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I have 2 Realtek 10/100 NIC's model's RTL8139A and RTL8139C and a linksys Network Everywhere Model NC100 and am looking for the best compatability with XP Pro in a DSL sharing environment Networking 3 computers through a router and perhaps a 10/100 switch as well. 1 computer will act as a game server. Any opinions on these NIC's would be appreciated as well as driver recommendations.
The Realtek 8139 series is a great chip for a NIC. Its used everywhere, and supported by darn near everything. I've never heard of the other company.
Thanks for the response FatalExceptionOE, the realtek cards went in no problem but haven't tried the Linksys in the third machine and am currently looking for a driver for XP in the event it isn't supported natively.
<a href="http://www.linksys.com.sg/Support/Firmware/nc100v2.exe" target="_blank">Linksys Nc100 drivers</a> contain specific win2k driver set - I have had no problems using 2k drivers for stuff in XP for "standard" hardware, so this should work ok.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by FatalException0E:
<strong>The Realtek 8139 series is a great chip for a NIC. Its used everywhere, and supported by darn near everything. I've never heard of the other company.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">You've never herd of Linksys? They're one of the biggest names in networking. They're very popular for routers and hubs and such.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Quiet Thunder:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by FatalException0E:
<strong>The Realtek 8139 series is a great chip for a NIC. Its used everywhere, and supported by darn near everything. I've never heard of the other company.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">You've never herd of Linksys? They're one of the biggest names in networking. They're very popular for routers and hubs and such.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> Oops....was reading too fast. Since Linksys wasn't capitalized, the 'ol brain only saw 'Network Everywhere' :confused:
Realtek all the way. Linksys is great too, but the RTL 8139x kicks *** , it works with just about every OS under the sun, and performs pretty damn well considering how dirt cheap they are.
Never had any major issues with a realtek chipset nic. I like them myself, but some people still reccommend 3com, smc or intel nics or the cheaper ones.