Question about high-end NIC's...

[Insane3D]

I am going to be picking up a new NIC soon, and I was wondering what are the advantages to some of the higher priced 3com NIC's. I was particularly interested in the one with the 3XP processor on board. What advantages does a onboard processor have? Also, I need a NIC that can handle a 42mhz PCI bus speed...thanks in advance..

 

[mobly99]

The 3XP processor offload much of the CPU utilization that would be associated with encryption of the data when using IPsec. Intel's PRO/100 S Server NIC also does the same thing.
Many of the "server"/high end NICs (when you have multiple NICs or their dual port models) also support some forms of fail over and/or basic link aggregation, although for the more advanced Cisco EtherChannel and Intel Link Aggregation - you would have to be connecting to that vendors switch. Some also support 802.1q VLAN tagging.

 

[bex0rs]

My Intel Pro/100+ has no problems running at 83/2 ~ 42 on my BH6.

~bex0rs

 

[Insane3D]

Which one do you guys suggest...the 3XP one from 3Com or the Intel Pro? I will be using it a home system and I am not too concerned about the CPU cycles since I am @ 1.4ghz now. I was more interested in the encryption abilities of the 3XP processor...is this overkill for a home PC? Also, where can I get the Intel NIC?