NIC reccomendations???

[Kahuna]

What NIC card should I use. I have DSL through SNET at work and @HOME cable back home. The PC I am building will probably start at my work and end up home. What are the important features to look at? is a wake-on feature important?

[Amedeo602]

WOL's only important if you use it...(which i don't so i never even bother with it)

as far as features, about any NIC should do the job...most nowadays are 100 mbits/second which is MORE than enough for dsl or cable internet. some good companies are 3com and d-link...but any brand should work (i use a cheap $10 card in mine and my bottleneck's still my isp)

expect to pay $30 or so for a good one or $10 for a cheap one...other than that there's not really much to it IMO

[Vryce]

I've got both a cheap NIC (less than $10), and a borrowed nice one..

the cheap ones (winNIC's) will work OK, but I'd suggest (if you have a few extra bucks in your budget) you look at a quality NIC, 3com and intel make a lot of NICs that are supported very well in multiple OS's (very handy if you wanna try out linux sometime)

[Jon]

After using D-Link, LinkSys and NetGear (all RealTek chipset clones) I've primarily only bought D-Link. It's a good card, overclocks well and performs as well as any. Best Buy has them (I think...maybe not anymore) for only $9.97.

They have WOL if you need/want it (at least mine do).

I'd agree that 3Com makes a better NIC but they all basically do the same thing.

[BigJohn]

Just remeber a majority of the time you are buying the "name".

[Yodums]

I have a 3com and I love it ... Works good... I think 3com are the best brand for networking.

[xCarne_Asada]

3com and Intell have great nics but they can be pricey. Linksys are good too if you dont want to spend to much cash.

[Yodums]

Mite be a lil costy but it'll save you alot of trouble when it comes to quality...

[Hayduke]

I just got 2 SMC cards and all my previous network problems went away. No more weird lockups and disappearing file shares. And I only spent $16 on each. They overclock just great too. My old Diamond NICs are now in the trash.

[xCarne_Asada]

How do you OC a NIC?

[dugans]

Originally posted by xCarne_Asada
How do you OC a NIC?

When you up the FSB on a system to overclock you also up the PCI bus speed. Some cards (nic/video/sound, etc.) take this better than others. So if your nic works fine and then you overclock your fsb and start having network problems, its probably a nic that doesn't handle fast bus speeds well.

I have 3 going now: 1 Intel, 1 3com, and 1 Realtek- all work fine, although only one of my mobos will go over 138 fsb!

[xCarne_Asada]

that probably why when i oced my computer my interent started going faster. Hmmmm

[Maddman]

Originally posted by Kahuna
What NIC card should I use. I have DSL through SNET at work and @HOME cable back home. The PC I am building will probably start at my work and end up home. What are the important features to look at? is a wake-on feature important?

What is the SNET setup what modem do/are you getting.

[Joeteck]

As a network administrator, I find that the Intel Pro 100 is the best bang for the buck. I also like 3Com. But I find that Intel has a nice feature that is lacked by everyone else. Its called teaming / load balancing. With special Intel NIC's & software, I can team 4 NIC's to act like one. Or 4 NICS with two ports on each giving me 8 ports. When dealing with high performance & bandwith requirements, this is essential. But for home users, I still think going with a name brand would be great. In some instances, I have found using a knock off NIC sometimes can't "see" the network, but everyone else can. I say keep it standardized.

Never cheap out on something you're going to reley on. It would suck for it to fail when you need it most.


- Joeteck:cool:

[Warlord2]

I just burned my 3com somehow=[

Im using a cheap $10 card now and I can notice a little slower in proformance and they dont have nearly the options the 3com has