Onboard Intel i12-19v Problems - better to get an add-on card?

[malccy]

Hi

i'm not sure if I will be asking stupid questions but never been good with internet/network stuff.

Have had regular problems with internet and have feeling that some or all of it is being caused by my motherboard Ethernet which as in title is Intel i19-12v. My speeds through 4g wireless router (connected via ethernet cable to a Huawei 4gee box) are generally good but now and again the speeds are up and down or really rubbish.
Checking the Intel software today it failed on the 'Interrupt status'. I'm not sure what this actually means or how important it is. When I googled this another person had recently posted this problem on the Intel forum which Intel said they recognised this problem and were going to work on an update.

Now, as say I do not know much about this stuff but am getting Fibre in a few days and am wondering if the problems i've been having regularly with speeds are to do with the onboard Intel Ethernet and whether this same situation will continue so -

- should I get an ethernet add-on card
- If I do with a pcie card will it work okay with my i9 9900k and B360-f motherboard (enough lanes? etc)?
- Does having an add-on card cause latency increase or affect internet speed.

Really appreciate peoples help on this.

 

[Rainmaker]

Do you mean I219-V? I only ask because you listed it two different ways and neither are Intel NICs. The I129-V isn't the best NIC on the planet, but it's far from the worst. Intel are, generally speaking and certainly for 1Gb, the best cards you can get. I'd be more inclined to suspect the 4G and/or router side. That said, what drivers do you have installed, and from where? Download the Intel drivers direct from Intel's site, completely uninstall the interface (device manager in Windows) and then install the proper driver. Reboot and test again. Also ensure your cable is 100%, it may be worth trying a different one. You should be able to sustain symmetric gigabit (network permitting) without issues, even with an integrated NIC like yours.

 

[WJA96]

My speeds through 4g wireless router (connected via ethernet cable to a Huawei 4gee box) are generally good but now and again the speeds are up and down or really rubbish.

This is where I’d be looking. It’s extremely unusual for a wired network card to have issues whereas 4G is wireless and wireless is heavily effected by all sort of things which mean that sometimes the speeds are up and down or really rubbish.

 

[malccy]

Thanks for replies. I have been attempting to update the Intel drivers (from the Intel website) by either the pro set utility or the standalone driver but for some reason after stating the driver updated successfully the driver version and date have not changed. I have tried several times but to no avail.

Regarding the 4gee box being the problem is hard to determine as most of time it works perfectly fine as does my internet on the whole but now and again (say once a month for a few days) it will fluctuate and drop to an unusable speed.

After I switch to Fibre on Monday and if this problem persists is it a good idea to buy a add-on pcie lan card, will it be slower than using onboard and is there anything I need to know please?

 

[Rainmaker]

After I switch to Fibre on Monday and if this problem persists is it a good idea to buy a add-on pcie lan card, will it be slower than using onboard and is there anything I need to know please?

What 'fibre' are you getting? FTTC? FTTP? VM?

Either way your onboard should be perfectly fine. If it isn't, fix the driver issue and try a new cable before buying a new NIC. I don't have a Windows machine in front of me atm (I'm on Linux/BSD/macOS mostly), but from memory you want to open Device Manager, right click the network interface, open properties, and hit uninstall in the driver tab. Tick (or un-tick?) the delete the driver box and then install the latest Intel driver.

A plug in PCI-e card won't slow you down whatsoever, but it will take up a x4 slot. Pretty much any card will do for gigabit, but try to stick with Intel because they have stable drivers and low CPU usage (i.e. the card does most of the work via offload compared to something from Realtek). Broadcom aren't bad either. You'll get a decent single port card for about £20-25 pretty much anywhere you look, though it'll be an older one like an Intel Pro 1000.

 

[malccy]

Thanks Rainmaker.

The plan says 'fibre Plus' and best speed expected is 74mbps. It's coming from overhead line into house if that helps determine what type (feel really stupid not knowing).

Why I asked about whether an add-on card affecting speed is I gather the i9 9900k and my b360 has a limited number of lanes it can have used at one time.

 

[Rainmaker]

Thanks Rainmaker.

The plan says 'fibre Plus' and best speed expected is 74mbps. It's coming from overhead line into house if that helps determine what type (feel really stupid not knowing).

Why I asked about whether an add-on card affecting speed is I gather the i9 9900k and my b360 has a limited number of lanes it can have used at one time.

You have ordered Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC), then. Don't worry about PCIe lanes, at least not for a network card. Unless you currently have a couple of graphics cards, a stack of drives and so on then you won't even notice it's there.

 

[malccy]

Thanks Rainmaker.