Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 28 Jun 1999 12:23:29 +0000 | From | Steve Underwood <> | Subject | Re: FTP benchmark proposal |
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Jes Sorensen wrote:
> >>>>> "Steve" == Steve Underwood <steveu@netpage.com.hk> writes: > > Steve> Hi there, Matthew Wilcox wrote: > > >> Why do you suggest that? One gigabit network card is cheaper than > >> 4 hundred megabit cards and provides more bandwidth. One of the > >> reasons the Mindcraft benchmarketing exercise was so poor. > > Steve> If you run benchmark tests with GB Ethernet you loose any right > Steve> to complain about unrealistic benchmarks that others might > Steve> create. A machine with 4 x 100MB Ethernet cards is a common > Steve> real world configuration - often more for redundancy than > Steve> actual throughput. How many people have GB Ethernet installed, > Steve> or will do so in the next 12 months? > > 4 * 100Mbit Ethernet costs 4 PCI slots unless you get a quad card and > then the price suddenly goes way up and part of the redundancy idea > goes away. And you waste most if not all of your PCI slots which would > have been nice for a couple of SCSI controllers. > > The sale of Gigabit Ethernet is going through the roof, lotsa people > buy it, though I suspect most of them don't have the slightest clue > why they buy it. > > Steve> Also tell me where I can get a GB Ethernet card for US$70. I > Steve> can get 4 x 100Mbps high performance Tulip compatible cards for > Steve> that. Also where could I get a GB hub for less than 4 times a > Steve> 100MB hub? > > A Gigabit Ethernet car costs less than $300 these days, I doubt you > can get a quad Ethernet card for that price. Besides you want a switch > if you want to gain anything from having four cards running, plugging > four cards into the same machine and then into a hub is gonna give you > exactly the same bandwidth as _one_ 100Mbit card. > > I haven't checked the prices recently, but I also suspect that one > Gigabit port in a switch is cheaper or at least close to the price of > 4 100Mbit ports. > > Steve> Lets get real here > > Thats exactly what we are. > > Jes
Of course feeding 4 x 100MB cards into one hub would be dumb. I think the MS test had 4 x 100MB cards feeding four independent groups of workstations, which I think is pretty real world - at least its compatible with my world.
Here in Hong Kong I have only seen one source of GB cards, at horrendous prices, and hubs at far worse prices. Maybe things are different in the US. I can get 24 port 100MB hubs for about US$250, and Tulip clones for under US$20. In most servers, and server style motherboards, one or two SCSI buses are included on the motherboard. With most boards now having at least 6 PCI slots, 4 cheap Tulip cards in 4 of those slots sounds OK.
Anyway, if GB Ethernet is exploding in the U.S. maybe my comment was inappropriate.
Steve
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