I have been continuously asked this question by my peers & juniors alike, but few seems to figure out the reality. Now, lets get into the business, first the basics:
I believe everyone knows this:
|
8 bits |
= | 1 byte |
| 1024 bytes | = | 1 Kilobyte (KB) |
| 1024 Kilobytes | = | 1 Megabyte (MB) |
| 1024 Megabytes | = | 1 Gigabyte (GB) |
| 1024 Gigabytes | = | 1 Terabyte (TB) |
Now, if you believe this is correct, then your problem of understanding the transmission rate of a NIC just been made easier. Here is how:
|
Line Speed |
per second | per minute | per hour |
| 1Mbit (old-school ADSL) | 100 K/sec | 6 MB/minute | 360 MB/hour |
| 2Mbit (slower ADSL) | 200 K/sec | 12 MB/minute | 720 MB/hour |
| 4Mbit (faster ADSL) | 400 K/sec | 24 MB/minute | 1.1 GB/hour |
| 10Mbit (ADSL / Cable) | 1 MB/sec | 60 MB/minute | 2.8 GB/hour |
| 100Mbit (Fast Ethernet LAN) | 10 MB/sec | 600 MB/minute | 28 GB/hour |
| 1000Mbit (Gigabit Ethernet LAN) | 100 MB/sec | 6 GB/minute | 280 GB/hour |
Yes, there is always a BUT. But please do remember, not every manufacturer builds and maintains the quality of the NIC processors, so, it differs. A $2USD NE2000 compatible will barely transmit at desired speed with consistency. But a server based Coupled NIC addresses many transmission requirements, but that’s another story for a later time. Also the sustained transmission cannot be continued for longer period of times. Having said that, many manufacturers in these days can now sustain 99% throughput of that was mentioned in that table. Some very good quality manufacturers are likely to be SolarFlare, Broadcom, Intel, QLogic etc.