OT: Question about network cards

Sorry for the OT post, but I know that most of you simmers race online, there fore you might know a thing or two about network cards. I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's Symaptico), and they do not provide the network card. So before I go off to buy my network card, I was wondering if I should simply go with a no name brand NIC at $15 or is it better to go with a brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)? I'm not on a network so I'm don't care for fancy features such as Wake-On-Lan, and stuff, it's simply to interface with the DSL modem. Thanks!

Fatbob wrote in news:6P3zb.844$[email hidden]:

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> Sorry for the OT post, but I know that most of you simmers race > online, there fore you might know a thing or two about network > cards. > > I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's > Symaptico), and they do not provide the network card. So before I > go off to buy my network card, I was wondering if I should simply > go with a no name brand NIC at $15 or is it better to go with a > brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)? I'm not on a network so > I'm don't care for fancy features such as Wake-On-Lan, and stuff, > it's simply to interface with the DSL modem. > > Thanks! > > >

Go with a brand name card. The no-name card *may* work perfectly well, but if it doesn't, it can take you more than $5 worth of time and aggrevation to get things diagnosed and fixed. I tend to go with 3Com cards exclusively, but I'm sure there are others out there that are just as good. -- Darryl

Look for a sale on a Netgear or Linksys. "Fatbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:6P3zb.844$[email hidden]... > Sorry for the OT post, but I know that most of you simmers race online, > there fore you might know a thing or two about network cards. > > I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's Symaptico), and > they do not provide the network card. So before I go off to buy my network > card, I was wondering if I should simply go with a no name brand NIC at$15 > or is it better to go with a brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)?I'm > not on a network so I'm don't care for fancy features such as Wake-On-Lan, > and stuff, it's simply to interface with the DSL modem. > > Thanks! > >

I have been using all 3Com and Linksys cards for years in hundreds of PC's and have never had any problems. The cheap no-name cards may be fine, but I don't want to be the one to find out that they aren't. I have always thought that quality and performance are worth a few extra bucks in the end. You can usually find the Linksys LNETX100 pretty cheap now days. I have about twenty of these cards that have been running for a year with no problems. Hope this helps. Dave "Fatbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:6P3zb.844$[email hidden]... > Sorry for the OT post, but I know that most of you simmers race online, > there fore you might know a thing or two about network cards. > > I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's Symaptico), and > they do not provide the network card. So before I go off to buy my network > card, I was wondering if I should simply go with a no name brand NIC at$15 > or is it better to go with a brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)?I'm > not on a network so I'm don't care for fancy features such as Wake-On-Lan, > and stuff, it's simply to interface with the DSL modem. > > Thanks! > >

Get the cheapest name-brand card that can do 10/100 speeds (in case you ever have a home network) and goes in a PCI slot. Look on the box for compatibility with your operating system. You're going to be looking at D-Link, Linksys or Netgear probably. They will all be fine.

In article <b35zb.5808$[email hidden]>, Darryl Johnson <[email hidden]> writes: >Go with a brand name card. The no-name card *may* work perfectly >well, but if it doesn't, it can take you more than $5 worth of time >and aggrevation to get things diagnosed and fixed. I tend to go with >3Com cards exclusively, but I'm sure there are others out there that >are just as good. > Interesting. Maybe I just got lucky. I have a RealTek card. It's made the move through at least 3 different machines over about 5 years, and is still going strong... I think I paid about $29 for it at the time. But I would agree that you cna't go wrong with 3Com. Eldred -- Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Member Screamers Racing League IICC League GPLRank -2.4 MoGPL rank +302.38 ChallengeRank +54.48 MoC +743.77 Hist. +82.82 MoH in progress N2k3 rank:in progress Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

"EldredP" wrote... > > <snip> > Interesting. Maybe I just got lucky. I have a RealTek card. > It's made the move through at least 3 different machines over > about 5 years, and is still going strong... > I think I paid about $29 for it at the time. > But I would agree that you cna't go wrong with 3Com. I experienced some serious compatibility problems with 3Com cards now 6 years ago, so I switched to using RealTek chipset based KTI network cards (one of those no-name brands) and have had no problems since. Jan. =---

Thanks for all the replies guys! I think I will be going with the D-Link DFE 538TX. It's the cheapest name brand NIC I could find in my area at $19.99 CND (funny, the DFE 530TX was the same price). That $15 no name brand had some many complaints of disconnects and other issues. So I have GPL, F1C, now maybe I should get NR2003 or NT2004. Hope to race you guys online ASAP. "Dale Green" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Get the cheapest name-brand card that can do 10/100 speeds (in case youever

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> have a home network) and goes in a PCI slot. Look on the box for > compatibility with your operating system. > > You're going to be looking at D-Link, Linksys or Netgear probably. They > will all be fine. > > >

Jan Verschueren wrote in news:r3kzb.57861$[email hidden]:

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> "EldredP" wrote... >> > <snip> >> Interesting. Maybe I just got lucky. I have a RealTek card. >> It's made the move through at least 3 different machines over >> about 5 years, and is still going strong... >> I think I paid about $29 for it at the time. >> But I would agree that you cna't go wrong with 3Com. > > I experienced some serious compatibility problems with 3Com cards > now 6 years ago, so I switched to using RealTek chipset based KTI > network cards (one of those no-name brands) and have had no > problems since. > > Jan. > =--- > >

RealTek had some issues with their cards a number of years ago -- I forget exactly how long ago it was. Everyone was crying the blues over them in various hardware forums at the time. Obviously, they have improved since then. My only point was that for $5, buy the brand name card rather than the no-name clone. If the difference had been $20, I would have said, try the no-name card. You can return it if it doesn't work. However, since it's gong to cost me more than $5 just in gas, to go back to the store for a new card, why take a chance for such a small savings? -- Darryl

NIC cards are a pet peeve of mine. I HATE cheap NIC cards! Like memory, this is an area I don't skimp in. I buy only 3COM or Intel corporate-class cards. They are not that expensive, and support any feature you might care to ever use. Currently, I use the Intel Pro/1000 MT. They are around $55 the last time I looked. Enterprise-class card with Enterprise-class performance for $55. I'll probably own that card until Ethernet is replaced in the future sometime :) -Larry "Fatbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:6P3zb.844$[email hidden]... > Sorry for the OT post, but I know that most of you simmers race online, > there fore you might know a thing or two about network cards. > > I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's Symaptico), and > they do not provide the network card. So before I go off to buy my network > card, I was wondering if I should simply go with a no name brand NIC at$15 > or is it better to go with a brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)?I'm > not on a network so I'm don't care for fancy features such as Wake-On-Lan, > and stuff, it's simply to interface with the DSL modem. > > Thanks! > >

Another consideration... NIC cards are not something you want to have to change a lot, especially if you use Microsoft or other products that have that draconian "Product Activation Feature". NIC cards are one of the main components this crap sinks it's claws in to for the authorization. Hell, I can't even update the DRIVERS half the time without it pissing off the Product Activation, and requiring a phone call to Microsoft. Larry "Fatbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:6P3zb.844$[email hidden]... > Sorry for the OT post, but I know that most of you simmers race online, > there fore you might know a thing or two about network cards. > > I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's Symaptico), and > they do not provide the network card. So before I go off to buy my network > card, I was wondering if I should simply go with a no name brand NIC at$15 > or is it better to go with a brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)?I'm > not on a network so I'm don't care for fancy features such as Wake-On-Lan, > and stuff, it's simply to interface with the DSL modem. > > Thanks! > >

IMHO... You couldn't GIVE me a LinkSys NIC card. Everytime someone at that place takes a breath, they change the friggin chipset vendor they use, and they all take different drivers. If you need a driver update for thier 10/100 card, you actually have to look at pictures on their web site to find out which of the 5-7 (I forget the exact count) chipsets your card has so you can get the right driver. And the boxes all have the same exact part number. I once bought three of these cards at CompUSA, and I'll be damned if they all didn't have a DIFFERENT chipset, and require a different set of drivers. All identical boxes with the same identical part number. Screw LinkSys NIC cards :) -Larry "TDRacin� @ flashmail.com>" <TDRacin<nospammersnospammers> wrote in message news:ML7zb.8016$[email hidden]...

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> Look for a sale on a Netgear or Linksys. > > > "Fatbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:6P3zb.844$[email hidden]... > > Sorry for the OT post, but I know that most of you simmers race online, > > there fore you might know a thing or two about network cards. > > > > I finally signed up for high-speed internet (Bell Canada's Symaptico),

and > > they do not provide the network card. So before I go off to buy mynetwork > > card, I was wondering if I should simply go with a no name brand NIC at > $15 > > or is it better to go with a brand name (e.g. D-Link DFE-530TX at $20)? > I'm > > not on a network so I'm don't care for fancy features such asWake-On-Lan,

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> > and stuff, it's simply to interface with the DSL modem. > > > > Thanks! > > > > > >