Hi, From what I see the system originally shipped with a Fast Ethernet NIC, so you wouldn't be able to force it to handle the full gigabit speeds.    The RTL8111E Fast Ethernet controller combines an IEEE 802.3az 10/100Base-T compliant Media Access Controller (MAC), PCI Express bus controller, and embedded One-Time-Programmable (OTP) memory. With state-of-the-art DSP technology and mixed-mode signal technology, the RTL8111E 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.   If you're going off the naming structure of the driver itself, that is probably a branding issue with the manufacturer.   They probably thought it sounded better.    I hope this helps explain why you can't reach gigabit speeds.  If you have any other questions please reply and let me know. Todd
I'm having issue with getting Gigabit ethernet on the model # listed in the title. To start with I have:  -Checked the cable -Checked the router -Installed the latest drivers -Rebooted everything in every combination possible -Tested every component with another computer The strange thing with the drivers is that on the website the driver is listed as being Gigabit capable however when I install it is listed in the device manager as "Realtek PCIe FE." FE is Fast Ethernet which is not Gigabit. Why is Dell listing this laptop as have Gigabit support when it doesn't seem to? If it does, how do I enable Gigabit ethernet on it. I have tried forcing the Gigabit driver but it still does not give Gigabit speeds and forcing the Gigabit mode with that driver causes it to completely disable the connection. 
Dell 17R n7110 - No Gigabit ethernet