Re: Would a NIC be better than onboard ethernet ?
 

Remeber the golden rule:


You are only as fast as your slowest connection...

Re: Would a NIC be better than onboard ethernet ?
 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ernet,800.html

The implementation and quality of the onboard can vary, if it's piped through the PCI subsystem, then it will be no better or worse than a similar controller on a PCI card, and it will probably be the most basic.

If it is connected at a higer level, then the issue of PCI bus load is avoided.

Interesting, the Intel Pro/1000 PCI card did pretty well too, my old machine had a Pro/100 card (well, same chipset) and it was smooth - the tuning options allow a good degree of interrupt reduction.

Re: Would a NIC be better than onboard ethernet ?
 

I knew there was a good reason why I used dual port Intel Pro/1000MT cards in all our servers.

http://www.intel.com/products/server...t-overview.htm

Good support too.