Server adapter = NIC?

[bradly1101]

I'm going to replace the onboard Realtek NIC on the second system in my sig with an Intel one to see if it clears up the occasional stutter from my networked tuners, and I want to get a dual port one for a possible upgrade to teaming (you never know what multiple 4K streams may require in the future).

All I can find are "server adapters (below)." Will that serve as a standard NIC?

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-1000-Dual-Server-Adapter/dp/B000BMXME8/ref=pd_sim_147_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=41dpzxtQ%2BCL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1NM3GE1N0WA56R1RG7EV

 

[Red Squirrel]

A server adapter will work fine, maybe even overkill, but at that price why not. That's really cheap for a dual port server adapter.

I'm not too sure exactly what the difference is, I think they're just overall better performance, can handle more data streams etc... but don't quote me on this.

Keep in mind that when you do teaming, a single data stream can only use one link at a time, but where teaming will help is with multiple connections. Teaming is mostly good for back end server stuff like VM/storage servers. I personally would not bother for a workstation unless you have specific requirements. But the extra port wont hurt anything, and it's there if ever you do decide to experiment.

 

[bradly1101]

A server adapter will work fine, maybe even overkill, but at that price why not. That's really cheap for a dual port server adapter.

I'm not too sure exactly what the difference is, I think they're just overall better performance, can handle more data streams etc... but don't quote me on this.

Keep in mind that when you do teaming, a single data stream can only use one link at a time, but where teaming will help is with multiple connections. Teaming is mostly good for back end server stuff like VM/storage servers. I personally would not bother for a workstation unless you have specific requirements. But the extra port wont hurt anything, and it's there if ever you do decide to experiment.

Thanks!

 

[XavierMace]

Just make sure you're buying one that will fit in your motherboard. You still occassionally come across PCI-x NIC's when you're looking at server cards. Sometimes the single and dual port cards will only have a half height bracket.

 

[386DX]

Careful with some of the third party amazon sellers. Most of them sell fake Intel NICs. Also the adapter you link to isn't the latest Intel one's, they are well supported but I believe EOL. The newer Intel NICs are the i350 series etc. Will costs you more thought but if you want the latest stuff ...

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just make sure you're buying one that will fit in your motherboard. You still occassionally come across PCI-x NIC's when you're looking at server cards. Sometimes the single and dual port cards will only have a half height bracket.

Yeah something to watch out for. I always thought PCI-x was just short for PCI-Express, but it's actually a totally different kind of slot.

 

[XavierMace]

Careful with some of the third party amazon sellers. Most of them sell fake Intel NICs. Also the adapter you link to isn't the latest Intel one's, they are well supported but I believe EOL. The newer Intel NICs are the i350 series etc. Will costs you more thought but if you want the latest stuff ...

I have a couple I suspect are "fake", slightly different font/printing on the PCB, that sort of thing. However, honestly, performance wise I haven't noticed a difference. I've got 6 eBay/Amazon Quad Ports, and 2 Dual Ports. Only ebay/Amazon NIC I've had issues with is a Broadcom based HP which randomly dies.

 

[bradly1101]

It turned out not to work. Doing research I found references to a bridge chip on the dual lan that interfered with the bridge chip on the motherboard, also that some motherboards only like video cards in their x16 slots (this X-58 board only has other x1 slots). So who knows? It just doesn't show up.

 

[XavierMace]

Doing research I found references to a bridge chip on the dual lan that interfered with the bridge chip on the motherboard

What?

also that some motherboards only like video cards in their x16 slots (this X-58 board only has other x1 slots). So who knows? It just doesn't show up.

Again, what? Some motherboards prefer the video card be in the first x16 slot, but I've never seen a motherboard that only allows certain types of cards in full length slots. I've got 3 different x58 motherboards, all with non-video cards in full length PCIe slots (SAS card, FC HBA, Intel NIC, HD Tuner).

If it doesn't show up, the card is bad.

 

[bradly1101]

What?



Again, what? Some motherboards prefer the video card be in the first x16 slot, but I've never seen a motherboard that only allows certain types of cards in full length slots. I've got 3 different x58 motherboards, all with non-video cards in full length PCIe slots (SAS card, FC HBA, Intel NIC, HD Tuner).

If it doesn't show up, the card is bad.

Yeah I tried it in both systems and it wasn't recognized, so back it goes. I'll just get a single 1x NIC and put in two if I want to team later.

I guess I could get higher speeds with two teamed computers on a smart switch. The slowest transfer I have is between the two systems with large MPEG-2 files from Media Center, so that would be nice.

 

[XavierMace]

I think you may need to do some investigating into what's causing your performance issue. A single good GbE connection will do around 110MB/s. HD streams usually max out at 20Mbps. I don't see any way that a pair of HD Homerun Prime's are maxing out even a single GbE connection.

 

[bradly1101]

I got an email from the seller of the dual-port adapter and they said that in only works in PCIe 1.0 slots, which of course isn't mentioned on the product's page.

 

[XavierMace]

I think they're full of crap.