Wired NIC Card

[heroictofu]

I have recently upgrade my ISP to have a 10.0 Mbps connection cable connection with PowerBoost technology that allows it to jump as high as 25.0 if there isn't much traffic in the area. I'm currently using my motherboard's onboard NIC, an older nForce 4 mobo that supports 10/100 half duplex.

To better take advantage of the speeds and the fact I'm getting a new router (The D-Link DGL-4100), I'd like to get a new NIC that takes advantage of gigabit speeds of the new router and something that will support torrenting with ease. What are some of your recommendations for a good NIC? About the only one I'm uninterested in is the Killer NIC as it seems overkill and overly expensive.

 

[heroictofu]

As a quick follow up, a better question may be what exactly am I looking for in a NIC for a wired connection? There's the Intel PWLA8391GT and the Rosewill RC-402 that I've been looking at that seem to be decent cards, but I really am lost on what features to look for in this kind of card.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Uh. You don't need gigabit for internet. Even the 10/100 card, really just means max of 100Mbps which is higher than the internet's speed. If you need 1000Mbps for the network, that's different. Really either of those would do fine. The intel one should be superior though.

The killer card is useless for pretty much everyone.

 

[heroictofu]

True, I don't need the gigabit for the internet. I do have another computer on the network that can take advantage of gigabit, so it would be handy for the sake of transferring files. I'm more or less wondering if any particular card is superior. Like, whereas one can handle bittorrents with ease, the other might choke up. Or are NICs, for the most part, generally all decent?

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

fuction wise, both the rosewill and the intel one will be fine. The intel one might have a lower CPU utilization. I'm actually using a zonet or some other crappy brand of one on my gaming comp.

 

[GhislainG]

True, I don't need the gigabit for the internet. I do have another computer on the network that can take advantage of gigabit, so it would be handy for the sake of transferring files. I'm more or less wondering if any particular card is superior. Like, whereas one can handle bittorrents with ease, the other might choke up. Or are NICs, for the most part, generally all decent?

You won't be able to tell the difference between various NICs (100 Mbps or Gigabit). Buy a Gigabit NIC if your switch is Gigabit and you need the faster transfer speed.

 

[heroictofu]

Best answer selected by HeroicTofu.