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Dell Optiplex 755 PCI-e
Hi all,
I've got a Dell Optiplex desktop (DT) 755 at home which I'm in the process of converting into a PFSense router and firewall. I've got gigabit fibre coming in, and I'm noticing throttling at around 700mbit speeds, which I believe is down to the PCI bus.
Question is - can I use the PCI-E x16 in PCI-E x4 mode for a network adapter instead of a video card? Would an Intel EXPI9402PTG2L20 Intel Dual Port Gigabit PCI-e Network Card SFF fit the bill and what can I expect in terms of speed? Even PCI-E x1 would suit my purpose.
Any experience doing this would be helpful, I'm on latest bios version A21
speedstep
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February 10th, 2017 08:00
No you can only use the X16 slot with video cards.
if you put a NIC in you will be greeted with this.
Jerseyfoxcom
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February 14th, 2017 06:00
Hey Speedstep. Is there *anything* at all I can do to remedy my situation do you think? Would you think I would be exceeding the PCI bus limitations by using a PCI ethernet card in conjunction with the built in ethernet card on the board?
I appear to be getting throttling at around 750mbit, and this could be down to the drivers not being optimized, but I am assuming it's a limitation on the bus. If you think it's not likely to be that, I'll investigate trying to optimize the drivers within Linux.
Adam
speedstep
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February 14th, 2017 07:00
The data transfer rate is likely bus bound and driver and OS bound. Gig is theoretic maximum not guaranteed. Conventional PCI is even slower limited to UDMA 133 speeds being 32 bit and 33mhz.
You are demanding full bandwidth on all ports all slots etc this is not happening.