Ethernet Cards
 

I was just wondering now having built a computer for my son and his boyfriend is there one type of ethernet card and chipset thats better than another?

The motherboard thats in my PC is this one...
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/990FXA.../?div=Overview

It uses a Realtek PCI-E GbLAN controller 8111E 10/100/1000 chipset.

The motherboard i put into my sons pc which he just uses for email and general browsing so didnt need anything as high spec is this board...

http://www.ebuyer.com/616248-asrock-...x-985gm-gs3-fx

This board also uses the same chipset for ethernet.

Are there any better chipsets and cards out there to get the best out of the net?

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

What do you mean by "the best out of the net"? Is there something specifically wrong or that you want to improve?

Buying an expensive network card won't make your internet any faster or even your latency any lower.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

There's no real difference between network card chipsets apart from some doing gigabit and some not.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

So theres no real difference between lets say Broadcom, Marvell or Realtek chipset cards?

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

Nope.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

In the old days, there was a lot of difference, the older Realtek 10/100 were somewhat primitive, and an Intel Pro/100 was far superior.

Now, it looks like they all do similar kind of offload processing - my Realtek 8111 has an impressive list of offloads.

Of course, Killer is still around - under the auspices of Atheros these days - though just how much difference the embedded CPU of killer makes these days, when multiple core CPUs have taken over.

In fact, the basic criticism of the "Killer NIC" was that it showed the most difference on the weakest systems, where you would be least likely to pay the price of it!

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

Yep, back in the old days there were differences but nowadays all are much the same. Pretty much any chip from any vendor will have no trouble hitting wire speeds.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

why do realtek keep upgrading their chipsets then?

I have the 8111E and i noticed theres now an 8111F

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

My guess? Cost engineering.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

what do you mean cost engineering?

a bloke in PC World told my husband and i that Intel chipset are better over AMD.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

Cost engineering = making something cheaper.

And PC World is to sound technical advice what John Prescott is to ballet dancing. The PC world bloke was probably talking about Processors and motherboard chipsets, not network card chipsets.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

So what u r saying the 8111F is proberbly cheaper to manufacture over the 8111E?

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

With Ethernet being a mature technology (i.e. no really big changes in the standard) and CPUs being so powerful the only two ways you can really improve an ethernet chipset any more is by either making it compatible with a different slot/socket (PCIe, USB3), make it use less power use less power (to extend battery life) or redesign it to be cheaper to make.

I've no clue what the difference is between an 8111F or an 8111E actually is, but I'd be willing to bet its down to one or more of the reasons above.

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

Spot on.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/p...n=4&ProdID=239
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/p...n=4&ProdID=291

The only difference between the two is updated power saving features - the F supports a later version of IEEE 802.3az (Energy Efficient Ethernet) and EMAC-393 ECMA ProxZzzy Standard for sleeping hosts

Re: Ethernet Cards
 

I remember when people were buying seperate Ethernet cards.
Now nearly every motherboard will have an ethernet port that is more than decent for the job and you won't see any real difference.