Method and device for tunable packet arbitration

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates packet communication between a device within a computing system and one or more additional devices of the computing system. The system receives either a point-to-point packet or a broadcast packet from the devices and inspects the header of the packet to determine the type of packet. The system also examines the state of the computing system to determine whether the state of the computer system is broadcast preferred or point-to-point only. If the type of the packet is broadcast and the state of the computing system is broadcast preferred, the system sends the packet to all of the additional devices, but if the type of the packet is broadcast and the state of the computing system is point-to-point only, the system delays sending the packet until the state of the computing system changes to broadcast preferred. If the type of the packet is point-to-point and the state of the computing system is broadcast preferred and vice versa.