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Intel X710-DA2, bad network performance under Windows 10 and 11 (22H2)

nautilus
Beginner
‎11-11-2023 03:02 AM
2,471 Views

I am getting poor network performance under Windows.

iperf3 measurements between two Windows systems result in a throughput of only 5.6 GBit/s. Changing the TCP/IP window size does not bring any improvement. Rather a deterioration if the value (-w xxxK) is below 128K, see measuring below.

In comparison, using Linux (any Linux runtime from the USB stick) gives the expected performance in the 10 Gbit/s range, which means that there is no issue with my setup / components (PC, switch, cabling, transceivers).

My question: what needs to be configured under Windows 10 and 11 to achieve the expected network throughput of 10 Gbit in the LAN?

Many thanks for your kind support upfront.

BR Nautilus

 

The setup:
System A: Windows 11 Pro, Supermicro X10SRi-F, Intel X710-DA2, 10GBase-SR
System B: Windows 10 Pro, Supermicro X10SRi-F, Intel X710-DA2, 10GBase-SR
Energy profiles: ultimate performance, CPU load <=1%
Unmanaged 10G switch in between: QNAP QSW-2104-2S

iperf3 results on Windows:

K:\xxx\Downloads\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3 -c 192.168.178.20
Connecting to host 192.168.178.20, port 5201
[ 4] local 192.168.178.10 port 52195 connected to 192.168.178.20 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 618 MBytes 5.19 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 656 MBytes 5.50 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 669 MBytes 5.61 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 637 MBytes 5.34 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 689 MBytes 5.78 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 685 MBytes 5.74 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 694 MBytes 5.82 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 688 MBytes 5.77 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 672 MBytes 5.64 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 674 MBytes 5.65 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 6.53 GBytes 5.61 Gbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 6.53 GBytes 5.60 Gbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.

K:\xxx\Downloads\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3 -c 192.168.178.20 -w 64k
Connecting to host 192.168.178.20, port 5201
[ 4] local 192.168.178.10 port 52205 connected to 192.168.178.20 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 390 MBytes 3.27 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 374 MBytes 3.13 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 281 MBytes 2.36 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 319 MBytes 2.68 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 327 MBytes 2.74 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 377 MBytes 3.16 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 346 MBytes 2.90 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 344 MBytes 2.89 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 335 MBytes 2.81 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 384 MBytes 3.22 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 3.40 GBytes 2.92 Gbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 3.40 GBytes 2.92 Gbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.

K:\xxx\Downloads\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3 -c 192.168.178.20 -w 128k
Connecting to host 192.168.178.20, port 5201
[ 4] local 192.168.178.10 port 52207 connected to 192.168.178.20 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 678 MBytes 5.69 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 682 MBytes 5.72 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 693 MBytes 5.82 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 708 MBytes 5.94 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 696 MBytes 5.84 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 670 MBytes 5.62 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 667 MBytes 5.60 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 681 MBytes 5.72 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 701 MBytes 5.88 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 692 MBytes 5.80 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 6.71 GBytes 5.76 Gbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 6.71 GBytes 5.76 Gbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.

K:\xxx\Downloads\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3 -c 192.168.178.20 -w 256k
Connecting to host 192.168.178.20, port 5201
[ 4] local 192.168.178.10 port 52210 connected to 192.168.178.20 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 702 MBytes 5.89 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 710 MBytes 5.95 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 694 MBytes 5.82 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 685 MBytes 5.75 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 696 MBytes 5.84 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 654 MBytes 5.48 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 678 MBytes 5.68 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 669 MBytes 5.62 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 706 MBytes 5.92 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 703 MBytes 5.90 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 6.73 GBytes 5.78 Gbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 6.73 GBytes 5.78 Gbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.

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nautilus
Beginner
‎11-11-2023 08:32 AM
2,448 Views

Another observation, Microsoft Windows is using per default their "Internet" Template for configuring the TCP/IP stack which is suboptimal for 10G LANs, see an excerpt at the end ...

BTW .. this guy developed a powershell script to tweak a lot of things, but at the end of the day I am getting even worse performance compared to the default settings.

The article how all started (sorry in german, use a translator):  https://administrator.de/tutorial/wie-man-das-windows-10-und-11-tcp-handling-wieder-desuboptimieren-kann-5529700198.html
And this is the powershell script on github: https://github.com/MysticFoxDE/WINDOWS-OPTIMIZATIONS/blob/main/W10ANDW11-NETWORK-TCP-DESUBOPTIMIZATION.ps1

 

Because this script resulted in even worse performance for me I am asking here in the hope somebody of you tweaked your TCP/IP stack well, to get the full 10GB performance in the LAN with Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 and without screwing the settings up.

Many thanks.

 

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-NetTCPConnection

LocalAddress                        LocalPort RemoteAddress       RemotePort State      AppliedSetting

------------                        --------- -------------       ---------- ------     -------------

[...]

2003:cc:1727:f000:9408:dc70:a075... 50654     2a02:3d0:660:a000::1     80    Established Internet
2003:cc:1727:f000:9408:dc70:a075... 50645     2620:1ec:46::45          443   Established Internet
2003:cc:1727:f000:9408:dc70:a075... 50644     2a02:26f0:e600:588::207e 443   Established Internet
2003:cc:1727:f000:9408:dc70:a075... 50641     2603:1027:1:a8::80       443   Established Internet
2003:cc:1727:f000:9408:dc70:a075... 50639     2606:4700:e2::ac40:8e24  443   Established Internet
2003:cc:1727:f000:9408:dc70:a075... 50638     2606:4700:e2::ac40:8e24  80    Established Internet
2003:cc:1727:f000:9408:dc70:a075... 50569     2606:4700::6810:3865     443   Established Internet

[...]

 

 

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Devi_Intel
Employee
‎11-18-2023 12:59 PM
2,369 Views

Greetings Nautilus,


Thank you for posting Ethernet Community. I'm here to follow up case as per subject. Apologize on delay as having challenges to reply back the thread, Please share some screenshots of the error related to network performance issue. for further concern please do let us know


Thank you & best Regards,

Devi_Intel



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nautilus
Beginner
‎11-18-2023 02:08 PM
2,361 Views

Hi,

thanks for your answer.

I have posted the output of iperf3 above by copy/paste and described the problem.
Again: the problem is poor performance (network throughput) under Windows, you don't get the expected 10 Gbit throughput only about 5.5 Gbos.

Under Linux: same HW, same setup only a Linux runtime started from a USB stick and iperf3 delivers 10 Gbit throughput without any problems. Out of the box without any tweaks.

In the posting above I showed you also the URL about an article which attests that Windows desktop versions have poor default TCP settings which parametrizes the TCP/IP stack more for a slow WAN than for a fast LAN.
This seems to be a problem of Microsoft having chosen bad defaults for Windows Desktop versions.
Windows server uses - according to this guy - other settings, which result in much better performance for fast LAN but also for WAN, which is nowadays much more performant than in the past.
Nobody knows why Microsoft does this ...

The problem that I have is, that the quite long powershell script changes so many things and maybe also doesn't use the right parameters for this particular card.

My hope is, that an Intel as vendor can give me information how to solve the problem, to get optimum performance (= network throughput) with this card under Windows 10 and 11 Pro.

 
 

 

 

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Devi_Intel
Employee
‎11-19-2023 06:49 PM
2,320 Views

HI Greetings,


Thank you for your reply, Appreciate you can advise the driver version details using in windows and Linux environments. for further concern please do let us know.


Thank you & Best Regards,

Devi_Intel


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nautilus
Beginner
‎11-20-2023 11:01 AM
2,296 Views
In response to Devi_Intel

Hi,

I have an export from Intel System Support Utiliy. If you can provide me an URL to upload it to a secure place, then I upload, but not here to an open forum.
The driver version for the X710-DA2 on Windows 11 is the latest: Version 1.18.367.0 from 27.06.23.

nautilus_0-1700504658030.png

The driver extended settings:

Empfangspuffer, 512
Energieeffizientes Ethernet, Aktiviert
Flusssteuerung, Rx und Tx, Aktiviert
Geschwindigkeit & Duplex, Automatische Aushandlung
Interrupt-Drosselung, Aktiviert
Interrupt-Drosselungsrate, Adaptiv
IPv4-Prüfsummen abladen, Rx und Tx aktiviert
Jumbo Packet, Deaktiviert
Large-Send-Offload V2 (IPv4), Aktiviert
Large-Send-Offload V2 (IPv4), Aktiviert
Lokal verwaltete Adressen, Nicht vorhanden
Max. Anzahl RSS-Warteschlangen, 8 Warteschlangen
Paketpriorität und VLAN, Paketpriorität und VLAN aktiviert
RSS (Empfangsseitige Skalierung), Aktiviert
TCP-Prüfsummen abladen (IPv4), Rx und TX aktiviert
TCP-Prüfsummen abladen (IPv6), Rx und TX aktiviert
Übertragungspuffer, 512
UDP-Prüfsummen abladen (IPv4), Rx und TX aktiviert
UDP-Prüfsummen abladen (IPv6), Rx und TX aktiviert
Verbindungsereignis protokollieren, Aktiviert
Verbindungsstatus bei heruntergefahren, Aktiviert

 

I have no Linux installed, it was a Runtime version which boots from stick and runs temporary in memory.
Is this really important for you to know? The purpose was just to demonstrate that the hardware components are fine. If you need the info, then I boot it again. Where do I see the driver version on linux?

I took a WireShark sniffertrace of 3 seconds nuttcp traffic (iperf3 clone) to find out that I might have jumbo packets although the settings in the Intel driver say: Jumbo Packets -> Deactivated.

 

nautilus_1-1700505457956.png

The 1st and last bytes from the nuttcp control session (followed the stream):

nautilus_2-1700505634622.png

This is the WireShark statistic about the file, average packet size is 11366 bytes.

nautilus_3-1700506010291.png

In this "tcp.stream eq 9" you see during transmission two big packets of around 64294 and 38014 Bytes.
E.g. packet number 120649 and 120650 but then (surprisingly) 7 packes of only 60 bytes ...

 

nautilus_4-1700506232846.png

 

Packet length

 

nautilus_5-1700506284503.png

 

I/O graph

nautilus_6-1700506882414.png

 

 

 

In response to Devi_Intel
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nautilus
Beginner
‎11-21-2023 12:25 PM
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The Linux runtime system (booted from USB stick) is Linux Mint 21.2.

The name of the interface is ens4f0 the driver name i40e, but I do not know where to look for the version number of the intel driver.

Kernel is 5.15.0-76-GENERIC SMP if this helps.

No matter whether using iperf3 or nuttcp 8.2.2 (fresh compiled with cygwin environment under windows).

Under Linux the bandwidth is around 9.4 Gbit/s continuously from the 1st packet on (no tcp slow start).

When looking at wireshark sniffertrace (here under linux 10 sec length)

the packets are over 64000 Bytes long with an average packet size of 22864 bytes

 

nautilus_0-1700598133858.png

 

Here the packet length

nautilus_1-1700598214910.png

 

nautilus_2-1700598251134.png

 

nautilus_3-1700598269451.png

 

nautilus_4-1700598298461.png

 

nautilus_5-1700598313692.png

 

nautilus_6-1700598329762.png

 

 

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Faez_Intel
Moderator
‎11-23-2023 08:26 PM
2,242 Views

Hi Nautilus,


Good day. Thank you for all the details provided.


For the SSU report, you may attach it to our FTP link as below:


https://secureftp.intel.com/


The login is as below:


username: tmp05025

Pass: N@utilus123


Once the SSU is uploaded, we will proceed from there accordingly to analyze further on the issue.


Thanks,

Faez_Intel



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nautilus
Beginner
‎11-26-2023 11:14 AM
2,199 Views

Hi Faez,

thanks for your reply.  Sorry, currently I have no time to work on this issue.

I need to perform a fallback from Win11 to Win10, one of the things which keep me busy.

I will come back as soon as time allows.

Many thanks.

 

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Devi_Intel
Employee
‎11-27-2023 08:10 PM
2,171 Views

Greeting nautilus


Thank you for confirming, In these case i shall proceed to achieve this case. If you have any more questions in the future, please don't hesitate to post a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.


Thank you & Best Regards,

Devi_Intel


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Devi_Intel
Employee
‎12-10-2023 04:16 PM
1,984 Views

Greeting nautilus

Your issue is now considered resolved, therefore we are proceeding to close this ticket.


If you have any more questions in the future, please don't hesitate to post a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.


Thank you & Best Regards,

Devi_Intel


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