Network card speeds?

I've got an old junker here that's running at about half the speed of my current wired connection. I've already verified this by testing it against a more powerful laptop on the same line. From what I could tell after popping off the PC casing, the network setup is integrated directly into the motherboard. Does it actually make sense to buy a dedicated network card if the existing hardware just can't handle the throughput? Someone also suggested I just grab a USB wireless adapter.

What's your internet speed looking like, and how fast is your card?

Right now, I'm hitting a maximum of 10/2 with a ping sitting around 20. But when I plug in this laptop—it’s a bit of a step up from my usual machine—I get 20/12 and the ping drops to a solid 1. That's the performance I'm expecting. Honestly, I can't quite wrap my head around the card speed issue; it might be a throughput problem. It seems like switching over to fiber changes the game entirely compared to those old standard connections. I'm running on a hardwired connection.

God, I honestly don't get you: are you actually on fiber? And what do you mean by "wired"? Like an Ethernet cable for your PC, or some old-school phone line? Which provider are you using, what's the plan, and what speeds are we talking about? I mean, unless you're running a fossil of a computer with a 10Mb network card, that shouldn't be your bottleneck—100 Mb has been the standard forever, so that's probably not the issue... It’s more likely your ancient rig just can't handle everything the internet is throwing at it... Plus, what exactly are you measuring? What kind of traffic? Video streaming, maybe?

Sure, I'm using an Ethernet cable (back in the day, long before high-speed internet was everywhere, we used to fight over the phone line just to get online! ;-)). The speed is 100 MB, which is identical to what my previous provider offered. Honestly, if things were actually faster, it would make more sense if there were some kind of bottleneck in my hardware or software setup. I’m no "hacker," so I'd love to hear from those with more experience. What really bugs me is the lag—the stuttering in both video and audio—whenever I try to watch something on YouTube. There's zero issue when I listen to music from a CD or watch a DVD on my PC. By that logic, the computer itself seems to be struggling to process standard data streams. Thanks for the help.

I’d probably bet on it being a slow PC or maybe some issues with Windows. YouTube and Flash can be such resource hogs for your CPU and RAM. What kind of specs are you running?

electricnomad8 said:Sure, I'm using an Ethernet cable (back in the day, long before all this, we actually had to share the phone line, so we’d have to negotiate who got to use the phone and who got the computer! ;-)). Speed is 100 MB, just like with my old provider. So, it's the same. If things were any faster, wouldn't it make more sense if there was some kind of bottleneck somewhere in the hardware or software? I'm no "hacker," so I really want to hear from the pros. What bugs me most is the lag—stuttering video and audio—when I'm watching stuff on YouTube. No issues at all when I listen to my music from a CD or watch a DVD on the PC. By that logic, the computer is struggling to process standard data. Thanks for the help.

It looks like you missed the point: the Ethernet cable is just what connects the computer to the router.
How does the connection actually get from the ISP to your house? Is it fiber or copper? Which provider are you with, and what speed did you actually sign up for?
That might not even be the main issue, but you're mixing up your terms. Your ISP speed definitely isn't 100MB; that's just your local home network speed. The fact that you used to have to coordinate phone and internet usage just means you were using an old-school dial-up modem.

Like fadedorca66 mentioned, you need to be more specific: what's your setup look like? What software are you running? Exactly what kind of media is acting up? For example, trying to stream HD video on a basic ADSL connection can cause stuttering because there just isn't enough bandwidth for high-quality video data.
You should also check your software—is everything fully updated? Generally speaking, older hardware struggles to keep up with modern, demanding multimedia content and things like that...

I’ve received everything from the ISP: the router, the PC cables, the phone, and the TV box (which is hooked up to the router on the wall and via HDMI to the TV). Fiber optics run directly to the router, and everything else follows the setup I just described. I don't have any issues with multimedia, assuming that includes DVDs; I don't use anything else. My computer is an Asus star 8 years old. I’m going to try following the suggestion for an update. Thanks, I'll let you know once I get it sorted. Naturally, I'll try to bug someone who actually knows what they're doing so I don't mess anything up.

electricnomad8 said:My PC is an ASUS star 8 years old.

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Timothy Kim60 said:.

Is it ancient history at this point? Or is there actually some hope for a fix?

As long as all the juicy details are kept under wraps like some "Top Secret Government Classified" file, you're never gonna get a helpful answer...

If you actually want some help, at least try to find out which processor, motherboard, or drive we're dealing with so we can figure out what’s worth saving and what’s trash... obviously, that's just basic advice, but saying "Asus star 8 years" is about as useful as posting an ad that says "selling a car from 8 years ago"...
Though, honestly, anyone with good intentions can tell you right now: don't waste a single cent upgrading a rig that old... even if you could salvage parts, trying to add anything new to an 8-year-old machine is a massive headache. You'll just be waiting for some ancient component to kick the bucket and take your new parts down with it. It's basically throwing money away and making a mountain of compromises just to keep things running...

Think back—eight years ago, what was the big deal? It was the Pentium 4 era and that jump to Core2Duo ??? Everything is definitely due for a total replacement by now...

You’re looking at roughly $267 just to cover the essentials—motherboard, CPU, and RAM. That’s assuming your drive (or your burner, if you’re still using one) uses a SATA connection. A full basic PC setup would run you about $500
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To be sure about that SATA connection, I’d suggest running a tool like Speccy. I’m guessing you’ve got an 80 or 160GB SATA drive, though honestly, swapping that out for something bigger and faster would be a smart move. Just make sure your burner isn't

Exactly. So you’re basically just keeping the old power supply... from what I've seen, those pre-built brand PCs always came with "just enough" power, like a measly 250W. Honestly, I'd swap that thing out immediately—not even because of the wattage, but just because of its age. And the hard drive? If you're even considering keeping it, it's laughably small by today's standards, so that’s going in the trash too. At this point, all you're really saving is the metal case. Since I'm guessing it's some kind of small form factor build, who knows if a new motherboard will even fit inside anyway...
Summary?

Alright, I managed to track down those specs you were asking about. It’s running an Intel Celeron CPU at 2.4 GHz with 1.5 GB of RAM on a 32-bit OS.
The external burner maxes out at 4, and there's a Writemaster tm built-in. Man, you guys were spot on. Thanks for the help. I think electric_rabbit pretty much nailed the model dimensions. It's one of those smaller units, about 18x30 in height and 27 cm deep. The real issue is that I'm pretty attached to this machine; I learned a lot working with it. Not to mention all the time I've spent lurking on Reddit ;-). But hey, it is what it is. Technology, for better or worse, tends to age faster than we do.