Need feedback on 10/100 ethernet cards

[Billvill]

Can anyone honestly say one really outperforms the others ? I know there is a wide spread in pricing. By the way cost is not my motivation, performance is.

Thanks Billy

[azhari]

I know tomshardware did a review of some network cards a while back. Here is the link (http://www6.tomshardware.com/network/01q3/010820/) to the article. Only compares 3 brands, but should answer some of your questions.

[Breadfan]

I've noticed big differences in the cheaper cards...

The difference tends to be in quality most of the time. I got 3 Asound cards with the Realtek chip on them at work, and all three basically stopped working...and when they did work, they worked really poorly...half the time it would get into the network, but not be able to access the internet...

I've got a Netgear FA311 in my computer here at work right now, it works great for me, but the FA311's don't like AMD761 systems, especially the Epox 8K7A...

We have a few 3com cards that work nicely, and I know people swear off them...they are pretty decent.

My personal favorites though are the Dlink DFE-530tx's...I've used them in countless systems with different os/hardware combinations and not once has the card ever given me trouble. I'm sure there may be better cards, but considering I can find them around town for 5-10 bucks any given day, I must say for the price I love 'em.

As for network performance, I have never NOTICED a difference, but there may be...that might be kinda interesting though, perhaps put various cards in my system and test ping speeds, etc...but that seems hard to do since ping times tend to vary...

If you are giong "low end" I'm happy with Dlinks...oh yeah, no problems with em in OC'ed machines either (heheh, forgot the important stuff :) )

Mike

[Jeff Bolton]

my linksys etherfast 10/100 was $17 from tccomputers.com and it has never given me problems in win2k or linux.

jeff

[PipeBom]

I've also got a Netgear FA 311 10/100 Ethernet network card. And yes, its great!!!. Although I payed $50 Australian dollars for it. That was kinda expensive for a network card, but you have to remember that its worth spending a little more to get a greater quality product that you will be happy with. Well thats what I think anyway... :D

[Dissolved]

my 5 dollar bestbuy special dlink nic works great.. xp didnt even ask for a driver and it works fine..

[Kingslayer]

2 words.

3Com.

They have a better R&D department and better labs than all other NIC manufacturers. They are consistantly the card of choice by overclockers.

Easy way to figure what card is the best. Get a computer magazine that sells high end servers. Take a look at what brand NIC 90% of them run. You will find that it is 3Com.

[Breadfan]

Originally posted by PipeBom
I've also got a Netgear FA 311 10/100 Ethernet network card. And yes, its great!!!. Although I payed $50 Australian dollars for it. That was kinda expensive for a network card, but you have to remember that its worth spending a little more to get a greater quality product that you will be happy with. Well thats what I think anyway... :D

Watch out if you have an Epox 8K7a or other AMD761 mobo...the fa311 causes the cold boot problems (FF at boot and restart)...might already be bios fixes for it though...

Mike

[Yodums]

I run a 3com on my ISP network card, and an ISA network card for the LAN in my house.

I must say 3com just mops the floor against any other brand.

It's features are amazing and it won't crap out on you.
I bought this 3com used and it works very good as they sell it out on the market for 80 bucks Canadian which I only got for 40.

[FerrariF50]

I took a trip over to Northrop Gurummen I went with the Admin he showed me all the computer that ran on the network.. All of them had 3Com network cards.. comes with nice software.

[jazztrumpet216]

My Linksys LNE100TX is a good card for OCing, I've had it up around a 40+MHz PCI bus with no problems, and it's a really good performer on the home network, as well as the cable internet connection that's connected to the hub by my dad's computer. The 3Com Etherlink XL in my Dell outperforms it (not by much), but I can't tell you how it overclocks since... well... it's in my Dell. :eh?:

EDIT: Nice to see ya back here Ferrari!