Gigabit only running @ 10% Network Utilization?

[dsc106]

OK, I'm not sure what is going on here. My setup is as follows

Internet -> 100mbps Router -> Gigabit Switch -> 3 Comps & Ubuntu Server

Everything is plugged into an onboard gigabit NIC on the motherboard of each system, into the gigabit switch. I have not yet upgraded to any other cables other than the older, standard cat5 cables I've had for years.

Task manager in Windows shows I have a 1gbps connection, yet whenever I copy files, network utilization is stuck at 10% - ie it's only running at 100mbps!

Any ideas what is wrong?

 

[dsc106]

Interesting...

Evidently Windows Media Player got hung up in memory trying to play a video over the network. Even though no network utiliztion showed up, once I killed the process, I am able to achieve higher speeds.

I now range from 20-30% utilization, sometimes a bit lower and sometimes a bit higher. Is this normal?

Also, my Windows XP machine can use windows media player to play videos over the NAS just fine. Vista's media player, however, just will not do it... odd :/ Any ideas as to why this is?

 

[thiggins]

Take a look at this thread (later posts)
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=899