Patent ID: 7603574

Claim:
A computing system, comprising: a network interface having at least two selectable network speed settings with said network interface negotiating a link speed with a link partner based on a selected network speed setting; a receive buffer to buffer incoming data traffic received by said network interface, said receive buffer having a maximum buffer size for buffering incoming data without loss; and a data receiving portion of said computing system receiving incoming data from said receive buffer, said data receiving portion having a plurality of performance levels including a normal operating level and at least two power down levels with each power down level having a latency associated with a transition to a normal operating state, a first power down level having a higher power consumption than a second power down level having reduced power consumption and a higher latency; said computing system having a normal mode of operation having a first network speed in which said first power down level is used for an idle state; said computing system having a power savings mode using said second power down level for the idle state to reduce power consumption and said computing system reducing the network speed setting in the power savings mode to a second network speed to limit the rate at which data arrives to reduce said maximum buffer size required during a wake up transition period from said second power down level to said normal operating level.