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Re: 100mbit nic: intel or 3com?



On Fri, Feb 01, 2002 at 10:48:21PM +0000, Matthew Sackman wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 01, 2002 at 05:40:52PM +0100, Victor Julien wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I want to build a debian based router/gateway/fileserver/mailserver for a 
> > home network with 12 clients. It will be quite low budget as the server is a 
> > Pentium 166Mhz. I want the network to be 100mbit fullduplex, so I want to buy 
> > a Nic for the server. Which one is best for maximum performance and 
> > stability? Intel, 3com, SMC or just a cheap Realtek? I think the nic should 
> > be using the cpu as little as possible...
> 
> Well I'm a poor student... so I started with Netgear FA311's which are
> terrible and gave me a *LOT* of agro -> steer well clear (hint: they drop
> packets).
> 
> I've now got a pair of realtek's which are a damn site better, but I still
> have problems with enbd under high load, which I suspect are attributed to
> them. Plus when one machine is under high load, an ssh can take up to 15
> seconds to connect.

The realtek supposedly has a really wonky and expensive DMA scheme
that makes performance similar to a PIO card. Tulip-based cards are
very cheap as well, and may serve about as well as the 3Com and Intel
cards.



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