Referred to as "gigabit ethernet": 129/830 mbps
Referred to as "gigabit ethernet": 129/830 mbps
I possess a "gigabit networking" subscription from Telus (950+ Mbps U/D advertised rates). My modem is located in the garage, connected via a CAT5e cable to my room. In my room sits a 10-port gigabit Dlink switch, supporting no more than two simultaneous connections (during the test I performed, only my PC was using the network). Bandwidth usage remains low since other devices are minimal. I’m confident the connection from the switch is stable, as I achieved 960/980 Mbps on my Macbook Pro through a Thunderbolt adapter, using the same port and cable immediately after the test. My motherboard is an MSI X570-A Pro with a Realtek 8111H PCIE GbE Network Controller. I’ve refreshed the drivers, reset the router/modem, switched cables, etc., but still face challenges in boosting my PC’s network performance. The only action I haven’t taken yet is replacing the entire motherboard. For your reference, here are my "Advanced Settings" from Device Manager: Advanced EEE: Enabled ARP Offload; Auto Disable Gigabit; Disabled Energy Efficient Ethernet; Enabled Flow Control; Rx & Tx Enabled; Gigabit Lite; Enabled Green Ethernet; Interrupt Moderation; Enabled IPv4 Checksum Offload; Rx & Tx Enabled; Jumbo Frame; Disabled Large Send. Other details seem unimportant, but I should keep in mind that I verified speeds multiple times after this—results stayed consistent or fluctuated up to 300 Mbps before dropping. My PC has never exceeded 500 Mbps even with the GbE plan and identical hardware. I’m using version 10.45.928.2020 of the Realtek PCIe GbE driver. Appreciate any assistance!
I’d likely disable Advanced EEE, Energy Efficient Ethernet and Green Ethernet since they sometimes create problems. I’d also be cautious about Gigabit Lite because it’s an unofficial feature. The fluctuations might actually indicate normal operation, and your ISP could have significantly overcharged the service. It’s marketed as up to 940MBit, but their own notes suggest checking other devices for different speeds.
Priority and VLAN settings have previously been problematic for me. I’m considering turning them off to test, though I’m unsure since they ensure stable uploads in both directions without affecting performance. Scaling on the receiving end could also be an issue—feel free to adjust that as well and observe any changes.
You're wondering if the link between the computer and the switch is the issue. Have you checked the speed with a local file transfer? It seems like only standard speeds like 10/100/1000 are supported. Even your lowest speed remains above 100Mbps. To avoid performance drops from switching modes, especially on unreliable cables, you might want to manually set it to 1Gbps and full duplex.
I plan to disable energy-saving mode once I arrive home. As discussed, my MacBook Pro from 2018 maintains consistent upload and download rates of over 900 Mbps when connected to the same port on the same switch using a Thunderbolt 3 to Ethernet adapter. All measurements were performed with the Ookla Speedtest desktop app for MacOS and Windows 10.
This involves linking both devices through the switch at once and employing file transfer for speed testing, or you could skip the switch and directly connect your MacBook’s TB port to your motherboard’s Ethernet jack.
Consider testing the connection by installing iperf3 on both your PC and Mac and performing a speed check between them. This won’t provide detailed results, but it confirms the other side can maintain that speed reliably; otherwise, you might mistakenly resolve an issue when the network performance was actually slower at the time.