RAVENNA ASIO recommended Network Adapter

Owned by David Jacques
Last updated: Jan 30, 2024 by Robin Sartoretti
2 min read

Even if the Merging AES67 RAVENNA ASIO driver can run on any Gigabit Ethernet Adapter, including the onboard one, it is recommended to use a dedicated card.
Separate Network card is recommended for better AES67/RAVENNA ASIO performance.
Merging recommends Intel Gigabit network adapters.
 

In Windows Control Panel > Device Manager, locate the network adapters, select your card and access its Properties.
It is important to disable any power management feature.
Green Ethernet / Energy efficient Ethernet / Ultra Low Power mode / System Idle Power Saver must be disabled.
It is usually in a Power Management tab, but it can depend on the NIC manufacturer - model :

  • Reduce link Speed during standby must be disabled (especially when using a switch on the RAVENNA network) or Reduce Speed on Power Down to Disabled.
  • Wake on LAN  should be disabled also for dedicated RAVENNA network cards (not mandatory)

     

Additional Notes :

  • Jumbo packet is not supported.
  • Interrupt Moderation : can sometimes help to reduce sinks jitter when disabled (default is enabled)
  • Receive Side Scaling must be enabled (Default value).
  • Receive Side Scaling Queues must be set to 1  (Default value) (very poor performances with 2 queues)
  • Performance options : should be left to default values : Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing Disabled / Flow Control : RX & TX / Interrupt Moderation rate : Adaptive (will have no effect if Interrupt Moderation is disabled) / Receive Buffers : 256 / Transmit Buffers : 512.

Realtek 2.5 GbE Controllers

  • The default Receive Buffers value is often set to 512 by default.  Please set it to 256 (Transmit Buffers should be left to 512)


Upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 / Windows 11 :

  • On certain occurences, upgrading to Windows 11 could lead to some of the settings above not being accessible anymore (The crucial "RSS Queues" for example).
    In such cases, open the "Devices Manager", right click your network adapter > Driver > Downgrade Driver. 
    You should now have access to the hidden settings.