generic ethernet cards

[Azzkiller]

Do expensive network cards such as the ones offered by 3com offer any performance benifits over the ones that cost only 10 dollars? Do they actually have higher throughput, or less cpu utilization? I ask because when transferring files between my and my roomates computers, we only get around 6mB a second max. I dont think we have ever gotten more than 7mB a second. 100basetx specifies for a max transfer of 12.5 mB a second (in theory). Is 6 mB a second what all you get, or is our cheap hardware inferior? thanks.

 

[Bmxpunk86pl]

no with my experience the higher cost cards can toleragt higher fsb speeds. Go and get like the dlink 530tx+ for like $15 they can handle very high fsb and are very fast too.

 

[David]

Is 6 mB a second what all you get, or is our cheap hardware inferior? thanks.

the theoretical max is rarely reached. This could be due to bad cabling, electrical interferance, etc.

 

[Krieger]

I have run into situtations where brand name nics(3com in general) do data retrieval much faster. perticularly in windows itself while doing things like browsing the network, and copying alot of data. In general they are all about the same. Some prefer one over the other. the downside to generic nics are they are almost impossible to replace under warrenty.

Also how are connecting your two computers? if it's using a hub your bandwith gets, roughly, cut in half for every user attached to it. if you get a switch it might work differently. also check and see if you are using full-duplex, it may or may not help.

 

[o770]

i have a cheapo - encore, chip by realtek, that sandra will always report the pci latency timer too high for it. sandra says something like its possible the nic will hog the bus due to the high pci latency timer which is set to the default 32.
also, i dont think this card is able to work well with high pci freq.

there is something about the better and more expensive network cards ive readed but cannot explain it well. some better chips will be able to offload some of the CPU work onto the DSP itself and speed up basic windows networking tasks.
i think that if the nic is something important in your setup then you would better go for a good card, and spend a few more bucks.

 

[Ebola]

I bought two sweet 3com cards from the classifieds for $20. do some shooping. you might find a steal.

 

[CraxySerge]

I bought a cheapo accton nic and it can't handle when the fsb if overclocked by 3 Mhz! Everything else is fine.