Actual steps needed for Gb networking?

[Mercutio]

Well I think theres probably a good few here that have gigabit nic's built into the mobo if they don't have a card by now. What actually needed to get this all working properly though?

I currently have (I think) most of the required kit, i'm simply after getting my main rig and a future download/filer box talking to each other quickly.

As I understand it as soon as you introduce a 100Mb nic into the network everything ends up busted (due to having to enable/tweak settings for jumbo frames to get the most out of Gb). With this in mind would a crossover cable and using twin gigabit (one for gigabit and one for talking to routers/the outside world) be an option?

The reason for all this is basically due to having a decent raid setup on my current box, when the other box goes in this raid will likely get moved across and i'll go SSD on my main rig.

So: what do I need to do to have it all play nice? Is 125MB/sec over a network actually possible?

 

[Tomsk]

I use a Gb network without having fiddled with my frame sizes. Currently my HD speeds ~60MB/s are the limiting factor. Occasionally my network will peak at ~110MB/s when it moving data that's been cached in memory. I'm using onboard Realtek NICs. My router is only 100Mb/s and that's connected to my 5 port Netgear Gb switch along with everything else.
If you aren't continuously moving GBs of data across the network then it's probably not worth adjusting the frame sizes.

 

[PhillyDee]

Im the same. Have a Netgear Firewall router thats only connected to my Netgear gigabit switch. On that I have laptop, wireless access point, main pc and server. Also have 6 other faceplates wired up. I have a mix on my network as the switch supports it.