Intel® Ethernet Adapters and Devices User Guide
Interrupt Moderation Rate
This feature sets the Interrupt Throttle Rate (ITR). This setting moderates the rate at which Transmit and Receive interrupts are generated.
When an event such as packet receiving occurs, the adapter generates an interrupt. The interrupt interrupts the CPU and any application running at the time, and calls on the driver to handle the packet. At greater link speeds, more interrupts are created, and CPU rates also increase. This results in poor system performance. When you use a higher ITR setting, the interrupt rate is lower and the result is better CPU performance.
A higher ITR rate also means that the driver has more latency in handling packets. If the adapter is handling many small packets, it is better to lower the ITR so that the driver can be more responsive to incoming and outgoing packets.
Altering this setting may improve traffic throughput for certain network and system configurations, however the default setting is optimal for common network and system configurations. Do not change this setting without verifying that the desired change will have a positive effect on network performance.
To change this setting in Intel® PROSet:
This setting is found on the Advanced tab of the device’s Device Manager property sheet or in the Adapter Settings panel in Intel® PROSet Adapter Configuration Utility (Intel® PROSet ACU).
To change this setting in Windows PowerShell*, use the
Set-IntelNetAdapterSetting -Name "<adapter_name>" -DisplayName "Interrupt Moderation Rate" -DisplayValue "Adaptive"
Possible values for this setting are:
Adaptive
Extreme
High
Medium
Low
Minimal
Off