Possible problems with Intel LAN - this time i226

[Woomack]

I just found news on TPU about problems with i226 NIC - https://www.techpowerup.com/303854/...-has-a-connection-drop-issue-no-fix-available

What makes me wonder is why Intel repeats the same mistakes every single generation. The last good NIC was i218/219. Every new chipset has USB and LAN issues. Eventually, they fix it, but it takes a year+. The same was with most chipsets since Z68. There are always USB or LAN/WiFi problems. In most cases, it's performance drops or random disconnections.

 

[EarthDog]

It's weird, you don't see this complaint much about the NICs. I recall hearing about I-225V, but never heard a peep after. Here's to hoping this is the same....

 

[Woomack]

All Intel 2.5Gbps NICs were faulty after the release. I don't remember which 2.5Gbps NIC was first, but Intel added patches about four months after the premiere, lowering its bandwidth to 1Gbps if the problem happened. The next-gen had some problems too, but it was fixed faster. One NIC was causing incompatibility with routers of some specific brands. I don't think it was ever fixed, as Intel released a new chipset without this problem. There were 4 NICs, as I remember, but I could be wrong. Differences were mainly in 1 digit or -V/-VM. All similar series.
Most problems are barely seen. Most users can't see a 1 second disconnection or random bandwidth drops as everything is cached. Worse if you are playing online games and have disconnections more often. If not the news, then most users would never know about any issues. Actually, most still aren't aware of any issues.

I've been using WiFi recently for almost everything, and surprisingly, I have no problems. My PC runs 24/7 - the game I play is up 24/7, and it would crash in case of any disconnection, even for 1 sec. I never trusted WiFi, but with each generation, it seems better. I mean, looking at stability and connection quality.

 

[EarthDog]

That's right. I forgot it was only with 2.5 GbE negotiation and the fix was to run GbE speeds if you ran into it. Not a problem for a 99% of users (who has more than GbE...even in an office?), but the 1% who did have trouble getting peak speeds/2.5 GbE, no doubt.

Im looking at TPU's posts over it and they share the same sentiment, generally (there was a problem?)... well, at least those that aren't haters... but that's TPU... lol

 

[Woomack]

What is funny for me is that 5GbE and 10GbE NICs were available before 2.5GbE ... I have no idea if it costs so much or if there is another problem that we see all pushing 2.5GbE as the "new and faster" standard. I got a 10GbE switch a while ago, and other things to test new mobos and network devices ... and new mobos with some single exceptions have no 10GbE NICs :| Some years ago, even some $300 mobos had 10GbE NICs, now almost only $1k+.

 

[EarthDog]

I'd imagine it's cost to the BOM, sure, but mostly because it's simply not needed in large numbers anywhere outside of businesses. GbE connection in a house for internet is rare in the states, and few people care enough to run 2.5 GbE+ for a faster internal network. IMO, it's just a cost and needs thing. Nobody needs a 10 GbE NIC. We aren't struggling with the NIC as the bottleneck.

 

[DaveB]

I've been using WiFi recently for almost everything, and surprisingly, I have no problems. My PC runs 24/7 - the game I play is up 24/7, and it would crash in case of any disconnection, even for 1 sec. I never trusted WiFi, but with each generation, it seems better. I mean, looking at stability and connection quality.

Yep, all WiFi here, never a problem. The WiFi 6 (802.11ax) on the $250 Gen 11 i3 laptop I got for my wife is amazingly fast and completely reliable. Don't need/want no stinking NICs and ethernet!

 

[EarthDog]

Yep, all WiFi here, never a problem. The WiFi 6 (802.11ax) on the $250 Gen 11 i3 laptop I got for my wife is amazingly fast and completely reliable. Don't need/want no stinking NICs and ethernet!

That's funny... if I can help it, I stay away from Wi-Fi (for little reason)... the problem is........... I can't help it....

So, all TV's use Wi-Fi. My kid's PCs and wife's work laptop all use Wi-Fi. My personal rig is hardwired as are the two other test systems in the room (with the modem and router).

 

[mackerel]

I'm using Wifi as the connection to my main system currently. With a good adapter, can't notice any difference in speed or reliability compared to wired.

I do have a 2.5G network, to make the pain of dumping video files from several PCs to NAS a little smoother. When looking up what adapter to get, I did see an early Intel model apparently had an out of spec timing for something, and that made it not work with some switches. I ended up with the cheapest Realtek, which works fine.

I've not run 10G, but assuming we're talking about copper here not reusing old enterprise hardware. Don't know how much difference it makes but I saw many references to 10G ethernet was power hungry. NICs were/are expensive, and so were switches if you want more than 2 ports. 2.5G NICs were/are less than 1/3 the cost of a 10G and in a quick look this doesn't seem to have changed. I do see more affordable 10G switches now, like a 6 port for £200. I'm using a 5 port 2.5G switch which cost £108 over 2 years ago.

For my uses 2.5G was sufficient, as basically the transfer rate of a single HD (~200GB/s) became the limiting factor not the network. 10G would just be additional cost without benefit.

 

[Celeron_Phreak]

I feel like maybe this could be affecting i225 as well, I have had some wacky connection issues over the last month....

 

[EarthDog]

I feel like maybe this could be affecting i225 as well, I have had some wacky connection issues over the last month....

Set it to 1 GbE instead of autonegotiate and see if it stops.

 

[Celeron_Phreak]

I will run it at 1 gbe for now, I'll report back after a few days, hopefully it will help!

 

[Woomack]

I guess that on Z690 Classified is still the one that may cause problems, so if it's not switching automatically then do as EarthDog said and limit it to 1Gbps. Last Z690 and Z790 shouldn't have problems, but it's hard to say if they fixed it or just replaced NIC under the same name. On the other hand i225 had performance issues, not disconnections. Windows logs may tell you something more about a specific error.