Help In Trying To Understand Ports

[timlab1955]

I'm trying to understand what my network card can do without crashing my system (overloading it with request). My router has 1Ghz ports on it and my network port on my computer has the following type of card in it: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. On any given day I might request several uploads (5 (25 Gigs)) and download (10 or even 20 Gigs). Mostly I'm asking TIVO to record 12 HD movies for me, then turn around and ask TIVO to send them to my computer, and then ask my computer to send them to my ext. hard drive in the other bedroom. Plus looking around the net and watching a few Youtubes. So to put this in layman terms can anyone help?

 

[badcrc]

I can't see any problem moving GB's of data around your network whilst surfing. Ideally all devices should be gigabit. If one link in the chain has lower spec (eg power line adaptor) that could create a bottleneck. If you're doing the math, remember that 1 byte = 8 bits, so a gigabit link = 1000/8 = 125MB/sec = about 7 GB/min - although in practice, you don't usually get the full 1000Mbits.

I have a similar setup used to render 3D HD movies across several pc's, which involves shifting GB's of data, and I can watch iPlayer/YouTube at the same time.

 

[MagusMagnus]

I would think your modem/router (and even your ISP and your “package tier” for that matter) has far more to do with this than your PC NIC does. I mean, as long as your PC NIC and your modem/router support at least 100 or Gigabit transfer rate (bandwidth) for Ethernet or at least 300MBPS over WiFi, and you have broadband service of at least let's say 10MBPS down, I don’t think you’re going to encounter any issues for what you’re doing. If, say, you were trying to utilize many different devices simultaneously then I’d imagine you’d have need of a switch hub or for WiFi a bridged “repeater” or else a "dual-band" router (as there are limitations on device connections; of course, the more connections over WiFi a router can simultaneously handle, the more expensive that one will be), and perhaps also a better "package tier" through your ISP, but that’s not the case here.

That said, your overall transfer rate will ultimately only be as fast as your slowest device, for what you’re doing. Most devices (e.g. game consoles and so forth) their native WiFi transfer speed will be 56MBPS, without a USB “dongle” for faster transfer rates (and those "dongles" can really cost some money). Concerning your TiVo, that depends on which model you have and what it's NIC is. For Ethernet, pretty much every device today will generally support at least 100, if not Gigabit.

Really, if you’re not presently encountering issues/bottlenecking, you don’t need to do anything.

However, if you wanted the absolute maximum transfer speed overall, you'd have to go 100% Ethernet [CAT5e/CAT6]. Less aesthetically pleasing and a bit more of a hassle to route it through multiple rooms (and neatly) to be sure, but that is certainly the most cost-effective method and not to mention the only way to actually benefit from Gigabit speed network-wide. I personally only use WiFi for the mobile toys, not the primary devices (desktops and any network storage devices).