Broadcom vs Intel NIC?

[Asphodelus]

Which is the better brand at the high end (as in server grade hardware)?

 

[turgenjev1]

I had some issues with Broadcom NICs and their drivers, so I would recommend Intel.

 

[PliotronX]

Intel's by far, along with lower failure rates (that I've seen), the later models support gimongous receive/transmit buffers.

 

[Emulex]

broadcom sucks balls. BACS. no windows 7 support (intel is out of box).

always pick intel then emulex then (the rest).. [windows/esxi].

mac would be 12th gen myricom(emulex),then solarflare given the lack of free intel/broadcom/etc drivers. Mac Pro or Thunderbolt.

 

[Asphodelus]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I'm currently using Intel 82576 Gigabit NICs integrated onto my mobo. Unfortunately, Open vSwitch seems to have driver issues with Intel NICs - they suggested I stop using the Intel NICs and get a Broadcom PCIe card instead, which made me suspicious to say the least.

I think I'm going to go back and tell them their software is an utter piece of crap.

 

[ch33zw1z]

NetXtreme BCM5721 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express

I've been using one of these for a few years. rock solid in both linux and windows.

 

[Remobz]

Intel all the way!

 

[Boondox]

broadcom sucks balls. BACS. no windows 7 support (intel is out of box).

always pick intel then emulex then (the rest).. [windows/esxi].

mac would be 12th gen myricom(emulex),then solarflare given the lack of free intel/broadcom/etc drivers. Mac Pro or Thunderbolt.

Broadcom NIC's work just fine under Windows 7/8/8.1/2008/2008 R2/2012. If you don't know how to install a driver, then something's up. I have a NetXtreme installed in my file server and it has pretty good performance for an older server grade NIC. Intel's NIC (3COM rubbish) drivers has been hit and miss over the years, so I generally don't use them.