Disable Task Offload

[spyknee]

This was something that is done inorder to reduce network load on the cpu. Allows the nic to do the work, yes?
So with the advent of all the newer cpus, is this still a good idea? I'm using an i7 cpu that has 4 cores + hyperthreading, thats 8 logical processors, and the cpu is at 3.4Mhz. Is the nic's processing power greater than my cpu's?
If not, how do I disable task offload in the W7 registry?

ty

 

[NoN]

Perhaps more info here:
Using Registry Values to Enable and Disable Task Offloading

 

[spyknee]

Was hoping someone would talk about the newet cpus and there greater processing power versus the nics processing power.

 

[spyknee]

Come on now Ladies and Gentleman,
Usually theres someone who has something to say!
Does cpu task offloading to the nic processor make sense now, with all the multicore cpu's available?

 

[CommonTater]

Come on now Ladies and Gentleman,
Usually theres someone who has something to say!
Does cpu task offloading to the nic processor make sense now, with all the multicore cpu's available?

Ok, Task Offloading is about your NIC chip, not the CPU. Networking generally imposes a very low overhead on a system (typically 5% or so) so it's never been a big issue.

Task offloading to the NIC enables Direct Memory Access by the NIC card relieving the CPU of having to deal with the chip on a byte by byte basis. It can then simply deal with the network buffers.

BUT... not all NIC chips support this and it's pretty much an unknown as to which do and don't. For a certainty there's no master list I'm aware of. If you set the value to 0 (per the tweak) and your chip doesn't support it, the net result is zilch, the OS will continue to treat the chip as a "networking for dummies" version. If the chip does support it... well then you might see a slight change in cpu usage during heavy network usage (such as backing up 20 or 30 gigs of data).

By the way... the internal default is 0 ... not 1 as is often reported.

A little trick with Microsoft's settings... If it is on internally the registry key will say "DisableWhatever", if it is off internally it will say "EnableWhatever".

Does that help?

 

[Nemix]

TCP Chimney Offload: SpeedGuide.net :: Windows 7, Vista, 2008 Tweaks

Those optimizations are meant for Vista but also work in Windows 7, some although are specifically for Windows 7. You may also want to try the Direct Cache Access if you NIC and motherboard supports it.