Who makes the best NICs?

[mithrandir2001]

Perhaps this is a little simplistic but whose 10/100 NICs do you like best? Best = high quality, compatability and reliability.

3Com? Intel?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

yeah i would say 3com and intel, probably intel over 3com though.

 

[pm]

Noting an inherent bias, I would say Intel. Particularly for the new GigE NIC's. ~$60 for an 1000/100/10 Intel NIC.

 

[Spleenus]

hmm, really it all comes down to personal experience and I would either say Netgear or SMC. But then again that's cuz none of mine have died

 

[Need4Speed]

intel and 3com

 

[dexvx]

Having participated in Intel Q&A for networking, Intel network cards are defintely superior to their 3com counterparts in hardware and software tests (especially the later revisions with more features that need to be enabled and tested for Q&A purposes). However, for the extremely high end, there is one company that apparently whose name I forgot that makes network cards superior to Intel.

 

[Vegito]

Intel & 3COM has been making nic for a long time.

The thing is you want the onboard processor to do it all.. ie generic realtek one will rob your cpu power !

I use broadcom gigabit cards now.. before it was 3com/intel 100 pro

 

[mithrandir2001]

OK, well, I just bought a Intel PRO/100 S NIC from newegg. It has an on-board 168-bit encryption co-processor, wake-on LAN, a ton of manageable features and lifetime hardware replacement warranty. Not bad for $37 shipped I suppose.

 

[MrPhelps]

My smc never died yey!

 

[dszd0g]

As in all things it depends. With NICs there seems to be a few areas: price, speed, CPU utilization, and compatibility.

I tend to like Netgear NICs because they have some of the top speed (but one of the highest CPU utilizations to do it), they are cheap, and they work well under Linux.

Intel cards win the CPU Utilization category by far (about 5% utilization rather than Netgears 10%), they are about 1-2% slower than Netgears, but are quite a bit more expensive.

3com cards are extremely popular. I used to think they were the best, because everyone else did too and I had no problems with them. Before Netgear came along they had much better Linux compatibility than any other card. However, I see no reason to use them anymore. They are not the fastest (slower than both Intel and Netgear), there CPU utilization isn't the best (inbetween Netgear and Intel), and are one of the most expensive consumer NICs.

I'm not a big SMC fan. Some people like them. I own about 20 of them, but they are all sitting in a bag and not one of them is in one of my computers. I have what I call a bag o'NICs that I bring to network gaming parties in case anyone forgot one. It's got Intel's, 3coms, Netgears, SMCs. The SMCs are always the last to go and always have the most issues. I have spent way too much time trying to help people get SMC cards working in their computers at network gaming parties.

I haven't had many issues with Intel, 3com, or Netgear NICs. So I can't really say one is more stable or reliable than the other. They all seem to work fine in 98% of the machines I have tried them in.

 

[BFG10K]

Personally I like to use CNet although I'm glad that the server here at work has a genuine Intel NIC.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

I'm using a Linksys in my system.... got it for $15 CDN after mail-in so I figured I couldn't really go wrong. It's never given me any problems, has wake-on-LAN, and it is linux compatible... that's good enough for me
I assume most home users don't need much more than that.

 

[billyjak]

I use the Netgear, had a D-Link ultra slow.
Intel Nics are very good but too costly for putting in machines I build for people.

 

[NesuD]

I have used 3coms, Intels, and a handful of realtek generics. I have to say my Intel pro 100/s cards are easily the best ones i have used. well worth the extra money they cost me.

 

[sharkeeper]

Depends on how much money you have and whether you have the interface (PC64) that Gig NEEDS! Broadcom is my choice here.

For typical desktop applications, your typical Intel Pro100 NIC for $25 works well. I've had 3COM NIC's die in the middle of the night after serving for 2 years. :Q Intel have been rock solid for me.

Cheers!

 

[Bovinicus]

3Com is generally accepted as one of the more reliable companies in terms of network equipment. Linksys is another great company. I have been using their NICs for years, and I have never had any problems. In adttion, they have good support under Linux.

 

[Mem]

Money no object=Intel for the best or for tight budget=Netgear .

 

[Electric Amish]

I've used....

3COM
SMC
D-Link
Realtek


can't say that I really noticed a diffence between any of them... ranging in price from $10 to $35.

amish

 

[zephyrprime]

I used to have a linksys but after noticing that speeds were crap I went on a NIC oddessey and tried many brands. SMC, Linksys, Netgear, Intel, and even a generic NSM based gigabit ethernet card. I found that there were big speed differences between the cards with Intel being #1 (except for the gig-e card of course.) Haven't tried 3com so I can't say anything about them. The SMC was #2 and is a real bargain. Linksys sucked.

 

[Ben]

I use Linksys for budget, Intel for professional/commercial.

I avoid 3Com because I've never found them to be better than everyone elses yet they are more expensive.

 

[CraigRT]

I like Realtek cause they are cheap, and always seem to work JUST FINE. I always buy the cheaper ones unless I am at work (they demand 3com) or I get a good deal on another. I read somewhere that Netgear are one of the fastest for sustained transfer and burst rate (deciding factor for me cause i always want the fastest)

 

[Sunner]

Intel or 3Com IMO.

I tend to stay away from Intel though, for two reasons.
For one, I've used so many 3Com NIC's, both at work and at home, so they've become kinda my home territory
And the second, more objective reason, is Intel's apparent unwillingness to help open source groups develop drivers for their NIC's, even thogh it would require next to no effort on Intel's part.
Stupid and for no good reason IMO.

 

[jasonsRX7]

Intel, definately. I've got a pile of bad 3coms over on the workbench. I used to swear by 3com back in the day of the old Parallel Tasking III ISA cards, but since then their quality has gone way down. At the ISP I used to work for, I can remember 3 server downtimes that were directly attributed to bad 3com cards. Even if that weren't the case, most people who deal with them a lot will agree that Intel is better.

 

[mcveigh]

Originally posted by: Sunner
Intel or 3Com IMO.

I tend to stay away from Intel though, for two reasons.
For one, I've used so many 3Com NIC's, both at work and at home, so they've become kinda my home territory
And the second, more objective reason, is Intel's apparent unwillingness to help open source groups develop drivers for their NIC's, even thogh it would require next to no effort on Intel's part.
Stupid and for no good reason IMO.

then why are their drivers in the kernel? my intel pro100's work fine in linux

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: mcveigh

Originally posted by: Sunner
Intel or 3Com IMO.

I tend to stay away from Intel though, for two reasons.
For one, I've used so many 3Com NIC's, both at work and at home, so they've become kinda my home territory
And the second, more objective reason, is Intel's apparent unwillingness to help open source groups develop drivers for their NIC's, even thogh it would require next to no effort on Intel's part.
Stupid and for no good reason IMO.

then why are their drivers in the kernel? my intel pro100's work fine in linux

I was referring to stuff like this:
From OpenBSD's site.

# Intel IPsec card
Much like Intel does for all their networking division components, and completely unlike most other vendors, Intel steadfastly refuses to provide us with documentation. We have talked to about five technical people who are involved in the development of those products. They all want us to have documentation. They commend us on what we have done. But their hands are tied by management who does not perceive a benefit to themselves for providing documentation. Forget about Intel. (If you want to buy gigabit ethernet hardware, we recommend anything else... for the same reason: most drivers we have for Intel networking hardware were written without documentation).