best network card...intel or 3com!

[morte]

hi!

I'm going to buy a network card!

And I cant decide..

can you help me! between these!

intel pro/100 s management adapter
3com etherlink 10/100 PCI NIC's with 3XP proc.

advise??
I have a intel 815e motherboard...

thx
morte

 

[jtshaw]

Hard call, I have one of each and they both work great.

 

[roc919]

If you're buying it for a gaming PC, then a cheaper DLink, LinkSys, or NetGear should suffice.

I would only spend the extra dough for an Intel or 3com if I was buying one for a server or workstation--for its professional feature such as VLANs and fault tolerance.

 

[morte]

hi again!

well...money is no concern...

I want a good card...(if I can get a intel or 3com, then I should get it? or?)

and I cant decide between inte intel and 3com..

advise?

thx
morte

 

[roc919]

The Intel and 3com NICs are on the same level. I can tell you from a professional network perspective that corporate system engineers would pick either, depending on the amount of history and experience that they have with each--usually, they go with one or the other, all the way.

So either brand is fine.

 

[Jaraxal]

I would have to disagree with roc919. I have 2 Linksys 10/100 PCI ethernet cards. While they certainly served there purpose initially, I started having problems with them. My computers would work fine until I tried to access something on the network or internet and then there would be a long pause (1-3 minutes). I watched my Router lights and noticed that the computers' link was going down.

Needless to say I tried different drivers (default Windows installed, latest from Manufacturer), OSs (Win98, WinME, W2K, and various Linux distros), as well as several motherboards (Asus A7V, Abit BX6, Asus P3V4X and Intel 815). I simply could not reliably get the cards to work well on anything other than the Intel 815 and the Asus P3V4X).

So I switched to 3Com 10/100 PCI ethernet cards and all of my problems went away. Not to mention MUCH better support in Linux.

Don't get me wrong, the Linksys and other value cards are okay ... but you get what you pay for and I'd rather pay for quality.

To answer your question, you are safe going with either a 3Com or an Intel. Both of similiar support and performance.

<edit: Typos>

 

[BigToque]

Go 3Com. I bought a pair of 10/100 cards and I haven't had a single problem.

 

[MulLa]

I think it's a bit of a waste to go for an Intel / 3Com card for home use. They are meant for the corporate world there compatibility with various specific software is required.

 

[backWERD]

I would go with the intel card

 

[Possum]

I thought the 3xp chip was mainly to help data encryption. Also, one of my friend's friend had a heck of a time getting it to work properly in Windows (98 or ME), and spent several minutes on the phone with Microsoft (I forgot which company's fault the problem was) with configuration and some registry changes (if I remember correctly).
I have yet to see first-hand how the 3Com card with 3xp chip performs.

If you want to compare the Intel Pro/100+ Management (which I have) to a 3Com 3c905B (which I also have), then I would recommend (not heavily) the Intel card over the 3Com. The reason - while both have similar performance with latency and tranferring files, the 3Com card took up more resources than the Intel card. Using the same 3c905B in a K6-2 300 machine, Celeron 300A@450 machine, and now a PIII-650@950 machine, there was a noticeable drop in FPS when benchmarking with Quake, Quake2, and Quake 3 (these were the only series that stayed with me through all of my comptuers). For example, if the network cards were idle, I would get ~5 FPS more (timedemo benchmark in Quake/Quake3) with the Intel than the 3Com 3c905b. If I started transferring files over the LAN here, then the difference became greater, where the result with the 3com card would drop even more.

 

[Rellik]

In mid 1999, I upgraded an old 10 Mbit gaming network.
The project required a quality 100Mbit solution. This was a 4 pc network, ranging from old P 166 to P2-400. I used:

4 Intel Etherexpress 100pro+ management
1 Intel Inbuisiness 8 port switch

OS: win 98/win NT 4.0/win2k/win me

Not a single problem. EVERY new os detects these cards. The only problem with 98 first edition is that it may install 2 cards. Just delete one.

I have since installed 6 additional cards. After having 10 Intel cards
I can just say: These cards are great. 3Com is also a great product, but I doubt they have the same kind of feats/stability/ease of operation as the Intel´s...

 

[jameseypoo]

my intel pro100 card is kickass. my roommate with the similar 3com card and a better PC, always has a higher ping than me in online games. We are both on a T3 and I'll get a ping of like 35 and I'll always be about 4ms below him

 

[Looney]

God, i HATE my Linksys LNE100TX... i've got 4 of these sitting around because they're such a headache with Win2k. All the freaking different revisions makes finding the right drivers a pain in the ass... and then when i finally got them installed, Win2k was freezing up on me constantly... thought it was an ACPI problem, did a reformat, disabled that, and still the same problems. Argh, never going to Linksys again... pay the extra cash and get an Intel or 3Com... i love my 3Coms.

 

[oldfart]

The Netgear FA310X is a card that is the quality of the high end cards and the price of the budget cards. The Netgear (Nortel networks) uses the DEC tulip chip, which is one of the best ever made.

 

[office boy]

Intel, In fact, I usually toss any 3com's first thing if they have anynet work problems at all. Plus drivers for the Intel are SOOOOO much nicer.

 

[jmcoreymv]

Intel definitely, I love my 10/100+ pro management cards.

 

[Doomguy]

Why not netgear? High quality, good customer service, and good driver support.

 

[oldfart]

People don't know who Netgear is. They think they are one of the cheapie companies like DLink and SMC and the like. Netgear is part of Nortel, a real networking company. They bought Bay networks awhile back.

 

[glp1del]

Not to add anymore confusion to this debate but the Netgear FA310TX is a great card that has never caused me any trouble.

Glp1

 

[dc]

i have 2 netgear fa310tx's, they rock.

 

[jmcoreymv]

Although I consider netgear and nortel to be great companies, i really dont consider bay networks to be extremely reputable, ive had alot of problems with their equipment.

 

[office boy]

Netgears used to suck because they didn't like weird PCI bus speeds. That still true?

 

[oldfart]

Actually, I'm not a big Nortel fan either, but I do like the Netgear nics.

 

[joeryu]

another vote for netgear, their fa311's kick ass, cheap too.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Do 3Com cards use a Intel chip? I didn't believe so, until soomeone with possibly more knowledge of the matter told me so. I haven't had time/desire to research it yet.

-SUO