780i and Gigabit LAN, need 64bit OS?

[Shadowjump]

I've been searching for some hours now with no answer.

I built a system (Win 7 32bit) with a a Striker II Formula and I am noticing that it cannot connect to my network with 1Gbit but only 100Mbit. I tried forcing it, but there is no option available.

When checking the mobo manual, I saw that on a table, it had some figures that said:
32bit OS: the LED will be orange when the link is 100Mbit. It didn't say anything about 1Gbit.
And on a table below, it said 64bit OS: LED will be green when the link speed is 1Gbit.

Is it possible, that the 780i needs 64bit OS to have 1Gbit speed? It seems odd.

Thanks.

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by Shadowjump

I've been searching for some hours now with no answer.

I built a system (Win 7 32bit) with a a Striker II Formula and I am noticing that it cannot connect to my network with 1Gbit but only 100Mbit. I tried forcing it, but there is no option available.

When checking the mobo manual, I saw that on a table, it had some figures that said:
32bit OS: the LED will be orange when the link is 100Mbit. It didn't say anything about 1Gbit.
And on a table below, it said 64bit OS: LED will be green when the link speed is 1Gbit.

Is it possible, that the 780i needs 64bit OS to have 1Gbit speed? It seems odd.

Thanks.

You have a gigabit switch or router and you're using CAT5e or CAT6 ethernet cables, right? I'm also assuming if it is CAT 5e that it is less than 50-75 ft. long. Most residential routers aren't gigabit and you tend to pay a premium for it, as well as 5ghz wireless. The board supports gigabit, make sure your network and cables do though.

[Mussels]

to the 64 bit question: nope, sounds like your network just isnt running at gigabit.

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by Mussels

to the 64 bit question: nope, sounds like your network just isnt running at gigabit.

I meant to say that. I tried to just imply that it's most likely a physical layer issue. Additionally, gigabit has been around before 64-bit was implemented on consumer Intel/AMD chips.

[Shadowjump]

Yeah, thats why it sounded a bit odd to need a 64bit OS.

Anyway, I have a Gigabit router + a gigabit switch and I tried everything. Cat5e cables and Cat6. Nothing, always negotiates at 100Mbit, even when at the BIOS. The cables are from 3ft to 10ft long.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Shadowjump

Yeah, thats why it sounded a bit odd to need a 64bit OS.

Anyway, I have a Gigabit router + a gigabit switch and I tried everything. Cat5e cables and Cat6. Nothing, always negotiates at 100Mbit, even when at the BIOS. The cables are from 3ft to 10ft long.

can you confirm that by giving us model numbers?

[zone1000]

It is possible enough

[newtekie1]

Yes, it would seem the 1Gb/s doesn't work with a 32-bit OS due to a driver limitation.

[1freedude]

Running nForce drivers?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce-...58-driver.html

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Yes, it would seem the 1Gb/s doesn't work with a 32-bit OS due to a driver limitation.

I find that hard to believe. I had a machine running 32-bit Windows and gigabit worked fine. Is the 32-bit thing an issue with forceware drivers? Your motherboard has two Ethernet ports, have you tried both of them? If your Asus board is anything like mine they should be different drivers with different chipsets driving each. (I have an Intel LAN and a Realtek LAN built into mine, both support gigabit.)

[FordGT90Concept]

Some cheap gigabit switches drop all speeds to the lowest common denominator. If all devices on those switches aren't 10/100/1000, it will auto-negotiate all devices down to 10/100. But that isn't issue here...

NVIDIA's page says 780i SLI MCP is 10/100 under the Specifications tab:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...0i_sli_us.html

You'd have to put in a gigabit ethernet card.


As others said, 64-bit processor/operating system is not a requirement for gigabit or even 10 gigabit ethernet so long as drivers are available.

[1freedude]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

I find that hard to believe. I had a machine running 32-bit Windows and gigabit worked fine. Is the 32-bit thing an issue with forceware drivers? Your motherboard has two Ethernet ports, have you tried both of them? If your Asus board is anything like mine they should be different drivers with different chipsets driving each. (I have an Intel LAN and a Realtek LAN built into mine, both support gigabit.)

That's what separates the rest from nForce...both ports use the same chip.

Check device manager to see if it reports problems, or actually says nvidia LAN, or generic LAN.

http://www.nvidia.com/content/nforce...01_DualNet.pdf

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

I find that hard to believe. I had a machine running 32-bit Windows and gigabit worked fine. Is the 32-bit thing an issue with forceware drivers? Your motherboard has two Ethernet ports, have you tried both of them? If your Asus board is anything like mine they should be different drivers with different chipsets driving each. (I have an Intel LAN and a Realtek LAN built into mine, both support gigabit.)

Was the machine you had running with 32-bit a 780i based machine? I've run a few machines with 1GB/s under 32-bit OSes, that isn't what the issue is. The issue is that the driver is limited to 100Mb/s under 32-bit for this particular board.

I haven't run my 780i with a 32-bit operating system, so I don't know if the problem applies to all 780i boards or just the ASUS Striker II, but at least when it comes to the OP's board it is limitted to 100Mb/s under a 32-bit OS.

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Was the machine you had running with 32-bit a 780i based machine? I've run a few machines with 1GB/s under 32-bit OSes, that isn't what the issue is. The issue is that the driver is limited to 100MB/s under 32-bit for this particular board.

I haven't run my 780i with a 32-bit operating system, so I don't know if the problem applies to all 780i boards or just the ASUS Striker II, but at least when it comes to the OP's board it is limitted to 100Mb/s under a 32-bit OS.

My Phenom II 940 is on a 750a and it even has gigabit. Never tried 32-bit though because it has 8gb of ram.

I'm also going to correct you.

Originally Posted by newtekie1

OP's board it is limitted to 100Mbps under a 32-bit OS.

There is a big difference between 100Mbps and 100Mb/s, considering 100Mb/s is 800Mbps.

[FordGT90Concept]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

There is a big difference between 100Mbps and 100Mb/s, considering 100Mb/s is 800Mbps.

"p" means "per" which is the same as "divided by"

100 Mbps = 100 megabits per second
100 Mb/s = 100 megabits per second

megabits per second = megabits / second

All the same.

100 MB/s (megabytes per second) is not equal to 100 Mb/s (megabits per second).

100 MB/s = 800 Mb/s
12.5 MB/s = 100 Mb/s

NIC speeds are always given in bits.


I would have thought 780i had gigabit because 680i did.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

My Phenom II 940 is on a 750a and it even has gigabit. Never tried 32-bit though because it has 8gb of ram.

No one is saying the 780i doesn't have 1Gb/s, even my 750i boards have it. What I am saying is that the driver for the 32-bit OS doesn't support 1Gb/s. Gigabit will work fine on a 64-bit OS.

Originally Posted by Aquinus

I'm also going to correct you.



There is a big difference between 100Mbps and 100Mb/s, considering 100Mb/s is 800Mbps.

Actually, you are wrong. There is no difference between 100Mbps and 100Mb/s, the two are interchangable. The part that makes a difference is the B. 100MB/s = 800Mb/s.

b = Bit
B = Byte

8 Bits = 1 Byte

So 100 MegeBytes Per Second = 800 MegaBits Per Second

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

No one is saying the 780i doesn't have 1Gb/s, even my 750i boards have it. What I am saying is that the driver for the 32-bit OS doesn't support 1Gb/s. Gigabit will work fine on a 64-bit OS.



Actually, you are wrong. There is no difference between 100Mbps and 100Mb/s, the two are interchangable. The part that makes a difference is the B. 100MB/s = 800Mb/s.

b = Bit
B = Byte

8 Bits = 1 Byte

So 100 MegeBytes Per Second = 800 MegaBits Per Second

Honestly, that's the first time I've seen different cases used to denote each. I've always seen bits per second represented at bps and never b/s. You're right though, didn't think to check the case.

[Mussels]

i looked up the board and its got dual gigabit ports. again, its got to be the network. what model switch and router are you using.


for example a friend was ranting about his 8 port gigabit switch he bought to me a few years back, for $30.


it was an asus "giga X" switch, which was just the name, as it was only 100Mb capable.

Aquinus: yeah, its all about the b/B. bit and Byte.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by Mussels

i looked up the board and its got dual gigabit ports. again, its got to be the network. what model switch and router are you using.

Again, no one said it didn't have dual gigabit ports, the 32-bit DRIVER limits the ports to 100Mb/s according to ASUS.

Simple solution, put a 64-bit OS on it, problem solved.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Again, no one said it didn't have dual gigabit ports, the 32-bit DRIVER limits the ports to 100Mb/s according to ASUS.

Simple solution, put a 64-bit OS on it, problem solved.

somehow you quoted aquinus when i posted that. i find it impossible for a driver to limit the network speed - it might change how the lights operate, and things like that... but its not limiting the speeds in any way.

[1freedude]

Lets wait for op to come back. I have a 780i with a x64 7 install. If need be, I will put a 32 bit install together to test.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by Mussels

somehow you quoted aquinus when i posted that. i find it impossible for a driver to limit the network speed - it might change how the lights operate, and things like that... but its not limiting the speeds in any way.

You can find it impossible all you want, but the 780i driver limits network speed, it even lets the user manually control the network speed themselves if they want. In fact, a lot of drivers allow this. It just so happens that the 32-bit LAN driver for the Striker II Formula only allows up to 100Mb/s.

Here is where you can manually set the speed in the 780i NIC's Properties:


The only way for me to get 1000Mb/s is to set it to auto negotiate, so it seems to me that whoever wrote the driver for 32-bit left out 1000Mb/s support forcing 100Mb/s as the highest speed possible. I'm not sure if this is an ASUS issue or an nVidia issue, I'm guessing nVidia.

And again, even ASUS' manual for the board says that 100Mb/s is the highest option under a 32-bit OS.

Edit: It seems like this might be a Striker II Formula only issue, and not an issue with all 780i motherboards. A quick look at manuals for some other 780i boards from ASUS mentions nothing about there being a difference between 64-bit and 32-bit LAN speeds, it is only in the Striker II Formula manual.

[Mussels]

if its unique to that board i can believe it, but its still weird as all hell.