USB ethernet adapter versus PCI-E card

[sfx2000]

I got tripped up by the BIOS v.s UEFI on a i7-4790 build - BIOS/Legacy was a major headache, UEFI was much better..

 

[Cel]

full-UEFI

Surprisingly it says "legacy" when i run msinfo32. Though in reality when i launch bios after the the pc starts - it uses modern Asus UEFI mode (it even says so below i think) and i have full control of settings. Am i missing something here and misunderstand what uefi means?

 

[sfx2000]

As a final check - go to disk management - you should see a UEFI partition - if it's not there, then it's a wipe and reload. There's no easy way to shift between the two modes - as it changes many things...

Check the motherboard documentation - there should be a menu selection to disable legacy mode.

Intel 4th Gen later x86 processors really need UEFI to perform well with Win10... don't worry, UEFI is better

 

[Cel]

As a final check - go to disk management - you should see a UEFI partition - if it's not there, then it's a wipe and reload. There's no easy way to shift between the two modes - as it changes many things...

Check the motherboard documentation - there should be a menu selection to disable legacy mode.

Intel 4th Gen later x86 processors really need UEFI to perform well with Win10... don't worry, UEFI is better

It doesn't mention UEFI partition either. I've found some tutorials on changing the partition without reinstalling windows but ill have to think about going through the re-installation again. Im not sure it's worth it.

 

[sfx2000]

Pretty much confirms legacy, not UEFI then...

Better to do the nuke and pave - that way all the HW resources are lined up properly... might be a good chance to get a shiny new SSD, then install Win10 on it, and restore Documents, reinstall Applications, etc.

 

[Cel]

Pretty much confirms legacy, not UEFI then...

Better to do the nuke and pave - that way all the HW resources are lined up properly... might be a good chance to get a shiny new SSD, then install Win10 on it, and restore Documents, reinstall Applications, etc.

Well i've followed some online tutorial and replaced MBR with UEFI. Not it says UEFI in msinfo32 and EFI in disk managment.

I already use SSD as my system disk but ill consider reinstalling windows sometimes later anyway. To be honest - i was not offered a choice during windows installation regarding UEFI or legacy (or at least i don't remember having one). So im not sure that after reinstalling everything i won't end up with legacy again.

Im pretty sure i used usb flash drive to install windows as well.

 

[sfx2000]

The Win10 installer detects and determines based on what UEFI returns - even in Legacy, UEFI is still active, but in a legacy BIOS emulation...

No hurry to wipe/reload, but when the opportunity presents itself, then it's a good chance to cut-over to UEFI native - lot of the problems you are noting will likely resolve themselves..

 

[Cel]

The Win10 installer detects and determines based on what UEFI returns - even in Legacy, UEFI is still active, but in a legacy BIOS emulation...

No hurry to wipe/reload, but when the opportunity presents itself, then it's a good chance to cut-over to UEFI native - lot of the problems you are noting will likely resolve themselves..

So how i do make sure that windows intalls in UEFI mode?

To be honest i don't really see how UEFI or legacy mode can affect anything at all. As i said - whenever i pressed DEL during boot i would be taken into Asus UEFI bios and there's actually nothing in the manual about changing windows boot sector from legacy to UEFI.

 

[sfx2000]

what vendor/model/version is the mainboard?

 

[Cel]

what vendor/model/version is the mainboard?

Asus Maximus VIII hero. http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/

 

[sfx2000]

See section 3.8 of the user guide - the items of interest boot mode and CSM mode switches...

BTW - noticed that this board supports M2 card - including PCIe/NVMe for storage - double check with Asus Support, but dropping in a Samsung 950 EVO or Pro card in that slot is a lot of bang for the buck - very fast if it's supported... so perhaps a good reason to reinstall windows

Just a thought

Anyways - make sure you are totally backed up on your important data in case you start moving things around in the CSM menu - those settings for Legacy/CSM are for non-UEFI friendly OS's - Windows 10 was totally built around full UEFI, but will run in Legacy (as observed) and if the drive is already partitioned as MBR/Legacy, it won't reformat or install by default as UEFI - one has to nuke the partitions and let the Win10 installer create them as part of the install.

 

[Cel]

See section 3.8 of the user guide - the items of interest boot mode and CSM mode switches...

Frankly i don't really understand that section. I've seen it before but i don't think it actually relates to my situation. Right now CSM mode is set to enabled i think but since i've already created a new partition with UEFI and deleted the old one - it doesn't matter what the setting is. I've noticed that there is an option to "boot in UEFI mode" from any storage. So perhaps the idea is to create a usb drive or a disk with windows installation then use this option to boot from it?

As for ssd - i was looking at 1tb samsung 850 evo or perhaps 2tb one. I was planning to replace it as my main drive while keeping an older ssd for my system and 2tb hdd as a "junk" storage. And yes that m.2 port supports those ssd's though i don't see any point in using it since i have plenty of sata ports available. I doubt that i will notice any speed differences either at this point.

 

[sfx2000]

Again - check with Asus support - but on a fresh Win10 install, disable CSM, and enable Windows UEFI Mode

And you should be ok, once a fresh windows install is in place - I mentioned earlier in this thread, nuke/pave is needed, as all the motherboard resources are based on the initial Windows10 install. The "guidance" on various Web Forums isn't going to fix the issue - it's a Windows thing...

Up to you man - we're well beyond what's in scope for SNB - but just trying to help out here...

(BTW - a little bit envious - that motherboard is totally bonkers, at $500USD, it's a bit more than I would spend on a personal machine, but that's me, lol)

 

[Cel]

(BTW - a little bit envious - that motherboard is totally bonkers, at $500USD, it's a bit more than I would spend on a personal machine, but that's me, lol)

500$? Ehh no - it's actually 250$ right now. There could be some bundled motherboard+cpu which costs 500$ though.

It's still a bit too much but i previously had similar 775 motherboard which was expensive but served me 7 years and i've sold it for a 30 bucks anyway. I might be wrong but im basically relying on quality here and a long term investment since i don't like to upgrade my pc very often, apart from hard drives, fans or gpu.

 

[Cel]

Unfortunately using UEFI didn't do anything. At least not while keeping the windows installation. Still getting latency issues and stuttering after some hours.

 

[Gewan]

PCIe has lower overhead than USB and latency depends on the chipset. For example nvidia nforce PCIe (the ones used to give you more PCIe lanes) had higher latency. The chip giving more lanes isnt an issue because PCIe is essentially a switch so devices can communicate with each other without going through CPU but that nforce chip itself had higher latencies.

For example my soundcard has higher latencies than a usb soundcard that only just translates the signal and has CPU handle the processing because it has its own CPU and PCIe chip. So even though it lowers CPU usage significantly for very high quality sound there is a significant lag from the sound going in to the speakers whereas the usb wire has almost no latency.

It really depends on what you're looking for. PCIe can have lower latencies than usb and it really depends on the device that is being used. Direct CPU processing will usually have lower latencies if the CPU is fast enough which is why realtek NICs can have lower latencies than some NICs like marvell with its own CPU to handle the processing (both being onboard) but the marvell one lowers CPU usage and has more features. The latency difference is only like 0.1-0.2 ms. So check the chips used by the NICs as it usually isnt the brand's own chips.

As long as you use usb3 the difference is highly dependent on the chip used for the NIC. Compare the features and hardware specs and things like power savings (for usb if you want wake on LAN than power over usb during sleep/power down must be enabled), make sure to check what features are actually hardware accelerated and what is moved to the CPU. For PCIe you need at least 1 lane PCIe V2 or 2 lanes PCIe V1 for a single gigabit port wheares some usb3 ports even though claiming 5Gb/s are actually limited to 2Gb/s because they are connected via PCIe (this is also an important factor). If the usb3 port is connected via PCIe you might as well get the PCIe card otherwise choose the one that suits you best if the USB3 port is part of the chipset.

another thing about usb3 ports PCIe connected is that they are usually only connected by 1 PCIe lane for multiple usb3 ports so multiple usb3 ports share that 1Gb/s of bidirectional bandwidth. So unless you expect to use more bandwidth for usb3 never buy a PCIe usb3 card that is only 1 lane or more than 1 port with 1 lane.

Interesting, to say the very least. Not to be a bad thread necromancer, but this is important to me 'cuz I'm currently more or less in the same situation as thread starter were in half a decade ago. So you mean that there is a slight chance that a 1 Gbit's USB-C Ethernet NIC will actually perform _better_ than a PCIe one? I (for sure) like the sound of this! Can anyone confirm?

 

[follower]

I've been having issues with an in-built intel's ethernet device (I219V) in my asus maximus viii hero motherboard which is causing latency spikes and i wanted to supplant it with another ethernet card.

What would be a better choice for a gaming desktop PC with a 6700k processor and internet speeds up to 1000mbit/s (100mbyte)?

Something like this usb 3.0 adapter:

http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/support/product/dub-1312-usb-3-gigabit-ethernet-adapter

Or a simple pci-e card:

http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/cat-11_TG-3468.html

Im looking for a smoother performance and lesser impact on a cpu.

Forget about above recommendations. None of them works. One of my PCs is using same motherboard. i219v has some issues which can't be fixed like can't get IP Address, unstable latency, disconnection, slow internet etc.
Get a following NIC(HP OEM for Intel i210-T1).

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024193-REG/hp_e0x95aa_intel_ethernet_i210_t1_gbe.html

 

[Samir]

Forget about above recommendations. None of them works. One of my PCs is using same motherboard. i219v has some issues which can't be fixed like can't get IP Address, unstable latency, disconnection, slow internet etc.
Get a following NIC(HP OEM for Intel i210-T1).

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024193-REG/hp_e0x95aa_intel_ethernet_i210_t1_gbe.html

Things have changed quite a bit in the last few years and while performance between a pcie and usb nic will be similar, a pcie nic always has less overhead. Just thing of the same thing with drives--usb3 drives are fast, but they are still typically not as fast as a sata drive connected internally--same thing with gpus.

 

[follower]

Things have changed quite a bit in the last few years and while performance between a pcie and usb nic will be similar, a pcie nic always has less overhead. Just thing of the same thing with drives--usb3 drives are fast, but they are still typically not as fast as a sata drive connected internally--same thing with gpus.

No it's not. They are not similar.
USB 2.0 adapter: unstable. Garbage.
USB 3.0 adapter: unstale but better than USB 2.0. 2.4Ghz interference is a serious issue. Because it's using USB 3.0 port. It effects on 2.4Ghz Wifi, wireless devices like mouse, keyboard and more.

 

[Samir]

No it's not. They are not similar.
USB 2.0 adapter: unstable. Garbage.
USB 3.0 adapter: unstale but better than USB 2.0. 2.4Ghz interference is a serious issue. Because it's using USB 3.0 port. It effects on 2.4Ghz Wifi, wireless devices like mouse, keyboard and more.

You're doing it wrong if they're not similar.

Usb 2.0 adapters will only be limited by the 480Mbs speed. I know because I have one in operation for nearly a decade. If your usb 3.0 is affecting your 2.4Ghz, your system is messed up because there's no way it should be doing that unless its FCC radiation is way out of spec (FCC Class A vs B).