CSA vs not CSA

[b4u]

Hi,

Someone can clear up my mind?

[1] Will CSA be a real advantage over the solution provided bu ASUS P4P800? Will it hit performance when I, for example, play some game over the CSA Lan?

[2] The ASUS P4P800 uses the PCI bus to the 1GBit lan, but wouldn't a Ethernet 100MBit card installed on a PCI slot bring the same performance hit too?

[3] I have a cable connection through Ehternet board, and a Home Lan. I was thinking about installing a 3Com Ethernet card for Internet Cable connection, and use the build in 1GBit connection to my Local Lan. Would it be better to switch? (My Home Lan has a 100MBit 3Com Hub, so I won't gain benefict of 1GBit, until I switch the Hub)


Thanks

 

[Peter]

Gbit Ethernet on standard, 32-bit 33 MHz PCI is choked. PCI has slightly above 100 MB/s bandwidth if you're lucky - but for a single channel Gbit ethernet, you need about 250 to let it run best it can.
So yes, if your board does not have 66 MHz and/or 64-bit PCI busses on offer, the proprietary CSA solution will give you better performance than anything PCI.

100-MBit ethernet is of course something that doesn't get anywhere near the throughput ceiling of commodity desktop chipsets' PCI bus.

 

[b4u]

So, in other words, in my Local LAN, I probably won't need nothing more than a 100MBit connection, and for a internet cable connection, 100MBit is just fine, and so an ASUS P4P800 plus an Ethernet 3COM 100MBit PCI would fit just fine for me, right?

Because I was questioning whether to stick with the ASUS P4P800, or go for a MSI 865PE Neo-2 for that CSA bus.