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wow, ethernet card makes a BIG difference

K

ku

Golden Member
I have cable and I got a K7S5A after my shuttle ak31 died. When i was using my shuttle, i saw that my speed was 3800kbits easily. When I got my k7s5a and was using my onboard, i get 2500kbits (ouch). I tried another NIC card (not the one used on the shuttle cuz i gave it away) and i got 3300kbits. I'm sure with another better NIC card, I can hit 4000kbits easily. So I was wondering, what is the best NIC card for a good price? I'm looking for the best performance/price ratio.

NOTE: the first card that did 3800kbits was some weird SOHO card , the other NIC card is an ASOUND card.
 
The 3COM 3C905 series are good NICs. They have typically excellent throughput while keeping the CPU loads low. If you go to Tom's Hardware, they had a recent review of NICs and their performance characterstics.

I'm kinda wary of the NIC implementations on motherboards, in terms of the way they're connected through the southbridge in the chipset and the actual NIC chipset. I know in the video editing world an on-board NIC can be the kiss of death in terms of dropping captured frames. That's why I spec'd out a 3C905 (can't remember the exact model but it did have Wake-On-Lan).
 
never noticed a difference between my K7S5A built in ethernet and my standalone NIC. same speed all around. btw the hype about 3com is a little inflated, my roomate does networking for a living during the summer and says he goes with linksys 99% of the time. its whatever works for you. i just know i didnt need to drop above $20 for a NIC, i'm not running the internet over here ;-)
 
>>>the other NIC card is an ASOUND card<<<

I can get this card for $3. Intel more then $30.

I have 6 PCI slot available on my Mobo. I can put 6 of the $3 cards. This way I can save money and get a huge Bandwidth. (J/K for the coming Holidays).

 
Even 4000kbit/s is kinda sucky. What are you connecting when you measure these speeds? Home lan? Wireless lan? Cable?
 
I notice no difference between my k7s5a and the 3com I have on my 8kha+ system. I usually avg around 5000kbps thru my Optimum online cable. BTW, 4000 really isnt kinda sucky for home cable/dsl internet stuff.
 
More important than brand of NIC, you really need to tweak your TCP settings to maximize your broadband connection.
Go to www.dslreports.com and navigate to their TOOLS section. You should check your speed with their speed test, then do a TWEAK test and follow their suggestions which will usually include downloading DRTCP to change RWIN and MTU values. Only then will you be getting your maximum download speeds.

BTW, I , for one, am not a fan of 3COM devices. An expensive dialup modem crapped out on me a couple years ago and also, now I had to upgrade my 3com cable modem cause it's causing problems. In my opinion you certainly pay a premium for 3com devices and it's not worth it. I get much better reliabiliy and performance from no-frills brands of devices (such as my on-board K7S5A LAN).
 
strange, i have repeatedly tested different lan cards and onboard lan on the same connection and i keep getting different speeds (note: yes, i did tweak all of them). It seems like the fastest one i have tried so far is the netgear fa311. I've tired SOHOWARE, ASOUND, and onboard over and over again and they keep giving me the same speeds (onboard k7s5a = 2800, ASOUND = 3300, SOHOWARE 3500, NETGEAR = 3800)
 
I don't know How you Test?

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, and not three computers sharing the Internet at home.

Another good comparison by blstriker you can find here:

Network Card Roundup - Which is the Best PCI Network Card?
 
😀Intel has yet to fail me😀

ignore the following I just have an anti 3com thing
:disgust:3Crap on a network with Cisco switches:disgust:
 
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