Studio Display & USB-C Ethernet adapter performance issues

[chrfr]

any chance this might be related (specific to M1 devices)?

M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

It’s limited to 5 Gb/s, giving read rates of about 400 MB/s and writes at about 430 MB/s. Fine for Time Machine backups, but bad with NVMe drives.

eclecticlight.co

No, it’s just a bad driver for that particular ethernet adapter.

 

[collin_]

any chance this might be related (specific to M1 devices)?

M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

It’s limited to 5 Gb/s, giving read rates of about 400 MB/s and writes at about 430 MB/s. Fine for Time Machine backups, but bad with NVMe drives.

eclecticlight.co

That's very strange, but thankfully that shouldn't be the issue because even for a gigabit internet connection (~940 Mb/s) we would only need ~117.5 MB/s bandwidth.

 

[cczhu]

Does anyone know if the new betas (Mac or Studio Display) fix this issue?

 

[jacklivehere]

I think issue is related to m1 chipset . It works fine with my intel iMac 2020 , but speed is slower with apple silicon

 

[arfung]

Hi, I ran the comparison test with:

1. MacBook Pro M1 Pro
2. Apple Studio Display (15.4 firmware)
3. Anker 8-1 USB-C hub with gigabit ethernet (RealTek chip)

Tested with OpenSpeedTest to Synology NAS in basement (connected through gigabit ethernet switch).

Speed test 1: Apple Studio Display - Anker Hub - Synology NAS:
Download: 751 Mbps
Upload: 534.8 Mbps

Speed test 2: MBPro M1 Pro - Anker Hub - Synology NAS
Download: 978.5 Mbps
Upload: 918.6 Mbps

So, I am definitely seeing a speed hit on ethernet, but now as much as some folks are reporting on this thread....

 

[mrj412]

Does anyone know if the new betas (Mac or Studio Display) fix this issue?

I have installed both the MacOS and ASD betas today and can confirm that there is no improvement in speeds for my Belkin 1Gb USB-C adapter.

 

[cczhu]

looks like the latest update iOS 15.5 and macOS 12.4 didn't solve the speed issue. So annoying that ethernet only works at half the speed if connected via the Studio Display or Ultrafine.

 

[dangson]

I just got the Anker 11-in-1 USB C hub and it is able to get gigabit speeds when connected to my Studio Display.

Tested with M1 Mac mini running macOS 12.4, Studio Display running 15.5.

Studio Display - Anker hub - Unraid NAS over cat 5e cable:

iperf3
[  7] local 192.168.1.9 port 56687 connected to 192.168.1.8 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  7]   0.00-1.00   sec   115 MBytes   969 Mbits/sec
[  7]   1.00-2.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   2.00-3.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   3.00-4.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   4.00-5.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   5.00-6.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   6.00-7.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   7.00-8.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   8.00-9.00   sec   110 MBytes   926 Mbits/sec
[  7]   9.00-10.00  sec   111 MBytes   933 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.10 GBytes   942 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.09 GBytes   938 Mbits/sec                  receiver

 

[cczhu]

They didn't fix this issue in macOS 12.5.

 

[headcase]

I just got the Anker 11-in-1 USB C hub and it is able to get gigabit speeds when connected to my Studio Display.

Tested with M1 Mac mini running macOS 12.4, Studio Display running 15.5.

Studio Display - Anker hub - Unraid NAS over cat 5e cable:

iperf3
[  7] local 192.168.1.9 port 56687 connected to 192.168.1.8 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  7]   0.00-1.00   sec   115 MBytes   969 Mbits/sec
[  7]   1.00-2.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   2.00-3.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   3.00-4.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   4.00-5.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   5.00-6.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   6.00-7.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   7.00-8.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec
[  7]   8.00-9.00   sec   110 MBytes   926 Mbits/sec
[  7]   9.00-10.00  sec   111 MBytes   933 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.10 GBytes   942 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.09 GBytes   938 Mbits/sec                  receiver

I am curious if more folks will try out this config of hanging a USB-C hub with a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port directly off of their Apple Studio Display or 24/27" LG UltraFine as the solution. I might explore that myself, even tho I know it means sharing some of that 40Gbps bandwidth thru the Thunderbolt connection back to my laptop.

 

[southerndoc]

I am curious if more folks will try out this config of hanging a USB-C hub with a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port directly off of their Apple Studio Display or 24/27" LG UltraFine as the solution. I might explore that myself, even tho I know it means sharing some of that 40Gbps bandwidth thru the Thunderbolt connection back to my laptop.

Some of us need 10G

 

[headcase]

Some of us need 10G

Fair enough, fellow Marvin.

 

[embotix]

I am curious if more folks will try out this config of hanging a USB-C hub with a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port directly off of their Apple Studio Display or 24/27" LG UltraFine as the solution. I might explore that myself, even tho I know it means sharing some of that 40Gbps bandwidth thru the Thunderbolt connection back to my laptop.

I've done this, and it works, but then I run into this issue.

 

[xraydoc]

I just received my Studio Displays and discovered the throughput issue with the Belkin USB-C ethernet adapter I had been using. I was getting 900+ Mbps and now I'm getting 550 Mbps when connected through the display (which I prefer to do to minimize the number of cables attached to my MacBook Pro).

Just ordered the D-Link someone noted above, so hopefully it'll work at full speed for me as it did for one of the users above.

 

[Bigwaff]

While focused on TB docks, discusses USB Ethernet driver issues in macOS. Most TB docks Ethernet support are via USB so discussion applicable. Avoid Realtek chipset if possible.

PCIe Ethernet in Thunderbolt docks

Hello! Currently I'm in the market for Thunderbolt docks to pair with my 14" MacBook Pro. I've been looking on the market for docks with better reli...

egpu.io

 

[foobarbaz]

Just adding a note that the RSHTECH USB-C to 2.5G Ethernet Adapter also gets Gigabit speeds with the Studio Display and my 16-inch MBP M1 Pro. It was the cheapest I could find at the moment.

 

[CubeApril]

It's discussed in quite a few threads, but if you are going to get a Realtek ethernet device, get one with an RTL8156, not an RTL8153.

They will all be 2.5Gbps adapters, but they work much with the current macOS -- and, if you can, get one with the newest revision of the chip, the RTL8156B(S)G. Since switching to it, I have had literally zero issues with ethernet on macOS and easily push a full gigabit without CPU issues.

 

[cczhu]

It's discussed in quite a few threads, but if you are going to get a Realtek ethernet device, get one with an RTL8156, not an RTL8153.

They will all be 2.5Gbps adapters, but they work much with the current macOS -- and, if you can, get one with the newest revision of the chip, the RTL8156B(S)G. Since switching to it, I have had literally zero issues with ethernet on macOS and easily push a full gigabit without CPU issues.

do you happen to know if you can reach the full speed (close to 2.5Gbps) with with RTL8156?

There is the hypothesis that for whatever unknown reason, the USB port cuts the speed in half - that's why you get gigabit speed with 2.5Gbps (2.5/2 = 1.25Gbps).

 

[CubeApril]

I don't have a 2.5Gbps switch to test unfortunately, but performance testing on Linux seems to show the RTL8156BSG averaging 2.34Gbps:

Fixing performance issues with Realtek RTL8156B 2.5GbE USB dongle in Ubuntu - CNX Software

A few days ago, I reviewed a USB 3.0 to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet adapter based on Realtek RTL8156B chip in Ubuntu 20.04, and let's say the reliability and

www.cnx-software.com

I do hit 900+ Mbps without any issue, on macOS.

 

[cczhu]

I don't have a 2.5Gbps switch to test unfortunately, but performance testing on Linux seems to show the RTL8156BSG averaging 2.34Gbps:

Fixing performance issues with Realtek RTL8156B 2.5GbE USB dongle in Ubuntu - CNX Software

A few days ago, I reviewed a USB 3.0 to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet adapter based on Realtek RTL8156B chip in Ubuntu 20.04, and let's say the reliability and

www.cnx-software.com

I do hit 900+ Mbps without any issue, on macOS.

Thanks! I know the chip can do 2.5 Gbps but wonders if macOS does support that for the full speed. It might just cut the speed to half (1.25 Gbps) which is still well over gigabit.

 

[MoOx]

I just got fiber installed at home and was facing very weird performances and unstable issues...

I made some tests using this Anker 2.5Gpbs + fast.com and it just blew my mind:

- MacBook Pro M1 connected to Anker 2.5Gbps : around 2.5Gbps as expected.
- MacBook Pro M1 connected to Studio Display + Anker 2.5Gbps : around 0.5Gbps... Sometimes around 1Gbps

This is "expected" according to previous comments but now is the mind blower:

- MacBook Pro M1 connected to Anker 2.5Gbps in one port AND Studio Display on the other port : same result as if the adapter is connected to the Studio Display 😭

That's crazy. There is probably an answer but this seems so stupid.
I have tested to move the adapter & also the studio display to others ports... Same problem.

So this Anker 2.5Gbps adapter, as soon as connected with Studio Display (directly on MacBook or on the Studio Display) seems to become unstable...

Fun fact: I can see that, as soon as I plug the studio display, with Anker adapter already connected to the MacBook, macOS seems to disconnect & reconnect the adapter in Network preference pane. Like it there was a "known issue" that macOS seems to avoid by limiting the adapter somehow...

I guess I will try the TrendNet adapter...

 

[shaown]

maybe it a driver conflict of some sort

 

[southerndoc]

Are the ASD connections USB-C or Thunderbolt? Interestingly, I had emailed SonnetTech about supporting a T4 hub that supports 10G ethernet. The response I got was as follows: "Unfortunately, Thunderbolt 4 provides only one lane of PCIe (see this video for an explanation) which would provide a 10Gb throughput between 2.5G and 5G. We thought that this would be too disappointing, We could do it with a Thunderbolt 3 Dock, but that would have only one downstream TB port, and most customers are prefering TB4 Docks."

Makes me wonder if there is a combined effect causing the throughput degradation.

 

[Jonas Danielsson]

Has anyone tried on macos ventura?

Should I buy the Anker 2.5gbps adapter or D-Link DUB-E250?

Im on unifi network flex XG swith and macbook pro 16 mac and ASD?

 

[xraydoc]

Are the ASD connections USB-C or Thunderbolt?

USB-C