cheap NIC

[bigben2k]

It looks like I'm getting cable internet, so I need a couple of NICs, for my old Win95 and Win98 puters.

My local supplier has 3NET 10/100 cards for $6.00. Check it out (http://www.directron.com/3net.html)

Does anyone have comments? Is 3NET actually still around? Their website (http://www.3net.com/) talks about the future of 10 MBPS...

[airspirit]

I absolutely hate "generic" cards. I think of all the usual 10/100 cards I've used (that are cheeeeep), the Linksys Etherfast PCI cards work the best, and with the fewest amount of driver/conflict problems. Plus, Linksys really supports their stuff ... they constantly are updating drivers for better compatability and such. You can get those for $20 a pop. I've tried the Netgear and 3COM cards, and I've had problems with both (especially the 3Com cards ... the drives are extremely buggy), and I would avoid anything Belkin like the plague. I've heard good things about the DLink cards, but I've had bad experiences with some of their other products, so I would hesitate to recommend them.

[bigben2k]

I didn't have problems with the Dlinks, but the 3COMs kept blowing, probably due to this guys complete lack of ground.

Thanks for the tip. I think I'll take a chance with the cheap NetGear. Hey it's only money:D ($6.00 ea)

[dax]

I got good experience with Accton/SMC cards, pretty cheap, and i can get them around here. Use them in all of my systems and i have no problems with them at all

[airspirit]

I have a SMC card. It is in my junk-bin of scrap parts after blowing (fried chips) in less than one week of use. And no, my machine was running stock and was well cooled at the time with air. Biggest piece of $hite I ever wasted money on.

[utabintarbo]

Originally posted by airspirit
I absolutely hate "generic" cards....

Having experience with a lot of different NIC's, the cheap rtl8139-based ones ($5-10 each) have been the most reliable and compatible of them all. This is on everything from WinXP to RedHat 6.2 to Solaris 8. It's always there!

Bob