Ethernet Adapter Settings
Get recommended settings and information on common ethernet adapter nic settings.
Flow Control
Allows the network adapter to manage traffic congestion by pausing data transmission when buffers are full, helping to prevent dropped packets during high traffic.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Jumbo Frames
Increases the Ethernet frame size beyond the standard 1518 bytes, potentially improving throughput for large data transfers, but requires support from all network devices.
Recommended setting: Disabled (majority of the time for compatibility issues)
Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE)
Reduces power consumption during periods of low network activity by placing the network interface in a low power idle state.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Power Saving Mode
Allows the adapter to enter a low-power state when the system is idle, saving energy but potentially delaying network connectivity on wake-up.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Auto Disable Gigabit
Automatically disables Gigabit speeds when connecting to devices that do not support it to ensure compatibility or reduce power.
Recommended setting: Disabled; leave Gigabit enabled unless compatibility problems arise.
Wake on Magic Packet
Allows the system to wake from a low-power state when a specially formatted network packet ("magic packet") is received.
Recommended setting: Disabled unless if you use Wake-On-LAN features
Wake on pattern match
Wakes the PC from a low-power state when network traffic matches specific patterns, such as ARP requests or network logins.
Recommended setting: Disabled, unless remote wake functionality is needed.
Shutdown Wake-On-LAN
Enables the network adapter to respond to Wake-On-LAN packets when the computer is fully shut down (S5 state).
Recommended setting: Disabled for security; enable only if you need to power up machines remotely from shutdown.
NS Offload
Offloads Network Solicitation (NS) responses to the network card, reducing CPU usage and improving energy efficiency during sleep.
Recommended setting: Disabled, Enabled for efficient power saving
ARP Offload
Enables the network adapter to answer ARP requests while the system is sleeping, maintaining network presence.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Receive/Transmit Buffers
Controls the number of memory buffers for received and transmitted data for the network adapter.
Recommended setting: 1024 for both, or 1024 R and 2048 T, or 2048 for both
Large Send Offload / Large Receive Offload
Allows the network adapter to handle the segmentation and reassembly of large packets, reducing CPU load.
Recommended setting: Disabled (usually for compatibility issues)
Offload TCP Segmentation
Enables the network adapter to segment TCP data into packets, offloading the task from the CPU.
Recommended setting: Disabled (setting often has buggy implemenation when enabled)
IPv4/TCP/UDP Checksum Offload
Allows the network card to calculate and verify checksums in packet headers, reducing CPU burden.
Recommended setting: Test both ways (some CPUs can handle the load better than the NIC)
Gigabit Lite
A reduced-feature Gigabit mode that may increase compatibility with certain devices at the cost of full performance.
Recommended setting: Disabled unless compatibility issues demand enabling it.
Receive/Transmit Descriptors
Sets the number of descriptors for receive and transmit frames in the network adapter's buffer.
Recommended setting: Default; increase only if you experience network bottlenecks and have enough system RAM.
Interrupt Moderation Rate
Controls how often the network adapter interrupts the CPU to process packets, reducing CPU load at the cost of slightly increased latency.
Recommended setting: Default for most uses; can be fine-tuned for low-latency applications.
Interrupt Moderation
Allows the network adapter to group packets before interrupting the CPU, reducing overhead.
Recommended setting: Enabled for general use; disable for low-latency needs (like gaming or real-time apps).
Side note: Disabling can potentially cause more interrupts on the network driver which can also potentially raise latency on that driver
Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing
Dynamically adjusts the spacing between frames sent to help with network congestion or performance issues.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Receive Side Scaling
Enables simultaneous packet processing across multiple CPU cores to improve network throughput.
Recommended setting: Test both ways (can cause performance issues when enabled)
Log Link State Event
Records link state changes (e.g., link up/down) in the system log for diagnostic purposes.
Recommended setting: (optional) Disabled unless needed
Gigabit Master Slave Mode
Sets whether the network adapter operates as a master or slave during Ethernet negotiation.
Recommended setting: Auto (default); specify Master or Slave only to resolve network connectivity issues.
MAC Address / Locally Administered Address
Allows you to manually set a custom MAC address for the network interface.
Recommended setting: Leave blank (default) unless a custom MAC is required.
Speed and Duplex
Sets the speed and duplex mode (half/full) of the adapter.
Recommended setting: Auto-Negotiation; only force a specific value for compatibility or when not receiving your full link speeds.
Green Ethernet (Short Reach Mode)
Reduces power use if the cable is short and full Gigabit speeds are not required.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Wake-On-LAN and Shutdown Link speed
Determines the link speed the adapter uses in low-power/Wake-on-LAN modes.
Recommended setting: Auto/Default; adjust only if Wake-on-LAN does not function as expected.
DMA Coalescing
Lowers power consumption by aggregating multiple DMA (Direct Memory Access) operations into fewer events during low traffic.
Recommended setting: Disabled, or Enabled to save power.
Enable PME
Enables Power Management Events (PME) to allow the device to wake the computer from sleep on network activity.
Recommended setting: Disabled unless you need Wake-on-LAN or remote wake functions; otherwise .
Gigabit Phy Mode
Option to configure PHY (Physical Layer) settings for Gigabit Ethernet for certain compatibility situations.
Recommended setting: Default/Auto; modify only to resolve compatibility issues.
Priority Packet & VLAN
Enables support for IEEE 802.1p QoS tagging and VLANs, letting traffic be prioritized or separated.
Recommended setting: Disabled unless network environment supports and uses VLAN/QoS features.
PTP Hardware timestamp
Adds timestamping to packets for IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol synchronization over Ethernet.
Recommended setting: Disabled unless using PTP synchronization (rare outside enterprise or specialized setups).
Reduce Speed on Power Down
Lowers the connection speed when the system enters a low-power state to save energy.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Software Timestamp
Adds timestamping to packets for synchronization at the software level.
Recommended setting: Disabled unless specifically required for diagnostics or time-sensitive applications.
Wait for link
Determines whether the system waits for a network link before finishing startup processes.
Recommended setting: Disabled
Wake on Link settings
Wakes the system when a network link becomes active, not just by wake-on-LAN packets.
Recommended setting: Disabled unless needed for your remote wake scenario.