Onboard LAN vs PCI LAN

[meatbomb]

Hi

I was wondering if an onboard LAN, such as the onboard 10/100 on the ECS K7S5A, could render my 3Com 3C905B-TX obsolete. Which would have the lowest CPU usage and best performance?

If my 3Com is still better, should I disable the onboard LAN and use my PCI card?

Thanks

 

[jsbush]

I would just use the onboard lan. You just won't see a difference between the two IMO. Of course your 3com is better, but it will just use up a pci slot, and you could sell it make some money or what ever.

 

[reicherb]

You'll get better performance and less complications from the PCI NIC.

Integrated NICs suck!

 

[Nothinman]

99% of the time it's all in the drivers, as long as the onboard card's drivers are decent it's worth using.

Integrated NICs suck!

Most of the integrated NICs I see are just common cards soldered into the main board, like Intel and 3Com cards.

 

[sml]

Since most of the applications I work with are fairly network intensive, I get nervous when I hook up a machine with a 'generic' or Taiwanese integrated network card or whatever. Most motherboards I get ahold of with an integrated NIC are 3Com/Intel network cards soldered onto the board. Most people will tell you it doesn't really matter when you benchmark it out, but it never hurts to have a name brand

 

[mboy]

You wont notice a difference at all with the PCI vs integrated. I have a K7S5A and use the integrated as well as the 3com in my 8KHA+ and notice no difference thru my Linksys router + cable modem to the net.

 

[osage]

the onboard nics on my 2 k7s5a have retired 2 of my Intel Pro 100+ pci nics, I still use an Intel on my other non onboard mobo