Selecting Z97 Mobo - Adding LAN Card?

[craige4u]

In my current Asus mobo, am having dual Ethernet ports which is extremely useful to me coz I am having two different wired internet connections.

One primary and other backup connection. Now, both connection has diff. settings so each connection have to go in their dedicated ports only.

Now, am making a new system and with a new mobo with only 1 Ethernet port, how can I use my other secondary net connection? I suppose, by using additional third-party LAN CARD.

So, will it be trouble free use OR it will keep getting faulty, driver problems etc etc... coz years back in my P4 system I have gone through hell by this cheap little cards getting faulty every now and then.

Also, why such a big price diff between these models ??

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-121-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-060-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-004-_-Product

Summary: Wana know ur opinions tht is it safe to add third party Lan card OR its always best to go with a mobo with Dual Ehernet ports only.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

So, will it be trouble free use OR it will keep getting faulty, driver problems etc etc... coz years back in my P4 system I have gone through hell by this cheap little cards getting faulty every now and then.

If you want reliability, get an Intel Gigabit GT/CT (574L) (depending on PCI/PCIe, recommend PCIe) or Server adaptor I210 (i210). Intel's drivers are the best anywhere.

 

[craige4u]

If you want reliability, get an Intel Gigabit GT/CT (574L) (depending on PCI/PCIe, recommend PCIe) or Server adaptor I210 (i210). Intel's drivers are the best anywhere.

Well Intel Lan cards in my country is available for equivalent US dollar: 50, where as normal other companies cost 10USD !

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Well Intel Lan cards in my country is available for equivalent US dollar: 50, where as normal other companies cost 10USD !

As with so many other things in life, you get what you pay for. A $10 Ethernet adaptor is not likely to be very high quality.

If you think $50 expensive for a NIC, you don't want to see what real server-grade NICs cost...

You're properly better of finding a mainboard with dual Ethernet ports. Dual Intel NICs would be best, but such boards tend to be expensive.

 

[craige4u]

As with so many other things in life, you get what you pay for. A $10 Ethernet adaptor is not likely to be very high quality.

If you think $50 expensive for a NIC, you don't want to see what real server-grade NICs cost...

You're properly better of finding a mainboard with dual Ethernet ports. Dual Intel NICs would be best, but such boards tend to be expensive.

Nah expensive is not a problem, I just wanted to know if theres any difference OR just branding.

As for buying Mobo, I currently use Asus P5Q Deluxe which at its time was a high end board with dual ports and now am upgrading to Z97 board, but problem is Asus is having only 1 Model with Dual ports, rest even high end boards are equipped with single ports - So thts where I am stuck now.

Maybe I will check Gigabyte boards....

 

[aigomorla]

If you think $50 expensive for a NIC, you don't want to see what real server-grade NICs cost... .

lolol... or a 10gbe on that matter... sigh...

Nah expensive is not a problem, I just wanted to know if theres any difference OR just branding.

there is a big difference due to the drivers.

Things are more plug and play with intel gear on any software you install as they were primary written for intel nics.
However things may have changed and it doesnt apply anymore.

But when i was setting up a smoothwall system for example, they tended to install right away on intel nics, and FreeNAS also had better bandwith on a intel nic.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Nah expensive is not a problem, I just wanted to know if theres any difference OR just branding.

Between one or the other Realtek/Atheros/Broadcom card or between a Realtek NIC and an Intel NIC?

The answer to the first one is easy, there is little to no difference. Older Atheros NICs have a nasty habit of dropping connections though. Broadcom's are so-so, nothing really special but they get the job done (mostly...). Realtek is, well, Realtek. Nothing particularly fancy, relatively good driver support across platforms. Generally just works, but without the bells and whistles, except for special niche cases.

(As a side-note I've lately been impressed with the Realtek RTL8168, but I don't think any Z97 boards uses it. Almost as good as an Intel NIC, and that by itself says a lot...)

Intel NICs are the gold-standard among NICs. Excellent drivers across platforms, ditto performance and genuinely useful features.

As for buying Mobo, I currently use Asus P5Q Deluxe which at its time was a high end board with dual ports and now am upgrading to Z97 board, but problem is Asus is having only 1 Model with Dual ports, rest even high end boards are equipped with single ports - So thts where I am stuck now.

Maybe I will check Gigabyte boards....

Or Asrock, the quality has been very decent since the 6x-series chipsets. The Z97 Extreme 6 seems to be an all-round excellent board. One i218V and one RTL8111GR.

 

[voodoo7817]

Or Asrock, the quality has been very decent since the 6x-series chipsets. The Z97 Extreme 6 seems to be an all-round excellent board. One i218V and one RTL8111GR.

After a fair amount of research, I just bought the ASRock Extreme6 (I_N and I were actually talking about it in another thread earlier this week). For me, it was the best option because at its list price of ~$170, it's in between the 'entry level enthusiast' boards such as the ~$150 Asus Z97-A and GB UD3H and the 'mid level enthusiast' ~$190 priced boards such as the Asus Z97-Pro and GB UD5H. The Extreme6 basically has all of the features of the mid levels, in addition to a few more, most notably the dual lan and a M.2 x4 slot. I picked it up mainly for the M.2 x4 slot, but this will also be my first board with dual lan ports. As I've never had them before, what is the most common usage for dual lan ports?

And actually, Newegg just had a 10% off the Extreme6 deal that ended yesterday, so I got it for even cheaper. Now I'm just waiting for Microcenter to get the 4790k in stock and my new build can begin.

 

[ctk1981]

After a fair amount of research, I just bought the ASRock Extreme6 (I_N and I were actually talking about it in another thread earlier this week). For me, it was the best option because at its list price of ~$170, it's in between the 'entry level enthusiast' boards such as the ~$150 Asus Z97-A and GB UD3H and the 'mid level enthusiast' ~$190 priced board such as the Asus Z97-Pro and GB UD5H. The Extreme6 basically has all of the features of the mid levels, in addition to a few more, most notably the dual lan and a M.2 x4 slot. I picked it up mainly for the M.2 x4 slot, but this will also be my first board with dual lan ports. As I've never had them before, what is the most common usage for dual lan ports?

And actually, Newegg just had a 10% off the Extreme6 deal that ended yesterday, so I got it for even cheaper. Now I'm just waiting for Microcenter to get the 4790k in stock and my new build can begin.

Did the same myself. Im going with a i5 4690K and waiting on ramcity to get the samsung xp941 128GB drives back in stock to utilize the m2 x4 slot.

 

[voodoo7817]

Did the same myself. Im going with a i5 4690K and waiting on ramcity to get the samsung xp941 128GB drives back in stock to utilize the m2 x4 slot.

For me, I see the M.2 x4 slot more as a 'future proofing' thing (as much as that's possible, I know) as I will be re-purposing an SSD from a previous build until the M.2 platform matures a bit. But its inclusion (along with other features and price point) makes the Extreme6 seem like almost a no-brainer to me if you're in the market for an enthusiast grade Z97 mobo. The big exception here is if you care about SLI or Crossfire because of the decreased PCIe 3.0 lanes when using the M.2 x4 slot. But single gpu users, like myself, should be fine with the decreased lanes for a while (at least I hope).

I'd understand having a personal preference for Asus or Gigabyte (I've used both, in addition to MSI) if you've had good luck with them in the past and/or you like their software/bios. But ultimately, I think at the $150+ enthusiast level, as long as you're buying it from a reputable brand (Asus, GB, MSI, ASRock, a couple others), you should focus on the features that make a difference to your individual use case. And I think that at least for the Z97 round of motherboards, the Extreme6 is a bit of an outlier when looking at the amount of features you get at that price point. Now watch me hate how the board handles PWM fans...lol