Suggestions for a new LAN card?

[ROBERT BLACK]

I'm currently in the market for an ethernet card after my last one crapped out. I'm currently looking at ones from U.S Robotics,Linksys and D-link. I'm looking for the fastest and most functional 10/100 PCI card under $30.00 dollars. Preferrably with a built in firewall capability, but not entirely necessary.

I'm partial to this one right now.

Linksys LNE100TX Etherfast 10/100 LAN Card

How is it?

Any suggestions for ethernet card review sites also welcomed.Thanks.

[studtrooper]

I'm pretty sure PCI ethernet cards don't come with a built-in firewall (usually those are found in routers... some mobos actually integreat them too). Anyway, looking at places like www.newegg.com, I bet you could score yourself a 10/100/1000 gigabit NIC for less than $30 shipped. That would be the best route, since gigabit is 100% backwards compatable with 10/100. Honest to God, brand name doesn't matter much for NICs... as long as you buy from a reputable dealer (places like NewEgg usually don't carry crap vendors).

[Faustus]

get a Linksys or a Netgear which ever is cheapest and be done with it.

I used to like D-Link alot but after about half the wireless stuff of theirs being bad I just can't support them any longer.

Also no such thing as a basic network card with built in Firewall, routers have firewalls not cards.

[guns1inger]

They are like generic firewire cards nowadays - all built to the same spec with little to differentiate them. Just another commodity item. Get the cheapest one that meets your specs and you will probably get the same life from it as the more expensive models. In a year you'll upgrade to gigabit anyway

[stiltman]

3COM

[ROBERT BLACK]

Thanks for the suggestions. Came accross what I think is a good deal on a D-Link Gigabit card. It's backwards compatible.


http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=004661&cid=NT.589


Thoughts on this brand?

[rallynavvie]

D-Link is just fine.

[pbhalerao]

Windows XP Professional provides the basic firewall capabilities.

[studtrooper]

I think he was referring to a hardware based firewall, not a software based one. I personally think the free ZoneAlarm firewall is pretty much all a consumer needs...

[Supreme2k]

I was going to suggest the under $10 route too. Do they have the cheapie shops in Toronto?

They had them at Dollar Tree for a while (nothing over US$1) and they work great. At least as good as my 3COMs.

[Faustus]

D-Link is just fine.

Not if its wireless, 3 bad cards, and 1 bad router later I've sworn them off.

On a wired card like this its likely worth a try. But trust me, bad mojo on D-Link wireless stuff.

[budz]

Linksys works well....my 2 cents!

[rallynavvie]

I've had two D-Link wireless cards, one 802.11b and one SuperG card for my laptop. Used the B one for 8 months before getting the faster G card so I could RDP into either of my workstations faster on my LAN. I've had the G card for 4 months or so. Neither gave me any troubles. I think they both use an Atheros chipset. You do have to use the D-Link WiFi management utility instead of letting Windows handle it but I've got no problems with that.

[ofbarea]

If you have an intel based mobo, consider getting an intel gigabit NIC. Intel implementation is fater than broadcom, at least for 32 bits PCI cards.

[rallynavvie]

Well that is especially true for the onboard CSA GbE solutions I don't know if it applies so much to their PCI network solutions. The Intel CSA controllers bypass the PCI bus completely and go straight to the chipset and thus get phenominal performance from a network connection. But PCI is still PCI, I think most chips are the same. CuGbE chips are mostly the same now, just steer clear of the really cheap GbE NICs, as is good advice for most computer hardware.

[studtrooper]

If memory serves me correctly, the bandwidth alloted for gigabit is larger than the capacity of what PCI can achieve. Not like anyone could fully achieve gigabit saturation in the first place, but still...

[ofbarea]

At least for Linux, Intel cards are the fastest of the cheap cards. Check this link: http://www.accs.com/p_and_p/GigaBit/conclusion.html

In Windows, Intel is also a good and cheap option. http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040430/gigabit_ethernet-11.html

Finally computers using a CPU less than 700MHz or running WME or W9x should not upgrade because the increase in performance will be marginal.