Minimum hardware requirements for a network adapter on an E810-CAM2 chip

[Dmitar]

What are the minimum hardware requirements for a network adapter to get the maximum speed of 100gbps from one port. In particular, what should be the characteristics of the computer's CPU?

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Dmitar,

Thank you for posting in Intel Ethernet Communities. 

For us to further check the issue, please provide the following details.

1. What is the complete model of your network controller?
2. Are you designing a board with embedded Intel network card?
3. Can you give us more details about your inquiry?

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support

[Dmitar]

Hello Michael,

Thank you for the help

1. 100G Dual Optical Port Server Adapter with Intel E810-CAM2 chip (https://www.grt.ink/Home/ProductsInfo/71). GRT Support cannot fully answer the question posed in this letter. The only answer is that you need PCIe x16 4.0 and that's it.
2. This adapter was purchased to assemble a test computer to test various 100G transceivers for quality. Including full bandwidth. However, we do not know what optimal components to choose for a test computer in terms of price / performance ratio.
For the time being, we decided to use Iperf as the software. Or are there more suitable programs for testing?

Best regards,
Dmitar K.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Dmitar,

Thank you for the quick reply. Base on the link that you provided, you are using a PCIe card. Please send photos of the network card on both sides for us to validate the unit and check if this is not an OEM unit.

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support

[Dmitar]

Hello Michael,

I am sending a photo of the network adapter.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Dmitar,

Thank you for providing the photos that we requested and upon checking, this is an OEM unit manufactured by GRT. As much as we want to assist you on this, the design and compatibility of the network card is unknown to us and we have very limited support on OEM units. I understand that you already tried to contact GRT, however it is best to contact them again for further assistance specifically on your inquiry about the characteristics of the CPU and how to get the speed. They may have custom driver, software and firmware to enable or alter features on your system.

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Dmitar,

I hope you're having a wonderful day. I am just checking and hoping that you are now talking with GRT for further assistance regarding this issue.

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support

[Dmitar]

1. We have contacted GRT more than once. We gave them access to our computer, which has a network adapter via Anydesk.

Test tool server:
- Motherboard: Atermiter X79G
- Chipset: Intel X79
- Processor: Intel® Xeon® E5-2620
- Memory: 8Gbyte
- HDD: SATA II 500Gbyte
- OS: Linux Mint 20.3 Una
- Software tool: Iperf version 2.0.13 (21 Jan 2019) pthreads
- Transceiver: FTLC1154SDPL OTU4/100GBASE-LR4

Test tool server:
- Motherboard: Atermiter X79G
- Chipset: Intel X79
- Processor: Intel® Xeon® E5-2620
- Memory: 8Gbyte
- HDD: SATA II 500Gbyte
- OS: Linux Mint 20.3 Una
- Software tool: Iperf version 2.0.13 (21 Jan 2019) pthreads
- Transceiver: FTLC1154SDPL OTU4/100GBASE-LR4

2. Our test bench runs on an Intel® Xeon® E5-2620 v2 processor. It has 6 cores (12 threads). It has been experimentally established that one thread is able to process 2.8 Gbit / s using the Iperf program. That is, according to the calculation, all 12 streams are able to skip 2.8 x 12 = 33.6 Gbit / s.

3. GRT technicians performed remote settings on the computer, but could not raise the speed above 30 Gbit / s. They only referred to the fact that the computer has PCIe 3.0, not PCIe 4.0. However, when asked about the rest of the hardware, they answered: any. But according to point 2, I don't agree with "any" answer.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Dmitar,

Thank you for the update. As much as we want to assist you, our support is limited on OEM products. It is best to continue coordinating with GRT for further assistance since they know the design of the network card.

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Dmitar,

I hope this message find you well. He hope that you continue talking with GRT since they are the best team who can assist you with this issue.

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Dmitar,

I hope this message finds you well. We are just checking again and hoping that you are now in contact with GRT for further assistance.. Since we have not heard back from you, I need to close this inquiry. 

If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you and stay safe.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support