The Realtek RTL8168 Gigabit Ethernet controller combines a triple-speed IEEE 802.3 compliant Media Access Controller (MAC) with a triple-speed Ethernet transceiver, PCI Express bus controller, and embedded memory. With state-of-the-art DSP technology and mixed-mode signal technology, it offers 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 device supports the PCI Express 1.0a bus interface for host communications with power management and is compliant with the IEEE 802.3u specification for 10/100Mbps Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3ab specification for 1000 Mbps Ethernet. It also supports an auxiliary power auto-detect function, and will auto-configure related bits of the PCI power management registers in PCI configuration space.

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