Any recommended PCIe Ethernet NICs?

GNU Radio
1

Hello:

What Ethernet cards do people use/recommend for use with the USRP2? I’m
using an Intel PRO/1000 GT 1Gbps PCI NIC, and it seems to work fine and
has always been reliable. Is anyone else using this NIC?

I’m not sure if my NIC is the best choice, or if I would benefit from
using a PCI Express-based NIC.

The GNU Radio website recommends using a PCIe NIC, instead of a common
and inexpensive PCI NIC. Is anyone using a PCIe NIC? Which make and
model?

Here’s my Intel PRO/1000 GT 1Gbps PCI NIC:
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/adapters/pro1000gt/pro1000gt-overview.htm

Here’s the GNU Radio NIC Recommendation (see “What Gigabit Ethernet
Interface do you suggest?”):
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/wiki/1/USRP2UserFAQ

I did look at http://gnuradio.org/redmine/wiki/gnuradio/USRP2GigEReports
but the list is not complete and seems a little old, and so I want to
survey the GNU Radio community.

I would love to hear what people are using, and what people find to be
reliable. Thanks for your feedback, everyone!!

Steve McMahon

2

On 11/17/2010 01:03 AM, Steve M. wrote:

common and inexpensive PCI NIC. Is anyone using a PCIe NIC? Which
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/wiki/gnuradio/USRP2GigEReports but the
list is not complete and seems a little old, and so I want to survey
the GNU Radio community.

I would love to hear what people are using, and what people find to
be reliable. Thanks for your feedback, everyone!!

Steve McMahon

PCI will not get you maximum bandwidth at full duplex (I.e. 25 MS/s in
and out simultaneously), but otherwise should work well if its a good
chipset (like the one you have).

Intel cards are the gold standard. Marvell and Broadcom are good as
well. I never trust anything from Realtek.

Matt

3

On 11/17/2010 11:37 AM, Matt E. wrote:

Intel cards are the gold standard. Marvell and Broadcom are good as
well. I never trust anything from Realtek.

I’ve heard that before “don’t trust RealTek”, but my experience with
Rx-only is that it supports full bandwidth just fine.
I have a couple of systems where the on-board GiGe is Realtek (8168
series), and they work just fine.