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Descrete NIC worth it in an old PC?

Forum CPU & Components : Network Interface Cards - Descrete NIC worth it in an old PC?

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Wanker79   08-19-2008 at 07:41:38 PM

I have an old Compaq Presario s4000j (its like 5 or 6 years old). I have no idea what my current connection speed is or what my Comcast cable is capable of. The manual for my motherboard doesn't say what the ethernet connection speed is. What would be the best way to answer those questions (well, I guess technically they're statements, but whatever)? Would one of the cheap 10/100/1000 NICs be worth it? Would I actually see a difference?

Thanks as always!

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timaahhh   08-19-2008 at 07:57:03 PM
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If you have an ethernet port onboard use it. Its speed will be 10/100. A Gig ethernet port 10/100/1000 will only give you a speedup on a LAN that supports 10/100/1000.

Reply to timaahhh
smartel7070   08-19-2008 at 07:58:51 PM
- 0 +

According to this http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Hewlet [...] P8655X-ABA you have a 10/100 network adapter. So no I don't think you would see a difference by adding a discrete nic.

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dtham   08-19-2008 at 07:59:17 PM
- 0 +

Wanker79 wrote :

I have an old Compaq Presario s4000j (its like 5 or 6 years old). I have no idea what my current connection speed is or what my Comcast cable is capable of. The manual for my motherboard doesn't say what the ethernet connection speed is. What would be the best way to answer those questions (well, I guess technically they're statements, but whatever)? Would one of the cheap 10/100/1000 NICs be worth it? Would I actually see a difference?

Thanks as always!



If you have an ethernet connection on your motherboard is should be sufficient for internet browsing since your internet connection is very unlikely to use anything more than 10Mbi/s. Unless you paid for high end cable internet connection I wouldn't expect you to need to upgrade to a discrete card.

If you don't have a ethernet port on your motherboard a discrete card for 10/100 is probably only $10, and it might be worth it if you have someone needing it for just browsing the internet and free up your own system.

Reply to dtham
Shadow703793   08-19-2008 at 08:02:45 PM
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Kind of off topic:

 

Here is a quite accurate website to measure your Internet speed:
http://www.speedtest.net/

 

My results:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/311080238.png

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Message edited by Shadow703793 on 08-19-2008 at 08:03:56 PM
------------------------------ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif
 Reply to Shadow703793
Grimmy   08-19-2008 at 08:03:28 PM
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You will see a difference if you transfer files from PC to PC, which would reside on the same network.

 

I remember transfering 2gb on a 10/100, to where I was getting about 9-12mb transfer, then chaning out my router switch with a 10/100/1000. The same transfer was around 26mb. Took more then half the time to transfer the files which was nice.

 

Although you won't see a difference internet wise since your not going to have the same kind of connection. You can't have 1gb connection, for say a 10mb cable modem.

 

Edit:

 

Another way of looking at it... Say your car can go 120 mph, but yet your on a residential street limited to 25mph.

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Message edited by Grimmy on 08-19-2008 at 08:06:08 PM
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spuddyt   08-19-2008 at 08:26:16 PM
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Shadow703793 wrote :

Kind of off topic:

Here is a quite accurate website to measure your Internet speed:
http://www.speedtest.net/

My results:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/311080238.png


stop being 8 times faster than me on a good day dammit!

Reply to spuddyt
Grimmy   08-19-2008 at 08:33:52 PM
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I'm basically in NE:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/311091979.png

I have a nice shot to CA. :D

Reply to Grimmy
Bronze CPUs badge cjl   08-19-2008 at 08:35:58 PM
- 0 +

One of the benefits of college dorm life:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/311093548.png

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mi1ez   08-19-2008 at 08:36:15 PM
- 0 +

Shadow703793 wrote :

Kind of off topic:

Here is a quite accurate website to measure your Internet speed:
http://www.speedtest.net/

My results:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/311080238.png



http://www.speedtest.net/result/311092811.png
That sounds a little high to me, pretty sure we're not paying for anything like that!

*shrug* I might be wrong or it might be wrong...

Reply to mi1ez
mi1ez   08-19-2008 at 08:37:59 PM
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cjl wrote :

One of the benefits of college dorm life:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/311093548.png



66MB/s???

Is that actual internet connection speed or is your uni server the server they use to test speeds from?

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Reply to mi1ez
Grimmy   08-19-2008 at 08:41:09 PM
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Don't ya guys miss the old 56k modem days?? :oops:

Reply to Grimmy
mi1ez   08-19-2008 at 08:42:30 PM
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lol, my mobile (cell) tops out at just over 60k download speed! And that's just on the 3G+

Reply to mi1ez
Bronze CPUs badge cjl   08-19-2008 at 08:42:57 PM
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mi1ez wrote :

66MB/s???

 

Is that actual internet connection speed or is your uni server the server they use to test speeds from?


That's actual internet speed, though you almost never find a server fast enough to really use it. For example, I get this from Las Vegas:

 

http://www.speedtest.net/result/311097420.png

 

Actually, it isn't even all that bad from Australia:

 

http://www.speedtest.net/result/311097953.png


Message edited by cjl on 08-19-2008 at 08:47:16 PM
Reply to cjl
Wanker79   08-19-2008 at 08:57:54 PM
- 0 +

Grimmy wrote :

Although you won't see a difference internet wise since your not going to have the same kind of connection. You can't have 1gb connection, for say a 10mb cable modem.

Edit:

Another way of looking at it... Say your car can go 120 mph, but yet your on a residential street limited to 25mph.



That's kinda what I was thinking. But how would I figure out what my cable model connection speed is?

Reply to Wanker79
Grimmy   08-19-2008 at 09:00:32 PM
- 0 +

The above test should give you an idea.

Reply to Grimmy
Wanker79   08-19-2008 at 09:34:15 PM
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Wouldn't that just give me what my current NIC is capable of using? How is that going to tell me what my cable modem is capable of putting out?

Reply to Wanker79
Jim_L9   08-19-2008 at 09:43:39 PM
- 0 +

Because if it is less than the NIC is capable of you know the limitation is your connection speed via the cable modem.

Reply to Jim_L9
Wanker79   08-19-2008 at 09:59:30 PM
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:whistle:

Wow, that answer was pretty obvious. I guess I'll stop asking stupid questions atleast until I can get on my home PC and run that speed test.

Reply to Wanker79
Balthazor   09-04-2008 at 07:07:46 PM
- 0 +

nforce NICs already have TCP/IP checksum offload... is there any benefit in terms of CPU utilization to having an add-in NIC?

Reply to Balthazor
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