Which multiplier setting for Gigabit network
2 posts · Closed
OK... I totally love NetWorx and I will keep renewing it...
I have a Gigabit network, and the multiplier setting confuses me... which should it be set to?
My network setup: everything goes to my Gigabit Switch, then to my Cisco 2851 ISR Router, then to my Cable Modem.
So all I am monitoring is the Gigabit speed of my computer over my LAN. That is why I was wondering what the "multiplier" setting should be set to, so it shows me the most accurate Gigabit LAN speed.
The multiplier setting affects how kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes are calculated based on the measured bytes. There are two systems in existence:
- When the multiplier is 1000: 1 KB = 1000 Bytes, 1 MB = 1000000 Bytes, 1 GB = 1000000000 Bytes
- When the multiplier is 1024: 1 KB = 1024 Bytes, 1 MB = 1048576 Bytes, 1 GB = 1073741824 Bytes
As some ISPs use the first system and others use the second system, this settings allows you to bring NetWorx readings close to those provided by the ISP. The setting only affects the presentation of the reports. The actual numbers that NetWorx records and the precision of its reports will be the same no matter what you choose.
If not sure, I recommend leaving the default value 1024 (Kibi) as it is more widely used than 1000.
We also have an excellent article explaining difference between MB/s and Mb/s and mentioning the Kibi units, you may like to have a look at it.