Gigabit Network card....

mixteus · 21-06-2004, 14:42

Has anybody managed to find a gigabit PCMIA network card?

I am having great difficulty tracking one down,any help will be greatly appreciated.

tkiely · 21-06-2004, 15:16

Cant find one either! seems the cardbus bus which the PCMCIA sockets access cannot support the kind of throughput required for gigabit traffic.

altis · 21-06-2004, 15:43

TBH, I doubt even the hard disk in a laptop would keep up.

21-06-2004, 15:51

I don't think the memory could keep up with 1gb/s

Unless it's a very very expensive system

EDIT: If there is a Gigabit network card, I bet it would be expensive. But on the other hand, it would be excellent for a business network

ZrByte · 21-06-2004, 16:25

FYI hard disks in desktop computers cant even keep up with Gigabit NICs, the idea of them is for servers wich handle lots of connections at once over several disks.
Though Im pretty sure cardbus throughput is at its max with a 10/100 NIC so 10/1000 would be pushing it.

KingPhoenix · 21-06-2004, 17:00

Why the need for a gigabit connection on laptop???? What exactly are you going to be transferring? does your hub/switch support gigabit connections?

Richard M · 21-06-2004, 17:28

There is no point to this as far as I can see, even DVD streamed over a LAN wouldn't even hit the 10mbps limit AFAIK.

mixteus · 21-06-2004, 20:27

Thanks Everyone for your replies so far.

King Phoenix,I can elaborate I am just in the middle of installing my home network, which hopefully should be able to carry Gigabit data.

Chris W · 21-06-2004, 21:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by mixteus

Thanks Everyone for your replies so far.

King Phoenix,I can elaborate I am just in the middle of installing my home network, which hopefully should be able to carry Gigabit data.

Hope you have lots of spare cash for the gigabit switch/ router

Bifta · 22-06-2004, 10:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

Hope you have lots of spare cash for the gigabit switch/ router

You can pick up a gigabit switch for silly money,

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...et%20Switches=

altis · 22-06-2004, 11:20

Beat you by 29p + VAT

http://www.lanshop.co.uk/ethernet-ne...t-switches.htm

SMHarman · 22-06-2004, 11:23

Still whats the point for a home network. 100 should support the streaming of 9+ DVDs around the network, do you really need more?

The Dell Outlet notebook I purchased only has wireless b, was an initial consideration to immediatly upgrade this to g, but honestly b is adequate for most needs (not streaming DVD though), and when I need to do a full backup of the laptop HDD, it's not an effort to plug a NIC cable in which it auto detects and prioritises to.

altis · 22-06-2004, 11:46

In fact, provided the switch is fast enough, even 10 mbps would almost be adequate to play DVDs - the maximum bit rate is 10.08 mbps and many are nowhere near that fast.

It is important to note the difference between a 'star' network (with a switch at the core) and a 'bus' network, such as a wireless one. With a switch you can run at the max bit rate in both directions down every cable at the same time. With a wireless system only one station can transmit at a time and, if you don't use 'ad hoc' mode, each packet is transmitted twice before it reaches its destination. So for the same throughput as a 5-port 100 mbps wired switch you'd need a wireless system running at 2000 mbps.

Yep, if I were starting to build a home-LAN with a view to piping AV around the house, I would probably put a gigabit switch at the core.

Some more info in this related thread:
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...d.php?p=199326

Matth · 22-06-2004, 23:53

Looked, not found any Gigabit PCMCIA's - the fact that the full bandwith could not be handled down the bus, is not a valid reason for them not to exist since full throughput directed to a single machine is a limiting case.

Sounds like you need a switch that can operate in buffered (store and forward) mode and transpose between Gigabit and 100 - that way you still get Gigabit throughput between the PCI-equipped machines, and 100 to the laptop

altis · 23-06-2004, 11:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matth

Looked, not found any Gigabit PCMCIA's - the fact that the full bandwith could not be handled down the bus, is not a valid reason for them not to exist since full throughput directed to a single machine is a limiting case.

This would only be true if you had a gigabit hub. AFAIK no one makes one.And why would they bother - only the poverty stricken use them any more. You have to use a switch which will do as you describe.