Intel NUC i218V NIC - Very slow transfer rates (2 NUC units)

[JMitc11]

Testing with 2 new D54250WYK and D54250WYKH NUC units, all BIOS, drivers, etc. with latest version updates as of 2014.08.21

Only seeing 11MB/s transfer rates across the Gigabit Ethernet connection when it should be 5-10X higher. Other systems on the same LAN, switch etc. with Gigabit Ethernet show no problems.

It looks like running at 100 Fast Ethernet speeds instead of Gigabit.

Have checked everything and fixed the adapter speed to "fixed" full duplex gigabit but nothing has changed.

Any thoughts ... has anyone else seen this?

Again seeing on 2 NUC units both purchased and setup within the last 3 weeks. All BIOS, driver and OS updates installed.

D54250WYK - Windows 8.1 64bit

D54250WYK - Windows Server 2012 R2 64bit (Yes works great and pretty easy to install the NIC driver)

Note: in the Advanced BIOS setup for the NIC there is no full duplex gigabit setting ... ?

[Jose_H_Intel1]

The options you are looking for are available from Device Manager in the Link Speed tab of the advanced adapter properties. There you can set up link speed and duplex and even run some diagnostic tests.

http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/CS-016041.htm Network Connectivity — What is Intel® PROSet and how do I access it?

I wonder how you are measuring the speed. I recommend you setting the Intel® NUC in peer to peer with a known working system and transfer some files between systems. I recommend you testing with the Windows* 8.1 system since Server operating systems are not supported with Intel® NUCs.

[JMitc11]

Have already done this, checked all settings, etc. All diagnostic test show okay. Ethernet speed still appears to be 100MB/Fast type ... NOT GB.

Please note that the Advanced BIOS settings on the NUC have an Ethernet setup section for boot and it DOES NOT include full duplex/1000 setting.

The way measuring speed is to copy large >5GB file in a peer-peer type configuration. Looking at file transfer rate and time needed to copy.

Both NUC units tested with Windows 8.1, all updates applied, all latest drivers installed from Intel. (Server 2012 R2 Essentials also works fine and shows the exact same results)

File transfer rates:

Intel NUC (1) - 11MB/s

Intel NUC (2) - 11MB/s

"Older' computer with Realtek PCO GBE Family Controller exact same network, same port, same cable, etc.

Realtek PCI GBE - Abit IP35 Pro MB - 60MB/s

Newer systems show speeds ranging from 70-110MB/s on the exact same connection and this is what would be expected in real world performance. There is something wrong with the NUC Ethernet, it is at least 5X SLOWER than it should be.

[SDiLo]

I am, more or less, the same problem with the I218-V.

Have a Intel NUC D54250WYK, windows 7, that only gets 10 MB/s to my NAS whereas my PC, windows 7, gets 60 - 100 MB/s.

Installing the intel PROset drivers advanced options doesnt work (that is, when I configure the adapter it gives me errors when trying to adjust link speed). So I am stuck with a connection that shows as 10 mbps, throws errors and freezes when PROset advanced options are installed and performs as at 100mbs instead of gigabit.

:/

[JMitc11]

This the same as I have found and as of yet cannot correct.

Mutiple NUC products - 10-11 MB/s file transfer rates over a Gigabit LAN connection

Switch to another Windows PC with Gigabit Ethernet and 60 - 110 MB/s. ... This on the same network, same source and even the same connection.

The NUC looks like it is operating as Fast Ethernet and not Gigabit.

Again, All NUC BIOS and driver updates installed, Network adapter manually set to Gigabit with full duplex!

Something is wrong here ... it happens on 3 different NUCS all purchased in the last 3 weeks.

Otherwise the NUC units have been fantastic.

[JASON_H_Intel2]

Hi MITBlackjack001,

Have you tried a different router/switch with the NUCs? The fact that they all behave the same would lead me to believe the issue is with the network.

Jason

[JMitc11]

No ... all other Gigabit Ethernet based systems behave fine. That is 5 other systems plus.

It is only the NUC units that show this slow connection/transfer behavior.

It is also interesting to note that in the Advanced BIOS setup on the NUC units for the network wakeup/boot connection a Gigabit full duplex option is not even available in the selection choices ... ?

[JASON_H_Intel2]

I think it would still be worthwhile to try the NUCs on a different router/switch. If they see gigabit speeds on a different network that would indicate some sort of an issue between the NUC's LAN device and the router. I'm not suggesting the router is bad, just that it's worth a check.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

I'm not suggesting the router is bad, just that it's worth a check.

I agree with Jason; it could be configuration, frame/packet size, etc. Hence my suggestion about testing peer to peer...

MITBlackjack001 you may download the user guide from this link: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=11848 Intel® Download Center

It includes some troubleshooting suggestions.

[JMitc11]

Guys ...

The router is not bad, the switch is not bad

This has been tested over and over ... peer-peer, putting the NUC in the exact LAN/cable slot as other machines that work fine, manually checked all NIC settings (the default should work fine if was good) ... nothing changes. And again ... there are now 3 brand new NUC units with all the latest updates and they all show transfer rates in a gigabit network of ~11MB/s vs. 60-110MB/s for other Gigabit Ethernet systems. 5-10X slower than it should be.

Something is wrong and all the NUC units show the exact same problem ...

[JASON_H_Intel2]

Again, I'm not saying the router is bad. I'm saying it's worth trying the NUCs on a different router to see if you get a different behavior. It's entirely possible the problem is with the NUC's network card/driver not working well with that particular router. If you've only ever tested them on this router (or even this MODEL of router) then checking another router to see if they behave differently would be worthwhile.

[JMitc11]

Let's be clear ...

When you test with a switch, there is no router in the equation. So changing the "router" does absolutely nothing.

The router is a router ... not a router/switch (Ubiquiti Edge Router Lite)

I did change the switch just for grins and all is the same. DLInk pro and Netgear pro lines.

[JASON_H_Intel2]

When I used the word "router" it was because I wasn't sure if you were talking about a router or a switch, or a switch connected to a router. If you've already tried another switch then great...you gave me the impression that you hadn't. My intention wasn't to offend you, I was honestly trying to help troubleshoot the problem. I have the same model NUC (and have worked with many of them) and haven't seen this issue on them.

I'll bow out and let you work with the official Intel support folks. They should be able to help.

[JMitc11 · Accepted solution]

Possible Solution:

Had one computer on the network using a FAST Ethernet connection, removed it and all now works fine with the NUC products.

Transfer rates went from 11MB/s to 80-90MB/s ...

Why this only impacted the NUC systems I am not sure. There were 6 hard wired units and only the NUC systems displayed this behavior.

[Rvand4]

I am plagued by something similar.

D54250WYK unit with W7 and all drivers up to date (19.3) and latest bios (028).

I'm duplicating a NAS directly onto another NAS and get +-30MB/sec from my NUC.

When I duplicate it through my desktop I get between 70 and 108MB/sec.

All devices are Gigabit, no Fast adapters anywhere, all hooked up to 1 TP-Link Gigabit switch.

Cables have been tested as fine since the desktop can both read from and copy to both NASes and the NUC at full Gigabit speed.

It seems that the NUC has GREAT issues with doing the transfers itself.

If I use the NUC to write to the desktop or NAS the transfer has a LOT of spikes between 20MB/sec and 70MB/sec and the CPU usage spikes all over the place as well on all cores. When I abort the transfer the NUC writes what it still has in buffer to the desktop or NAS but does so at a nice flatlined and maxed out 106MB/sec with CPU use at a steady 56%.

When reading from the desktop or the NAS it spikes between 8MB/sec and 50MB/sec.

The NUC can't do the transfers but can only have it done to it. But why?? What can be done about it???

[JASON_H_Intel2]

tijgert,

Which wifi adapter did you use with the NUC?

Jason

[Rvand4]

WiFi? I don't use any, I'm on the i218-V NIC.

[JASON_H_Intel2]

Ok, I just assumed. I was wondering if the wifi drivers could somehow interfere. If you don't even have a wifi card installed then that idea is out.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

tijgert, did you try my suggestions from the first page (Posts # 1 and # 8)?

[RA8]

Did you ever figure this out? I'm having the exact same issue with my Intel i218-V NIC found on my ASUS Maximus VII Formula. I've tried the default Windows 8.1 driver, the driver from the ASUS site for the motherboard, and the newest driver from intel.com -- my connection speed shows 1000mpbs full duplex, but i cannot achieve more than 25mbps on speedtest.net and no more than 10MB/s for file transfers across the network.

[SJone11]

It appears that the i218V is sharing lanes withe the USB3.0 ports, thus any activity across the USB bus is siphoning available bandwidth for the NIC (I didn't verify this, just observed phenomenon when moving data across the USB 3.0 interface and the NIC at the same time, they seem to be competing for bandwidth/interrupts). Also, depending on the network infrastructure, I was able to stabilize performance by enabling jumbo frames on the i218V, but all switches and other hosts communicating with the device must also support the same size jumbo frames for that to help. I do think there is room for driver optimization for the i218V. The experience above is duplicated with Win 8.1 (64 bit) and Win 10 (64 bit) on NUC devices as well as on other (Z97) motherboards.