs connected to the router must share the connection to the internet so each only get 1/2 the available flow.

Hope that is a clear explanation.

can u transfer between computers without a router? Like connect a Ethernet cable directly to both computers and transfer?

imeem said:

can u transfer between computers without a router? Like connect a Ethernet cable directly to both computers and transfer?

Click to expand...

Yes this is possible but you will need what is known as a crossover cable where the transmit and receive lines are swapped on each end (the router normally handles this transfer)

barend said:

Thinking of upgrading to a faster LAN (currently using the mobo's LAN option) but does it make any sense, the slow current rate considered?

Do I need different cabling?
Currently using normal network cable.

Click to expand...

Upgraded home network to Gigabit some time ago, including the following:
1) Gigabit network router
2) Gigabit network cards in SOME of the PCs
3) Cat6 network cable connecting the router to the PCs containing Gigabit cards

Can get very fast transfers, but despite the network infrastructure the speed of the transfer is STILL governed by the processing power of both the sending and receiving machines, the hard drive speeds of both machines, and what processing is currently being done on both machines.

At first, I didn't think the processing power would mean much, but when I updated the file server machine from a P4 1.7GHz to a 4-core AMD 2.8GHz, the transfer speeds (which I monitor real time using SpeedFan) shot through the roof!

Realistically, don't expect to see anything approaching the theoretical speed limits, but if all the network infrastructure is capabile of handling Gigabit speeds, your processors are relatively fast, and your machines idle at the time, you are likely to see some very impressive improvements over 100MBit networking.

Thanks guys!
Actually, I retried the Windows based DCC program's ftp section, and today the rate was 12 Mb / sec. which is not too bad.
But afai understand, for better results I will have to upgrade the whole chain to gigabit:
- gigabit switch (currently I have a 10/100 switch dividing my blu ray player and my set top box)
- gigabit LAN card for my PC (currently 10/100 on Asus motherboard)
- gigabit ADSL LAN/WLAN modem/router
However I doubt whether all this stuff will help my set top box transfer, as it supports 10/100 only...

imeem poses an interesting question- maybe I could connect the PC and the set top box by a crossed LAN cable in order to keep the loss (and the cost of course) down?
How do I set that up in Windows 7 Ultimate?
Do I need a gigabit LAN card?
What do you think?

If you are going the Gigabit route the best starting place is the switch/router as this will auto select downwards for any 10 or 100 Mb/s devices you have automatically - then as you add Gigabit devices this will be re-negotiated to the fastest speed possible for each device

If you want a crossover cable they are available ready made at most good PC stores

or you can make them up yourself





CAT5e Pinouts and Wiring Diagrams - cat5ecables.co.uk

Thanks to all!

barend said:

However I doubt whether all this stuff will help my set top box transfer, as it supports 10/100 only...

Click to expand...

You are correct that it won't help with this. A 100 Megabit per second connection equates to about 12.5Megabytes per second maximum speed. And usually ethernet maxes out around 80% efficient. So, around 10 megabytes per second is what I usually say will be max. So, if you are getting 12 megabytes per second...you are doing great.