Network card recommendations?

Hey everyone,

So, lightning decided to fry my graphics card, my network card, and my modem all at once a few days ago. Total disaster. My modem finally showed up, and I already got some solid advice from the guys over on the graphics subforum regarding a replacement card, so that headache is handled. Now, I was hoping you could help me out with the network card so I don't have to keep bothering you all with this nonsense. 😁

www.postimg.org/image/wabe0j1ld

The first slot is reserved for the GPU. If I'm remembering correctly, the second one can take a PCI Express card, but there’s absolutely no way I can fit a network card in there without it bumping into the graphics card. That means it'll have to go into one of the bottom two slots. Any recommendations from futura-it.com? Since I'm already ordering the GPU from them, might as well grab the network card there too.

Have you looked into USB network adapters?
I actually picked one up on eBay for just $2—it works flawlessly on both Windows 7 and 8 the second you plug it in, no driver hunting required.
So, you might want to give that solution a little thought.

http://www.futura-it.com/katalog/mrez...oor/tf-3239dl/

Honestly—those network cards used to be everywhere in older PCs—so I’d probably suggest checking with someone here on the forum to see if they have any spares or would sell one cheap. Or maybe just look on Craigslist or some local flea market.

That price of $22 isn't exactly outrageous, so... judge for yourself, I guess.

Look, I honestly don't care what it looks like, as long as the damn thing actually works. These $22 issues aren't even a big deal to me, they're just noise. My real question is: is this network card going to run on Windows 7? I haven't seen anyone mention it, or am I just overthinking things? 🙂

By the way, what’s the actual real-world difference between a 10/100 card and a 10/100/1000 one?

The 10/100/1000 numbers represent the interface speed in megabits per second—Mbps. Most cards being sold these days hit 1000 Mbps, or basically 1 Gigabit.

If you're just plugging this into something like a standard broadband router, then a 10/100 card might be fine for your needs. But—if you're planning on moving massive amounts of data constantly—like gigabytes or terabytes at a time—you’ll definitely want that 1000 speed.

It should work fine on Windows 7.

Hmm, I’m not sure I follow you there 😁

Is it just gonna be hooked up to an ADSL router? Yeah, a router that hits speeds up to 300 Mbps, and my sister is going to be jumping on it via Wi-Fi from her laptop.

What exactly did you mean by "pushing large amounts of data"? Are we talking downloading movies, TV series, and all that stuff? If that's what you're getting at, then yeah, it'll handle it.

I’m guessing I’d need a 10/100/1000 network card then, or am I totally off base?

The speed you actually get from your ISP is what really matters here. For example, AT&T is currently capping things at 50 Mbps for downloads, so a 100 Mbps card will handle that just fine—no issues there. Your router isn't actually hitting 300 Mbps toward the internet either; that’s just the wireless speed between the router and your laptop, but you're still ultimately limited by whatever your provider gives you.

When I mentioned pushing large amounts of data, I was talking about your local network, not your internet connection. If you're planning on moving terabytes of data across your local network every single day, then yeah, you should definitely grab a 1000 Mbps card.

Sweet, sounds like this one’s gonna be a winner too.

Seriously, thanks a ton for putting in the work to help me out and break everything down! You're a legend, 🙂

If you're actually trying to run a gigabit network, you probably need better cables and decent hardware too, I guess...