[SOLVED] Intel Onboard network adapter not going above 350ish Mbps on speed test

sf1989

Commendable
Dec 23, 2017
28
0
1,530
Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V Is my ethernet adapter. Just got cox gigablast a few days ago. gigablast internet which advertises 940 Mbps download and 35 Mbps upload. On a speed test of my router, Netgear nighthawk x6s, I get 500-700 Mbps download at night, less in the day. More like 400-500 mid day. Guessing it can be because everyones working from home or something. Still not hitting around the 940 advertised. We have an Arris surfboard modem, capable of gigabit speeds. Cox investigated and said the problem is on our end with our hardware.

But the speed test on speedtest.net on my tower (8700k OC'd to 4.7, 16 GB 3600 mhz gskill RAM, 2x1TB Crucial SSD, 1080ti, MSI Krait gaming mobo) I get 250-350 Mbps depending on the time of day.

I have
-got the new intel LAN drivers from MSI's website, and used the INtel Proset app to set my connection to 1Gbps Full duplex and force it to be at 1 Gbps and full duplex.
-disabled energy efficient Ethernet
-tried different patch cables, from modem to WAN port on the router. And from port 1 to my tower. cat 6 (from cox) and got cat 7 ones on amazon. Both give 300 Mbps about consistently.

Our old speed we paid for was 300 Mbps. My router is hitting 700 rarely though, through the portal you adjust the settings on. I go to the QoS page and click speed test. i believe this tests directly on the router and not on my PC. so I am unsure if the unboard NIC just sucks or what. I got a TP-Link gigabit NIC off amazon for 15 bucks this morning, itll be here on friday.

This is with dynamic QoS on and off on the nighthawk router. I have traffic meter off on the router.

Anyone have any ideas as to whats wrong? My brothers asus laptop also gets 300 Mbps wired when its plugged in. It has a gigabit ethernet port.

What could help us get the full speed possible from this router? Im sure it's a router with gigabit LAN ports and a gigabit WAN port and im sure the modem is gigabit. Cox said they were seeing gigabit to our house too on their end. Not sure what else it could be.

I use bit defender (paid) and malwarebtyes as well.

We get 35-37 Mbps upload on tests consistently, so we're getting full upload speed but only 1/3-2/3 of what we pay for, download wise.
 
Solution
I am not sure where you are testing and getting the 700 on the router itself. If it is a different PC and only your pc has issues then the following is not the problem.

Most routers use a NAT offload feature to move the NAT function off the CPU and into special hardware. Using this even inexpensive routers can get gigabit wan/lan. As soon as you use even simple features but anything that needs to look at the data will disable this feature and the data will pass the CPU. It is not uncommon for the CPU in even the largest routers to bottleneck the connection to 300-350mbps.

I would factory reset the router and only set the admin and wifi passwords.

If you actually need to use some features like QoS you will have to use a...

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
This:

"-got the new intel LAN drivers from MSI's website, and used the INtel Proset app to set my connection to 1Gbps Full duplex and force it to be at 1 Gbps and full duplex. "

Try auto settings on the network adapter.

If you do not have IPv6 service, uncheck IPv6.
 

sf1989

Commendable
Dec 23, 2017
28
0
1,530
This:

"-got the new intel LAN drivers from MSI's website, and used the INtel Proset app to set my connection to 1Gbps Full duplex and force it to be at 1 Gbps and full duplex. "

Try auto settings on the network adapter.

If you do not have IPv6 service, uncheck IPv6.
I have IPv6, so I left that alone. I put it back to auto, same speeds. Around 300 Mbps on my PC. 282 to be precise.
 
I am not sure where you are testing and getting the 700 on the router itself. If it is a different PC and only your pc has issues then the following is not the problem.

Most routers use a NAT offload feature to move the NAT function off the CPU and into special hardware. Using this even inexpensive routers can get gigabit wan/lan. As soon as you use even simple features but anything that needs to look at the data will disable this feature and the data will pass the CPU. It is not uncommon for the CPU in even the largest routers to bottleneck the connection to 300-350mbps.

I would factory reset the router and only set the admin and wifi passwords.

If you actually need to use some features like QoS you will have to use a PC or something with a larger CPU to accomplish it.
 
Solution

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Remember that you not get advertised speeds per se. Those speeds are established under ideal conditions with lots of fine print caveats and disclaimers.

Do you have any older, known working Cat 5e cables? If so try them.

Cat 6 (via Cox) are likely to be as cheap of a cable they can get. Cat 7 is not standardized and moot to begin with.
 

sf1989

Commendable
Dec 23, 2017
28
0
1,530
I am not sure where you are testing and getting the 700 on the router itself. If it is a different PC and only your pc has issues then the following is not the problem.

Most routers use a NAT offload feature to move the NAT function off the CPU and into special hardware. Using this even inexpensive routers can get gigabit wan/lan. As soon as you use even simple features but anything that needs to look at the data will disable this feature and the data will pass the CPU. It is not uncommon for the CPU in even the largest routers to bottleneck the connection to 300-350mbps.

I would factory reset the router and only set the admin and wifi passwords.

If you actually need to use some features like QoS you will have to use a PC or something with a larger CPU to accomplish it.
There is a speed test button on the neatgear nighthawk router's settings page. You type in the gateway addresss, and the router admin password, then it lets you in. I go to advanced, then dynamic QoS and it says "define your bandwidth" or "let speed test define your banwidth. If i type in Cox cables allocated bandwidth, i get the same speed as if i let speed test do it. When I speed test, i get 500-70 0Mbps on the router page. If I navigate to speed test on my PC by going to speedtest.net I get 300ish.

I'll try factory resetting it when no one is working from home.
 

sf1989

Commendable
Dec 23, 2017
28
0
1,530
Remember that you not get advertised speeds per se. Those speeds are established under ideal conditions with lots of fine print caveats and disclaimers.

Do you have any older, known working Cat 5e cables? If so try them.

Cat 6 (via Cox) are likely to be as cheap of a cable they can get. Cat 7 is not standardized and moot to begin with.
Yeah I have some cat 5e i think. Do you know a good brand of cable to buy for future reference? I have a frys and a best buy locally here. And of course access to amazon.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Not really able to recommend a particular brand per se.

I rarely need new cables anymore and if a cable is working, at speed, I continue using it

[Note: Did not intend to directly disparage Cat 6 per se. That is acceptable if good quality. A couple of my cables are Cat 6 via Home Depot if I remember correctly. Purchased because some rearranging forced the need for longer lengths.]

There are a lot of junk/substandard cables out there and if a brand is particularly good then there will be counterfeits inserted into the supply chain.

Do not use any flat ethernet cables, no copper clad aluminum cables.

No need for shielded cable either. Avoid fancy claims; "fastest", "blazing speeds", etc..

Cable quality is, in my mind, the overall consideration.

If buying online look at the purchaser reviews and ratings. The more reviews the better.

And there is this:

https://www.tomsguide.com/reference/ethernet-cables-explained

For specific cable brands and sources I will defer to other Forum members who regularly work with ethernet cables and are much more up to date on brands, quality, and sources.

.
 

sf1989

Commendable
Dec 23, 2017
28
0
1,530
I am not sure where you are testing and getting the 700 on the router itself. If it is a different PC and only your pc has issues then the following is not the problem.

Most routers use a NAT offload feature to move the NAT function off the CPU and into special hardware. Using this even inexpensive routers can get gigabit wan/lan. As soon as you use even simple features but anything that needs to look at the data will disable this feature and the data will pass the CPU. It is not uncommon for the CPU in even the largest routers to bottleneck the connection to 300-350mbps.

I would factory reset the router and only set the admin and wifi passwords.

If you actually need to use some features like QoS you will have to use a PC or something with a larger CPU to accomplish it.
Reseting it to factory defaults did it. I got 911 Mbps right after. Thank you man.