NIC Recommendations.

[Guru]

I have a 3Com 3C905C - TXM Etherlink 10/100 PCI nic siting here on my desk doing nothing! Do you guys(girls) think this is a card worthy of puting in my home file/ics server (will replase a cheap SOHO [realtek chipset]) or is there any other model/brand you would recomend? Is there any website that tests nics?

[DentyCracker]

I am on a Win2K AS machine with one of those in it at this moment. It is not a bad NIC in my experience. 3COM tend to make very good NICs.

[Greebe]

Guru, that's one of the Best nics for the money. Very stable, fast and has good support.

[Rags]

I wouldn't trade my 3Com NIC for any other, it has worked flawless just as long as I used the built in drivers in windows.

Rags

[EvilDonnyboy]

I'm thinking of getting an Intel Pro NIC. Any thoughts?

I currently use a lot of cheapo Realtec based NIC's like SOHOware and DLink. All of 'em worked fine, didn't have any problems directly related to them. But I wanna try out the mor "premium" NIC's to see what the fuss is about.

------------------
P3V4X | P3 650@897 | Matrox G400@171/233 | Viewsonic 17" E771 | 256 mb ram | Maxtor DiamondMax+ 40 | SB Live Value | Altec Lansing ACS45.2 | Win2k

[Rags]

If you have no issues, leave them be.

Rags

[EvilDonnyboy]

No, this is for a brand new rig... so I'll need another NIC anywaz.

I'm debating on whether to get this Intel Pro (don't know the model #) or this 3COM 3C905 NIC. Both can be found at about $60cdn.

[Rags]

3Com.

Rags

[EvilDonnyboy]

Ok, i got ur recommendation noted.

But can I ask why? Just brand loyalty? I remember reading a NIC round-up somewhere, where all the NIC's performed the same, except 2 exceptions. An Intel Pro NIC performed slightly ahead of the pack, while some crap card (forgot the same) performed noticably worse. All the rest (including cheapo realtec cards like DLink, along with hi-cost NIC's like 3com) where pretty much the same performance-wise.

[Rags]

Not brand loyalty, just the fact that my 3Com works with every OS I have ever used without any hassles at all. Linux, Win2k, Win95, Win98/se/Me, now XP. Ease and reliability makes the diff. to me.

Rags

[SCompRacer]

I only got a 905B-TX. What am I missing with the C-TXM?

[Helevitia]

Even though I hate 3com as company, they really do have the best NICs hands down. I have used Intel, Compaq, Generic, etc.. and I have seen probs with all of them except 3com. Intel had problems with IRQ's, a huge delay at boot up with a very loud relay click. Compa is just evil. Don't use any of there stuff. They are proprietary and they alwyas have driver problems. You wouldn't notice the problems at first but they will creep up on you. Example; FTP transfer is taking longer than expected, so you throw a sniffer on the line and find otu the NIC is sending out FCS or alignment errors. You search there sight and find out that a driver update fixes it. These kinds of problems continue to happen. Generic NICs almost always have driver issues.

My 2 cents,

Dave

[Rags]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by SCompRacer:
I only got a 905B-TX. What am I missing with the C-TXM?</font>

An extra revision. I have the same nic as you, it's awesome.

Rags

[Jammrock]

Get a 3COM 3CR990-TX-97! It's the NIC that comes with a sticker that says it's illegal to export it outside the US or Canada without approval from the Department of Defense =)

Jammrock

[Electric Amish]

I use 3Com at work, Realtek (Ovislink/D-link) at home. Never had a problem with either. Both are well supported in many os's. Here's what I have personally used:

3Com: NT/2K/98/Linux

Realtek: 98/2K/Linux

I use the Realtek because they are 1/4 of the price of 3Com and I've never had a problem.

amish

[This message has been edited by Electric Amish (edited 28 June 2001).]