Finding a good starting point can be challenging.
Finding a good starting point can be challenging.
PC1 runs on Windows with 2.5GbE connection. PC2 uses Windows and a GbE NAS. NAS1 is installed as Unraid, NAS2 as Unraid, both running 2.5GbE. Connection speeds are around 100Mbps from PC1 to NAS1, which is slower than expected. From NAS1 to PC1 it reaches about 1Gbps, and from PC2 to NAS1 it's roughly 1Gbps—consistent results. No obvious issues on either side, but sending data from PC1 to NAS1 causes congestion. This was verified by copying large files from Windows; bigger files didn’t cause the problem.
Curious about PC1's setup? It seems it's still using Windows 10 after a year in TrueNAS.
PC1 runs Windows 11 version 24H2 while PC2 uses 23H2 due to installation issues preventing the 24H2 update.
Did you attempt to power it off and restart it? Now it’s delivering around 1Gbps, which seems normal. Probably just a typical Windows issue.
This indicates a significant issue with the cable or port along the connection. Expect limited performance from SMB shares on Windows—they tend to be slow compared to Linux transfers. I mainly move large files within the Windows environment, and FTP became my go-to solution. While I noticed some security concerns with FTP, it wasn’t a major problem since most users are my family. We had both devices on the same subnet, isolated from guests. It also caused my drives to reach nearly full capacity, around 2.1 Gbps, which was much higher than the 1.2 Gbps I achieved with SMB.
I remember you too, there was a strange issue with the onboard 2.5GbE connection on your system before. It vanished for a few days then reappeared again without any devices detected during that time. I’ll check if there’s an extra PCIe slot and bring along a spare Realtek card if needed. Skip using the built-in one going forward. Right now I’m testing via Wi-Fi, aiming for up to 500Mbps. I’ll see how it lasts. I don’t need peak performance—just getting the most out of streaming over the network. The 2.5GbE should match the initial speed of a HD stream.
The issue isn't with the network card. I installed a Realtek 8125 2.5GbE chip, updated the drivers from Windows 2017 to 2024. At first it seemed fine, but then performance dropped. Initially it reached around 100Mbps, then it fell back to about 100Mbps again. Now I'm getting serious. When I ran iperf3, the results were as follows:
- From tower: 192.168.4.57 → 192.168.4.37 at 5201
- Transfer rates varied between 0.00–10.00 seconds, averaging around 12 MBytes per second with speeds from 81.8 to 108 Mbits/sec.
I repeated the test from PC2 and got about 950Mbps in both directions. This suggests the problem is likely on PC1 or with the cable connected there. I'll check if a longer cable could help.
I was the only one with a longer Cat5e/Cat6 cable, so I used another shorter one to free up space. To verify, I checked PC2 and confirmed full speed both ways. Then I tried again on PC1, which hadn’t changed since the initial tests, and got full speed once more. What’s happening? I’ve swapped both the cable and the NIC since then. I finished backing up about 30GB as expected. Now I’m in an uncertain situation—I don’t know if this resolves the issue or just delays it. Without proof it works, I can only observe it doesn’t fail again until then. Unless I randomly send data over the network to test, I have no other options. Maybe I should revert to what I was doing before and order more 2.5GbE NICs so the whole network catches up. Some systems might need USB connections if connectivity is still weak. Edit: reviewing the thread again, I found a confusing point. While I struggled with PC1 to NAS1, I didn’t face issues with PC1 to NAS2 at that time. It seems this could be one of those intermittent problems that only appears occasionally. That’s probably the most reasonable explanation so far.**