Whats the purpose?

[gooberguy]

the back of my MSI motherboard has 2 Ethernet ports, but what i cant figure out is why?? do i really need 2? maybe if one breaks? :P

[Xylob the Destroyer]

mine has 3.....
one is Gigabit LAN, but why the hell do I need 2 of the other?

[redwudz]

I use the Gigabit Lan one on mine, works the same as the other 10/100. Of course I only have a 100Mps Ethernet.

I've been wondering what would happen if I hook both of them up....Stereo?

Wishful thinking, I know. The fastest I've seen is 4Mps and that's not often. It usually runs 2.5 - 3.5Mps.

[Richkut]

If you use a VOIP telephone hooked up to your PC, this extra LAN port WILL come in very handy!!

[waheed]

Mine also have two. Both Gigabit LAN. Both are different controllers.

LAN 1:
nForce4 built-in Gbit MAC with external Marvell PHY

LAN2:
MARVELL Gbit LAN controller

Technically, you can use both to set up 2 seperate networks simultaneously. (I think)

Also, mine is working as 100Mbps Ethernet. I think its because my network (or router) only supports upto 100Mbps Ethernet.

[gooberguy]

Mine also have two. Both Gigabit LAN. Both are different controllers.

LAN 1:
nForce4 built-in Gbit MAC with external Marvell PHY

LAN2:
MARVELL Gbit LAN controller

Technically, you can use both to set up 2 seperate networks simultaneously. (I think)

Also, mine is working as 100Mbps Ethernet. I think its because my network (or router) only supports upto 100Mbps Ethernet.

Thats what my Friend thought too, 2 networks at the same time

[jimmalenko]

Another option is an ethernet-connected DSL or cable modem in one and a Local Network or crossover to another PC in the other. I've set this up this way on occasion for friends who are too tight-ass to buy a router.

[rallynavvie]

Duplex networking. You can double the speed of your throughput by using one for upstream and one for downstream data. I've been thinking of doing that for the link between my main workstation and my new storage server. Obviously you'll need a switch that can handle it as well as dual GbE controllers on both PCs. I think you can also allow it to use both as one so you can get a max of 2Gb transfers.

[studtrooper]

I think you can also allow it to use both as one so you can get a max of 2Gb transfers.

Wow, I'd love to see a device (memory excluded) that could sustain 2Gbps/250MBps

[rallynavvie]

I bet I can get our new servers at work to push that. One of our new locations is going CuGbE network and the new server is a Dell with dual Intel CSA GbE and a quad-nested SCSI array. I believe the PCI-X bridge is fast enough for a sustained speed to peak that combined network. And since Intel's CSA controllers interface directly with the MCH the PCI bridge to the ICH would be the only bottleneck. It's such a waste though, dual 3.4 Irwindales in there and it'll probably never sustain 100% load for more than 10 minutes a year. If only I had that pair in my workstation

[hhhhbk]

ethernet port 1 to connect to cable modem
ethernet port 2 to connect to other pcs

basically use your main machine as a "free" router

the idea of connecting to multiple networks is interesting