Realtek PDF datasheets for RTL8169

The Realtek RTL8169SB(L) NIC Gigabit Ethernet controllers combine a triple-speed IEEE 802.3 compliant Media Access Controller (MAC) with a triple-speed Ethernet transceiver, 32-bit PCI bus controller, and embedded memory. With state-of-the-art DSP technology and mixed-mode signal technology, they offer high-speed transmission over CAT 5 UTP cable or CAT 3 UTP (10Mbps only) cable. Functions such as Crossover Detection & Auto-Correction, polarity correction, adaptive equalization, cross-talk cancellation, echo cancellation, timing recovery, and error correction are implemented to provide robust transmission and reception capability at high speeds.

The devices support the PCI v2.3 and CardBus (RTL8169SBL only) bus interfaces for host communications with power management, and comply with the IEEE 802.3 specification for 10/100Mbps Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3ab specification for 1000Mbps Ethernet. They also support an auxiliary power auto-detect function, and will auto-configure related bits of the PCI power management registers in PCI configuration space.

They support the Advanced Configuration Power management Interface (ACPI)--power management for modern operating systems that are capable of Operating System-directed Power Management (OSPM)--to achieve the most efficient power management possible. PCI Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) is also supported.

In addition to the ACPI feature, the RTL8169SB(L) supports remote wake-up (including AMD Magic Packet, Re-LinkOk, and Microsoft® Wake-up frame) in both ACPI and APM (Advanced Power Management) environments. The LWAKE pin provides four different output signals including active high, active low, positive pulse, and negative pulse. The versatility of the LWAKE pin provides motherboards with Wake-On-LAN (WOL) functionality. To support WOL from a deep power down state (e.g. D3cold, i.e. main power is off and only auxiliary exists), the auxiliary power source must be able to provide the required power for the RTL8169SB(L).

The RTL8169SB(L) is fully compliant with Microsoft® NDIS5 (IP, TCP, UDP) Checksum and Segmentation Task-offload features, and supports IEEE 802 IP Layer 2 priority encoding and 802.1Q Virtual bridged Local Area Network (VLAN). The above features contribute to lowering CPU utilization, especially benefiting performance when in operation on a network server. Also, the devices boost their PCI performance by supporting PCI Memory Read Line & Memory Read Multiple when transmitting, and Memory Write and Invalidate when receiving. To better qualify for server use, the RTL8169SB(L) support the PCI Dual Address Cycle (DAC) command when the assigned buffers reside at a physical memory address higher than 4 Gigabytes.