I have an old Startech nic which is very cheap, but I think it needs dos to start.. It doesnt work with WinMe or Win2K, but it ran fine with Win98... WindowsMe doesnt start with the card in, even after I traded it for a 'new' not-yet-used one and installed it. Luckily I got a 3Com Card from a friend for free. 3Com have some of the best nic's. They may not be 'budget', but they are very nice. D-Link seems to be fairly good also.