Wednesday, October 2nd 2019
Intel Readies the i225-V "Foxville" Low-cost 2.5 Gbps Ethernet PHY
Intel is readying the i225-V "Foxville," its new generation of low-cost Ethernet PHY controllers for client-segment motherboards and notebooks. With it, the company will be mainstreaming 2.5 Gbps as the client-segment wired-networking standard, after nearly 15 years of 1 GbE dominance. The i225-V is expected to feature in the upcoming wave of socket LGA2066 motherboards for Intel's "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processors, followed by the company's 400-series chipset that launches alongside the "Comet Lake-S" MSDT processors. The i225-V isn't the first of its kind, with the likes of Realtek and Broadcom having already launched 2.5 GbE PHYs. The Intel chip, however, is expected to mainstream the standard as it's currently the most popular GbE PHY brand with the success of the i219-V and i218-V.
Much like the i219-V, the i225-V is a low-cost PHY that relies on PCH-based Ethernet MAC and its proprietary PCIe-based bus that runs at half the data-rate of PCIe. This is precisely why the i219-V doesn't feature on AMD motherboards, but rather its pricier sibling, the i211-AT, which comes with an integrated MAC and a standard PCIe interface. Both chips are known to offer identical throughput performance, however, the i211-AT edges ahead with some features such as TCP segmentation, direct cache access, etc. The i219-V sells for as little as $1.5 per chip in high-volume reels to motherboard manufacturers, and the i225-V is expected to be priced roughly similar. In contrast, the i211-AT goes for almost $3.25 a pop. Intel is yet to publish documentation that details software features of the i225-V, but the Linux community is already on the job at developing drivers. 2.5 GbE uses existing Cat5E/Cat6 cabling requirements as 1 GbE, and hence has a better chance at mainstreaming compared to 10 GbE, which has been around for a decade, with little success in the client segment.
Sources:
Phoronix, siuol11 (Reddit)
Much like the i219-V, the i225-V is a low-cost PHY that relies on PCH-based Ethernet MAC and its proprietary PCIe-based bus that runs at half the data-rate of PCIe. This is precisely why the i219-V doesn't feature on AMD motherboards, but rather its pricier sibling, the i211-AT, which comes with an integrated MAC and a standard PCIe interface. Both chips are known to offer identical throughput performance, however, the i211-AT edges ahead with some features such as TCP segmentation, direct cache access, etc. The i219-V sells for as little as $1.5 per chip in high-volume reels to motherboard manufacturers, and the i225-V is expected to be priced roughly similar. In contrast, the i211-AT goes for almost $3.25 a pop. Intel is yet to publish documentation that details software features of the i225-V, but the Linux community is already on the job at developing drivers. 2.5 GbE uses existing Cat5E/Cat6 cabling requirements as 1 GbE, and hence has a better chance at mainstreaming compared to 10 GbE, which has been around for a decade, with little success in the client segment.
48 Comments on Intel Readies the i225-V "Foxville" Low-cost 2.5 Gbps Ethernet PHY
Intel has been working on this for quite some time and Linux drivers were released months ago.
At least, it's finally official.
ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/184676/intel-ethernet-controller-i225-v.html
There's also an i225-lm version. Both will be available until 2034 apparently...
ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/184675/intel-ethernet-controller-i225-lm.html
After tall these years of sticking with 1Gb, you come now with 2.5Gb to make it mainstream ?
They should put 2.5Gb the new low end, 5.0Gb the new mainstream, and 10Gb for the new high-end (for both high-end mainstream platform and HEDT). And leave the 1Gb as the new very-low-end.
I've got no issues with realtek .. a decade ago it was different though.
get 120 mb/sec on 1 gigabit realtek, intel 116 mb/sec o.0
I can testify that i did have those issues on several motherboards before, under windows 7. Since W10 I have been using Intel LAN so not sure about the rates of Realtek there
Long time ago several motherboard manufacturers tried to do a push with 10GbE on Intel HEDT motherboards BUT Intel abruptly killed it by massively raising the price of their HEDT chipset to make more money.
Then when the new motherboard's with the more expensive HEDT Intel chipset came out 10Gbit was no where to be found since motherboard manufacturers removed it to keep the cost of motherboards down.
So it was actually Intel that killed the 10Gbit push back then and now they are now going with 2.5GbE, WHY NO GO WITH 10GbE right away, god knows the tech is old now and with volume production the prices would NOT be much higher than 2.5GbE.
This is ridiculous, so we have to go thru the motions and first do 2.5GbE for a few years and the 5GbE for another few years and THEN WHAT, come to 10GbE in 10 years.
In 10 years there will be new tech that handles massive Terrabit networks if not even Petabit.
I find Intel to be the devil of the tech industry, now days they do not push any new tech unless some one else done it first so they are forced to do it just to keep up.
Thank god we have AMD and other companies in the industry that understand that new tech is what drives sales and keeps the PC alive.
If Intel had their way we would buy the same old sh!t over and over again endlessly, you could say to be stuck with Intel is the definition of living in tech hell.
I did a quick throughput test a little while ago. Have a look here.
www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/quick-comparison-1gbps-2-5gbps-5gbps-10gbps-ethernet.258150/
Why is this dead horse being flogged again? Nobody is going to care about 2.5GbE because they will either be plugging it into a 10Gb port, or they'll be connecting to an older gigabit switch or router. You'd be mad to invest in 2.5GbE networking hardware when 10GbE is more affordable on the whole.
This is BS, 10 GbE adaptation is slow not because of cables but because NIC-s are expensive and what worse getting 10Gb Switch/Router will cost arm and leg.
Just consider how a new WiFi AX (WiFi 6) router costs upwards of $500, once you do that, $200-$400 for a managed multi gig 10GBase-T switch is pretty reasonable.
PSA: never heed the advice of those who promote SFP+ 10gig networks for home useover 10GBase-T, MMF and DACs, and transceivers end up canceling out any cost savings from saving a few bucks on a slightly cheaper SFP+ 10gig NIC...and you can't wire up a whole house with DACs and MMF is much more involved than running CAT6a/7 in your walls
For enthusiasts at home, 40Gbit makes no sense (yet), but when you need to upgrade your home network from 1Gbit anyway, why do a half step to 2.5 or 5 when 10Gbit exists?
Edit: Don't do Fiber at home, SFP+ and QSFP28 transcivers will eat all your money before you even got a switch.
This seems to be the cheapest 2.5Gbps switch to date, which should really be $130 less than it is, to be attractive. (assuming you see the $330 price)
www.amazon.com/dp/B079Z2SHCX/
D-Link also has one, that should be $150 less than it is.
www.amazon.com/D-Link-Managed-Gigabit-Ethernet-DMS-1100-10TS/dp/B07BMJ28V9But they're also noisy, often fibre and huge. Most consumers wouldn't accept that, so if we're talking consumer adoption, that's a no go.
Obviously some of us are mad and don't care, or have a network rack or similar (I don't), but not everyone can have things like that at home.
I have a Netgear GS110EMX, as I only have two 10Gbps devices, but yeah, it wasn't cheap for what it was, although as I got it from Amazon UK, I saved 20% VAT on the retail price and it was even on a special when I got it.
Also, what most of you forget, is that most consumers only have 1Gbps networks at home, if that. Most people simply use Wi-Fi and are content with being able to get online.
We're not mainstream consumers, hence why we bitch and moan so much about this stuff...
On the other hand, if 2.5Gbps replaces 1Gbps and we get reasonably priced multi-gig switches that goes up to 10Gbps, is anyone really going to complain if there's no noticeable price difference on the board end?Readily? In what country? The Netgear XS505M is $400 on Amazon and that's an old piece of crap at this point. The XS508M is $600 and their other similar products that aren't Multi-gig around the same price. Then there's the MS510TX which is a mere $270, but only has one usable non fibre 10Gbps port, plus two 5Gbps and two 2.5Gbps ports and four Gigabit ports.
Trendnet has an 8-port model for $540 and QNAP wants $550 for their weird "12" port which has 8 copper ports.
I don't see any switches for the prices you're talking about. So $200-400 is something you've dreamt up.