Zotac ZBOX CI-327 (Intel N3450)

[fragmentedb]

So I've been struggling with my Zotac CI327 pfSense 2.4.3 setup.

I've installed the RealTek 1.94 driver that TheNarc posted, and have the box up and running; however my download speed tests seem to be inconsistent.

I've been getting between 60-120Mbps down, according to fast.com

With my older pfSense box (OEM Production 2550L2D-MxPC) I was getting at least 220Mbps down, using the same test.

(the CI327 maxes out my upload speed, which is a sad 20Mbps)

I'm not running any ids packages, i've toggled different network hardware offload settings, and they do not make a difference.

my loader.conf.local:

# Disable HPET for FreeBSD 11.1 on Apollo Lake
# https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=222908
hint.hpet.0.clock=0

# Optimize boot
# Disable sdhci - unsupported sdcard and emmc
hw.sdhci.enable_msi=0

hint.sdhci_pci.0.disabled=1
hint.sdhci_pci.1.disabled=1

# use re driver
if_re_load="YES"

Note: I did not disable mwait in the bios.

I was wondering what other people's configs and setups were, and what speeds they were getting?

[TheNarc]

I do believe that the "gigabit" Realtek NICs on the Zotac boxes actually top out around 300Mbps, but afaik they ought to handle 220Mbps.  Unfortunately, I am a mere mortal with 60/5 Internet so although I have a CI323, I can't duplicate your test.  The closest I could come was running a few iperf tests between my CI323 and a host on my LAN, and those came back consistently at or just around 500Mbps, which was actually higher than expected.  I'm pretty sure the CI323 and CI327 use the same Realtek NICs, so I feel pretty comfortable saying they should be able to handle 220+Mbps.  I know it's a pain, but maybe it's worth backing up your config, doing a fresh installation, and seeing whether you still see the slow speeds "out of the box?"

[SammyWoo]

Am gonna ask the same boring question to all posts complaining about speed, what is the CPU LOAD?

[highwire]

@TheNarc:

I do believe that the "gigabit" Realtek NICs on the Zotac boxes actually top out around 300Mbps, but afaik they ought to handle 220Mbps.  Unfortunately, I am a mere mortal with 60/5 Internet so although I have a CI323, I can't duplicate your test.  The closest I could come was running a few iperf tests between my CI323 and a host on my LAN, and those came back consistently at or just around 500Mbps, which was actually higher than expected.  I'm pretty sure the CI323 and CI327 use the same Realtek NICs, so I feel pretty comfortable saying they should be able to handle 220+Mbps.  I know it's a pain, but maybe it's worth backing up your config, doing a fresh installation, and seeing whether you still see the slow speeds "out of the box?"

I have a Zotac ID-92 (Core i5-4570T) with those Realtek NICs and the v1.94 driver (thanks for that BTW).  When I run iperf from any of my networked computers (Mac, Windows 10, Linux) to the server running on the Zotac, it reports 940mbps.  Maybe I'm just lucky!

[TheNarc]

Nice!  Well I'm glad the compiled driver has been helpful.  Unfortunately I don't have any great ideas about why your download speed would be slow.  I see that your older PC had Broadcom NICs, but you've proven that the Realteks on the Zotac are more than capable of 200+Mbps.  Was this testing performed following a fresh installation, or after restoring a config?  If you're not running any IDS and have double checked that you have no traffic shaping enabled somehow, maybe it's worth doing a fresh installation and running some speed tests on different sites before customizing any settings.  Also, I don't see whether you said if your older machine was also running 2.4.3?  In other words, do you suspect this is an issue with 2.4.3, or an issue with the Zotac hardware you're running on?