Gigabit Ports?

[jagblade]

Okay, going to be ordering from either Realm Computers or Ibuypower next week. To make my choice I only want to know one thing. When on Live chat with a Realm Tech/Customer support employee, he told me all computers they sell comes with (if I remember correctly) Dual Gigabit Ports that support "teaming." Can anyone tell me exactly what this means and what kind of speeds I could expect from this if using Cox High Speed Internet? I have a feeling my cable modem will play a factor as well.

P.S. - I did google this, but I could find nothing relating exactly to what I'm asking.

Thanks, -Jag

[Bobcat]

Here's an explanation.

Short answer, nothing.

Long answer: Nearly all current home networks are 100 Mbps (unless you run outdated hardware), the connection you want is 50 Mbps, so even if you raise your network bandwidth to 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps), your connection's bandwidth will still only be 50 Mbps, meaning you gain nothing.

Link aggregation means essentially nothing to the end user, you can't "make use of it" or anything. It's merely a standard in networks to increase throughput stability.

In regards to speed, it depends on how far you're located from the hub you'll be connected to. Generally, if you're right next to it, you can take the speed and remove 15% of it which is commonly the overhead, what's left would be your speed. The further away you are, the more your speed deteriorates (calculated before deducting the overhead).


On a seperate note, when ordering the 50 Mbps line, if they don't provide you with a router, you might want to confirm that your own is capable of the bandwidth on the WAN port. Most cheap routers only provide 10 Mbps.

[jagblade]

So essentially, just sticking with the ports linking directly to my modem will only ever run at about 50? So a network card won't affect any significantly?

[Sir. TheHeartSmasher]

From your modem to the internet the max you will be able to get is what your paying for. So if your paying for 50Mbps internet you might be able to get 50Mbps down/up depending on what your ISP is providing you along with the congestion of the network.

For LAN use I would recommend you have all your computers hooked up to a gigabit switch then the gigabit NIC ports on the computers you have will come in handy if the hardware inside is able to sustain and transfer 1Gb+ across the LAN. Which can be good for an internal LAN Backup Server, Media Center, File Server, etc.

Internet = Public IPs
LAN = Private IPs

[jagblade]

Okay then, so either way I should be good. So in your personal opinion should I go with Realm's default motherboard Gigabit ports? Or Ibuypower's options of an Intel Pro 10/100/1000 or Killer Xeno Pro?

[Sir. Crackerjam]

How is your 50mb line coming in? Cable? If they have it coming in over something else you might have to set up an enterprise router, which is difficult if you don't know how. (Did you even say anything about a 50mb line or was that just an example?)

[jagblade]

I was just responding to Bobcat. It will be over cable yes. Cox High Speed internet so I'll be using a motorola cable modem. As far as speeds I have no idea.

[Sir. Crackerjam]

Ahh, alrighty then.

[jagblade]

Update: Okay, know what speeds I'm going for. Aiming if I can for around at least a 30mbps Download speed. So again my question stands, will that be possible with default motherboard ethernet ports w/ Cox High Speed Internet using the latest Motorola Cable Modem? Or would I need a network interface card 10/100 0r 10/100/1000?

[Sir. XaliaS]

Cat6 is where it's happening baby!