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3Com, Linksys, Intel... Which is the best network card?

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8602081

Banned
Hi,
I have 3 choices to choose from and can't decide which card to put into my machine...

I have 3com 305 tx rev.C....Linksys 10/100 PCI card(LNE 100TX 2.0).... and Intel Pro Pci 100TX card..

I am running 100mgbit lan at my home..

anyone know a site that has network card review and performance...?

Which card should I put in..

 
They are all good cards and I have had good experiences with them all. My vote goes for 3com though, just b/c I have used more of them than anything else 🙂
 
I've got both the Linksys and the Intel, and while both have worked quite nicely for me, I would have to suggest either the Intel, or 3Com. Both should work without having to install any extra drivers on most OS's.
 
Honestly as far as performance, pretty much all network card will be the same.
From the choices you have I personally would go with Intel brand, since it is compatible with all of the existing OSes out there (Win98, WinMe, WinNT, Win2000, Linux, BeOS, etc..) and most of the OSes will detect Intel automatically without need for special drivers.

With Linksys you'll be able to get around as well, but you'll need to download and install drives for each OS

With 3COM, while being a good brand, I could never get my card to work in Win2000 or Linux. 3COM doesn't have WinNT/Win2000 drivers up to day for its Management100+ series.
 
In this order for actual real world performace:

Intel
3com
Linksys

That said, they are pretty similar in performance. Well, the Intel and 3com are at least.
 
In terms of speed, how much difference are we talking about? I never really looked into network cards before. When I needed one for the first time, I bought a $20 Linksys (using it right now) and this sucker is awesome... no problems with it so far. So if I went out and bought a $50 3com... how much increase in performance are we talking about here?
 
I'll have to agree with guste's order of choice:

Intel
3com
Linksys

but not for network performance - more for CPU utilization. I've _noticed_ games running slower when downloading with the bottom two cards more than the top one. I took out my Intel card once to try the Linksys and _felt_ the difference in Counterstrike. I put the Intel card back in when I couldn't find any other reason for the extra "jerkiness" I was experiencing (testing the 2 cards on the same server just minutes apart).
 
As for performance all cards (even the $10) are the same
The only point is to look ar the drivers
For Win2000 any $10 card will do the job
 
the only point of getting a more expensive card over a cheap linksys is for manageablility and wake on lan that type of thing, for a corporate environment. I have a 3com (got it for free from a friend) and it seems to have better diagnostic software (Well it has some, which is better than most cards already).
 
if you don't care about how much you spend, get the intel. if you care about how much you spend, get a netgear. 🙂
 
I'm not trying to buy a network card.. I have all 3. I was just wondering which is more efficient(uses less CPU)..
that's all..

I appreciate all the info.
 
Most of the el-cheapo $10 NICs are great because Win2k or ME will detect their Realtek-compatible controller and install Microsoft's generic drivers, which are quite good in terms of CPU utilization (the only thing that really varies between cards.)

Modus
 
I like the Intel NICs

I use a Linksys and I think they are the best value for the dollar (cheap but very good) but since you already own them I'd go with the Intel.
 
I have a linksys PCI II model and it runs fine. got it about 2 years ago. My roomate has a newer linksys network card he got a couple of months ago and it works great too. Setup/installation was flawless. Plus win2k has the drivers on the cd already.
 
I have used 3 Com for the past few years, mostly 905 models. Never had a single problem with any of them, all still going strong. Although I would personally go for either the Intel or the 3 com NIC's, go for the newest model out of the two.
 
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