Intel XXV710-DA1 no RSS over Thunderbolt 3 PCIE 3.0 x 4

[LukeYourFather]

I've got a performance problem with an Intel XXV710-DA1.

Here is my setup:

Mobile Workstation: HP ZBook Fury 17 G7

CPU: Intel i7-10750H (has 6 cores and hyperthreading, 12 threads)

Intel XXV710-DA1 PCIE card SFP28 with 25GBase-SR transceiver

Windows 11 Pro 23H2, all updates applied.

Intel driver version from Intel Ethernet Adapter Driver Pack 28.2.1: 1.18.367.0

XXV710 was updated with latest NVM firmware from the same above release: 9.30

Send performance is fine at over 22 Gbps.

Receive performance was limited to about 12 Gbps, increasing receive buffers from 512 to 1024 bought this up to about 14 Gbps.

Receive Side Scaling (RSS) is enabled. The receive is not using RSS though, only the first CPU is showing up with any significant CPU, and that first CPU is running at 100%.

RSS and 8 queues are configured for the adapter, but apparently not used.

Using powershell to monitor SMB transfers, RSS is enabled but not being used.

The Intel XXV710-DA1 is installed in an external Thunderbolt 3 attached box with a single PCIE 3.0 x 16 physical slot wired for x 4. TB3 provides a PCIE 3.0 x 4 (32Gbps) so should have enough bandwidth for one 25GBase-SR port. Send is OK, receive is slow, no RSS.

So, is the Intel XXV710-DA1 not able to do RSS due to the TB3 connection of the PCIE 3.0 x 4 slot?

[Azeem_Intel]

Hi LukeYourFather,

Greeting for the Day!

I hope you are doing well. Could you please share a snapshot of the defective part with the serial number visible? Additionally, could you let us know if this product was purchased separately or if it was shipped with the workstation?

Note: If you purchased an OEM branded server or appliance, contact your OEM for a SW driver version that is compatible with your exact FW version. Using SW and FW versions that have not been validated to work together will affect performance, feature availability, and system stability.

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[LukeYourFather]

Hi Azeem,

Yes, thanks I'm doing fine. Hope you are doing well too.

It's a real Intel product purchased separately, not an OEM branded one.

See the photo attached of the card in the External Thunderbolt 3 enclosure. The Intel model and serial are plainly visible.

I suspect that the Intel XXV710-DA1 attached through TB3 might be sending all the network traffic inbound through one CPU rather than being scattered across multiple CPUs as receiving data through RSS normally does.

This may just be a limitation of the TB3-attached XXV710-DA1, it probably is not a problem with the network card itself.

But that's what my question is: will RSS work in this configuration?

 - Mark

[Azeem_Intel]

Hi LukeYourFather,

Greeting for the Day!

Hope you are doing well, Although we haven't experienced any issues with Ethernet, we suggest trying to update the driver for the Intel XXV710-DA1 from the Intel website using the provided link. Additionally, we kindly request that you reach out to the HP team for further assistance.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/95261/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-xxv710da1/downloads.html

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel.

[LukeYourFather]

Hi Azeem,

I updated everything using the latest Intel Ethernet adapter 29.0 packages:

Intel XXV710 driver version from Intel Ethernet Adapter Driver Pack 29.0: 1.18.370.0

XXV710 was updated with latest NVM firmware from the same above release: 9.40

It's a little better. Send is still about 22 Gbps, as before (which is fine). Receive seems to be a little better that before with the older driver, but still around 14 Gbps and every once in while getting up to 15 Gbps.

Monitoring the CPU, it still only gets a single CPU (out of 6) up to 100% when receiving at 14 Gbps. The same card in a desktop get over 22 Gbps.

So, is this XXV710 running over Thunderbolt 3 (a PCIe 3.0 x 4 interface) unable to use RSS? Remember, the XXV710-DA1 is in an external case connected to the laptop over TB3.

 - Mark

[Azeem_Intel]

Hi LukeYourFather,

Greeting for the Day!

I hope you are doing well. Could you please confirm whether the Intel XXV710-DA1 you are using is in a desktop or laptop? If it's in a desktop or laptop, please share the full specifications of both, so we can proceed with the support accordingly. 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/95261/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-xxv710da1/downloads.html

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel.

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello LukeYourFather,

Hope you are doing well

We are following up to find out if you were able to find the information we provided. Please reply to confirm, so we can continue helping on a resolution. Looking forward to receiving your reply.

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello LukeYourFather,

Hope you are doing well

We are following up to find out if you were able to find the information we provided. Please reply to confirm, so we can continue helping on a resolution. Looking forward to receiving your reply.

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[LukeYourFather]

Hi Azeem,

The card is an Intel xxv710-DA1, which is a PCIe card.

However, it is being used with a laptop which of course does not have any PCIe slots.

The laptop has Thunderbolt 3, which allows you to make a connection to an external case with a PCIe 3.0 x 4 slot (32Gigabits per second max). That external TB3 case is where the xxv710-DA1 is installed. That should be plenty of bandwidth for that card, which can transfer about 25Gbps).

The laptop is:

* HP ZBook Fury 17 G7

* OS Windows 11 Pro 23H2, all updates applied

* Intel Ethernet Adapter package: 29.0

* CPU: Intel i7-10750H (6 cores, 12 threads)

* Memory: 96 GB DDR4 2666mhz

* Storage: four M.2 SSDs: (first) .5 TB; (second) 1 TB; (third) 1 TB; (fourth) 4 TB.

* Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5500M (4 GB GDDR6 dedicated)

* Thunderbolt 3 (2 independent ports)

 - Mark

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello LukeYourFather,

Hope you are doing well!

Thank you for providing the details. We are currently reviewing the case. Kindly give us some time to investigate, and we will get back to you as soon as possible with further information or a resolution. Thank you for your patience and cooperation

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello LukeYourFather,

Hope you are doing well!

We are currently reviewing the case. Kindly give us some time to investigate, and we will get back to you as soon as possible with further information or a resolution. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hello LukeYourFather,

Greetings!

Seems our engineering is not providing any updates regarding this issue.

From our investigations, Thunderbolt 3 itself does not inherently support RSS (Receive Side Scaling). As RSS is a feature typically associated with network interface cards (NICs) and their drivers.

Thank You & Best Regards,

Ragulan_Intel

[Azeem_Intel]

Hi LukeYourFather,

Greetings for the day!

This is the first follow-up regarding the reported to us.

We wanted to inquire whether you had the opportunity to review the plan of action (POA) we provided.

Feel free to reply to this email, and we'll be more than happy to assist you further.

Regards,

Azeem Ulla

Intel Customer Support Technician

intel.com/vroc

[Azeem_Intel]

Hi LukeYourFather,

Greetings for the day!

This is the second follow-up regarding the reported issue. We're eager to ensure a swift resolution and would appreciate any updates or additional information you can provide.

Please feel free to respond to this email at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

Azeem Ulla

Intel Customer Support Technician

intel.com/vroc

[Azeem_Intel]

Hi LukeYourFather,

Greetings for the day!

This is the third follow-up regarding the reported issue. We're committed to ensuring a swift resolution and would greatly appreciate any updates or additional information you can provide.

If we don't hear back from you soon, we'll assume the issue has been resolved and will proceed to close the case

Regards,

Azeem Ulla

Intel Customer Support Technician

intel.com/vroc

[LukeYourFather]

Yes, that's fine you can close it.

Thanks for your help Azeem.

 - Mark