Linux RedHat realistic network throughput

I've found many people say that current versions of Windows can do about 1.8Mbps (by default) and if you play around with MTU, you can get up to about 7Mbps real throughput on the network.

I'm trying to determine about what you can get in real throughput with Linux (RedHat Enterprise 4 specifically), without actually setting up software and trying to measure it in the real world.

Has anybody gotten some numbers on general Linux network throughput capability?

I know it depends on many other things such as: transfer protocol used, service (ftp, http, etc.), network/WAN latency, and all those good things, but I'm just trying to get a similar "generic" measure like I've found for Windows.

You could assume it has almost no latency, gigabit Ethernet, and the fastest protocol/service combination available.

The ACTUAL "thing" I'm trying to figure out is how fast a Linux box will send a 40GB file over a dedicated T1 (1.544Mbps) or DS3 (45Mbps) link, which has about 60mS latency. A Windows box would take too long since 7Mbps is as fast as it could go.