hi

i have seen a 3com 905 10/100mb/s PCI network card for sale at a computer shop for 35 quid.

Why is this card so much more expensive than the 5 quid PCI Rtl 8139 based cards? .. Would you pay the extra for the card (for a router box) or are you just paying for the name?

Cheers

Duncan

I personally only use 3com cards, however I usually get them at local computer shows where I find used ones (since they have a lifetime warranty from 3com) for around 10 dollars which is about the same price that all the other NICs around here run at retail shops. 3coms to me have always worked no matter what OS and I have never had too many problems getting the drivers installed. For routers I geerally use cheaper 3com 10mb cards since I can't get more than about 1.5mb through my cable modem anyways so therefore it doesn't really matter.

However you shouldn't have any problems using the rtl8139 cards for a router box. I have installed several into other routers for other people and not had any problems as well. I would say that some of it just is a matter of opinion and if you are like me and can't get more than like 1.5mb from you inet connection then either card should perform just as well.

yeah i think these cards do work fine, just i am having major troubles with my NTL connection ... i have phoned up twice, but it hasn't helped. They say my power levels etc etc are fine, yet it's blatantly gone down the drain.

Does it matter what IRQs your network cards are on (PCI cards) on a linux router, or are any irqs preferable?

Cheers

Duncan

To my understanding it shouldn't really matter. I don't have anything in my router besides the video card and two NICs and I have turned off the serial ports and parallel ports so that no IRQs are unnesserarily used.

yeah same here .. should be ok then, cheers.