nforce integrated ethernet vs. PC card

[4.6POWER]

Hey guys, just wanted to post up on my resent findings. For gaming... the built in ethernet on my nforcre2 just can't beat a solid 3com pci ethernet card. I've tried messing with the drivers, settings... and for a while I even thought it was my unreal install, or other system drivers. But my single player gaming was always way better than internet. Since I started using my 3com ehthernet card, the game plays sooo much better online...

The pings are all slightly better

I can play fine with a higher ping (dunno why, like 150 ping is fine now... nforce2 requires <100 for smooth play)

The game loads faster on internet play.. makes the connection sooner.

I had not had any trouble with downloads with nforce or anything... nor does anything seem faster outside of playing unreal... but I guess nothing is as good a dedicated networking chip that does all your negotiation for you without using up cpu.

Anyone else have any experience with onboard ethernet vs. pci card w/ dedicated controller? I've use the ECS K7S5A onboard... and that seems better than my nforce. I'm curious if anyone has had any other experiences.... L8'r :D :D

[WesM63]

Hey joe,
I've never experience any probs with my onboard nic. But then again i've never really messed with online play, just lan parties. The last one i bridges two nics together, which was superfast. It was awsome.

Next lan party i'll give a 3com 905b a try. It's the only 3com i've got.

[Ruantic]

I would say your results are probably due to pci buffering and latency issues. Most likely there is an increase in latency and a bit more buffering when using the PCI slotd for LAN. I don't think it would be bandwidth issues.

[CyberDyneSystems]

This is intriguing,.. but keep in mind 3-com cards cost easily 3 to 4 times what a bargain "realtek" or other no name PCI NIC would cost as they can be had for $5.00 if you shop around. At $35.00 some odd dollars I would hope the 3com has some advantages.

I wonder how the N-force built in would compare to a $5.00 Realtek??? Bet there would less of a difference?

What about the "Server" cards that Intel and 3-Com make? They sell for $100.00 or so and yet they still seem to be just a NIC? Anyone know what the difference is?

[Gregorach]

IIRC, server-grade NICs are usually 64-bit, 66Mhz rather than 32-bit, 33 MHz. Totally useless unless you've got a proper server-grade board.

[4.6POWER]

cyberdyne- when I first built me old slot-a rig (abit KA7 mobo) I bought a netgear pci card that just would not release/renew IP numbers... and hence would not work with my via-based mobo. I bought a 3com for more money, and it was trouble free.... there must be differences in these things. I remember when shopping around, the 3com was marketted as not using your cpu for network functions... so maybe there actually is more to it. Also worth noting- my nforce control panel had a setting to enhance either "cpu" or "throughput".

[BigBen]

Hi,
I have not found any real difference between 3-com,Realtek or my NForce2 connection for surfing and downloading (i don't play online games) ..... I can remember asking people what NIC card I should get when I went to cable and everyone said i does not really matter as they all do the same job .... at the time I remember thinking why the big price difference then?

Regards

[Gregorach]

Even if there are significant differences, the sort of throughput you're looking at in the typical broadband/home networking environment is about 1% of the available bandwidth (ie 1 mbit on a 100 mbit link), so you're unlikely to see any practical differences. The situation changes a heck of a lot once you get into even a small corporate server room, never mind a datacenter. High-end products are for high-end applications - you could spend the cash and go for Gigabit ethernet, but it you won't see any benefit...