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Recommendations for 10/100 Network cards please

E

Easy1

Member
I wish to connect two computers and understand it can be done simply with a couple of 10/100 Network PCI cards and a crossover cable. I'm confused by the price range of cards ($7 - $25) and wonder if I should purchase a particular brand or chipset... or does the $7 card work just as well as the card costing three times as much? Anything to beware of... or to be sure to get? Thanks for your recommendations.
 
The higher end cards usually have more features than the lower ones. For what you want to do though, the more inexpensive cards will most likely work just fine.
 
Sometimes drivers are an issue, but if your using windows you shouldn't have a problem.

I agree with going for the cheap cards. I have yet to purchase a cheap card that doesn't
work just fine. I seriously doubt if the average user with a reasonable speed computer
would ever notice the difference between a cheap card and one that costs $100.

The cheap network cards require the computer to do a bit more. The really expensive ones
do everything onboard.
 
Network Interface Cards (NIC), in a small Network environment.

Tom's hardware compared three NICs. (Aug. 2001)
I used Pricewatch.com to find the best price for these NICs.

1. 3Com 3CR990-TX-97 - $80
2. 3Com 3C905C-TX $30
3. SMC 1211TX $13

Quote from: http://www6.tomshardware.com/network/01q3/010820/nic-11.html#conclusion

"Well, there is some difference between Network cards. The difference was not that great. Some cards did have better performance than others, but over all most of the cards performed within acceptable ranges. "

If you read the rest, you can infer that if there a difference it will impact high volume cooperate Network, but not few computers sharing the Internet at home.

However if you don?t mind to spend a little more. Network pros bet on the 3Ccom, and Intel NICs.
 
There was a link over at HardOCP about some NICs limmiting overclocking due to causing problems.
I think it was a day ago I saw it. 3Com was among the worst.
 
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