How many Gigabit Ethernet cards be installed per PCI bus segment?
A. Depending on the load, two or more Gigabit Ethernet controllers can be used in 64-bit, 66 MHZ PCI slots per PCI bus segment. Many systems today contain two or more PCI bus segments (channels) allowing additional loads, however the total SDRAM bandwidth must also be considered. Since Gigabit Ethernet can run at very high bus speed of up to 250MB per port, two interfaces can potentially consume much of the available PCI bandwidth if running at full-capacity simultaneously. Using additional PCI bus segments is recommended. One Gigabit Ethernet can be used in 32-bit, 33MHZ PCI slots up to the 90-118MB range, but throughputs above this may overrun the 32-bit PCI bus. 64-bit and/or 66 MHZ PCI bus based systems are highly recommended for Gigabit Ethernet.
