Intel 8254x

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This page may thus be incomplete. Its content may be changed in the near future.

The Intel 8254x series is comprised of: 82546GB/EB, 82545GM/EM, 82544GC/EI, 82541(PI/GI/EI), 82541ER, 82547GI/EI, and 82540EP/EM Gigabit Ethernet Controllers.

Overview

Intel 8254x-based cards some in 32-/64-bit, 33/66 MHz PCI and PCI-X flavors. The Intel 82547GI(EI) connects to the motherboard via a Communications Streaming Architecture (CSA) port instead of a PCI/PCI-X bus. The 82541xx and 82540EP/EM controllers do not support the PCI-X bus.

They are all high-performance, Gigabit-capable controllers and range from 1 to 4 ethernet/fiber ports per controller.

The Intel 8254x series heavily utilizes task offloading. Each controller has an "offloading engine" for tasks such as TCP/UDP/IP checksum calculations, packet filtering, and packet segmentation.

• Jumbo packets are supported.
• Wake on LAN (WoL) is supported.
• A four wire serial EEPROM interface as well as a generic EEPROM "read" interface is implemented within the configuration registers.
• D0 and D3 power states are supported through ACPI.

Emulation

• VirtualBox (3.1 is all I can personally confirm) supports rather dodgy implementations of an Intel PRO/1000 MT Server (82545EM), Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM), and Intel PRO/1000 T Server (82543GC).

• VMWare Virtual Server 2 emulates/virtualizes an 82545EM-based card rather well.

• QEMU (no idea what versions are needed) supports an 82540EM-based card and it seems to work OK.

• IIRC (needs confirmation) Microsoft's Hyper-V supports an 8254x-series card.

Documentation

• Intel 8254x Family of Gigabit Ethernet Controllers Software Developer's Manual