XP 32 bit internet speed limitations?

I have a Verizon Quantum FiOS Gigabit Internet connection. My Toshiba laptop's Internet speeds exceed 900Mb/s. Here's my question: I got the old tower computer I built years ago networked directly to the router by Ethernet CAT5e cable, yet I can only approach 100Mb/s with the overhead. It has an AMD Athelon 64 3000+ processor running at 1.81 GHz with 2GB of RAM The OS is Windows XP Pro 32-bit (sp3) Version 2002 and the motherboard is an ABIT FATAL1TYAN8 with Nvidia onboard networking. I disabled it in the BIOS and got a TP-LINK TG-3269 Gigabit PCI network adapter and adjusted the properties in Device Manager for 1000Mb/s, yet I am still limited to 100Mb/s. Is it possible that this computer just can't handle Gigabit speeds? Any advice would be most appreciated.

 

I would think, from the sound of things, that your hardware is about the same vintage as mine. My HP-Compaq started life with an Athlon64 3200+ single core.....since updated to a 3800+ dual-core X2. It's got a standard 10/100 RealTek NIC.

I, too, went the same route as you.....although, by that time, I'd given XP the 'heave-ho' and moved to Linux. Plugging the new Gigabit card into the PCI slot, all that was needed was to re-boot, and the Linux kernel recognised it straight-away; in my case there was no need to re-configure anything, as Puppy Linux detected it, and adapted to the new connection speeds from the word go.

Best investment I ever made.....at £4.50 GBP off eBay! I'm just sorry I can't give you advice as to how to accomplish this in XP.....except to ask if you've installed the software that would have come with it. Windows, as you're no doubt well aware, doesn't like running without all necessary drivers installed before initial usage of a new device.....whereas the Linux kernel, huge as it's grown in recent years, has become this way because it's 95% nothing but drivers at this point in time.

I doubt there's any hardware limitation, vis-a-vis the motherboard itself, although it may depend on what spec PCI slots your board employs. One thought has occurred to me, though; what category RJ45 are you using? Although Cat5 cables do (in theory, at least) support Gigabit transfer speeds, they're not very reliable at high data transfer rates. Cat5e (or preferably Cat6) are recommended for this scenario.


Mike.

 

Thanks for the information. I am running Cat5e, even way back when I was wiring the house. Any new wiring now is Cat6. I've given up, for the most part on getting Gigabit speeds on that old tower computer that I built years ago. I downloaded the latest drivers from the NIC manufacturer. My only speed concern is will a 100Mbs Ethernet connection inhibit any cameras that I will get in the future? I have a Wi-Fi 5GHz 802.11 ac connection to the Verizon FiOS Quantum Gateway Gigabit router for the cameras themselves, however I believe that my home automation software running on the XP will be the bottleneck. I'm not sure how that would work. I am researching it though.

This is a quote from Verizon FiOS chat for minimum system requirements:

Rajitha:
Windows 7 or higher
1.2 GHz Processor
1 GB RAM
1000Mbps Ethernet Card

So, thank you for your help, but sticking with Windows XP Pro, limits my network speeds. I am not that savvy regarding the motherboard specs. Once again, thank you for taking the time to reply.

Ivan