I’ve seen a lot of contradictory research and videos on wether or not that a ethernet card is worth it what’s your guys thoughts?
I’ve seen a lot of contradictory research and videos on wether or not that a ethernet card is worth it what’s your guys thoughts?
34 Comments
Depends on whether or not your motherboard IO has an Ethernet port or not.
Depends on what you use it for. Moving large files locally between your network? Probably yeah. Light web browsing and some gaming? Probably not.
Depends, I had an MSI with a 3rd party Ethernet port. I can’t recall the brand but it sucked. So I got one and it worked great, it was also before most people had gigabit so I had a reason to buy it since I had Fios.
It depends on the PC. It it’s an old PC with a 10 or 10/100 Ethernet port, then yes. Otherwise, if it’s from the past 10 or so years, then no
What do you need it for?
Depends on your motherboard specs and the spec of your internet connectoon. My motherboard only supports a 1Gbit connection but my download speed is 1.6Gbit.
Therefore, I installed a usb 2.5Gbit adapter so I can allow myself the full connection speed.
If your system already has 2.5Gb on board? No. If you only have 1Gb and would like to upgrade to 2.5Gb? Yes. It all comes down to if you’re transferring large files across the local network to another PC, your internet exceeds 1Gb or both.
Well can you even use the 2,5Gbit? Does any other device in your network supports the speed like a NAS?
For 99% of people, no. If you don‘t know if you‘re in the 1%, you are not.
Unless the onboard LAN already limits your data plan speed or network transfer speeds to other devices in your network like a NAS, no.
I have no issues with my 2.5gbe and 10gbe onboard LAN. 2.5gbe for internet (1gbit plan which gets to around 1.1gbit) and 10gbe for my DAS/NAS.
Does your cables / switch / router even support it?
If you need more bandwidth than your motherboard provides, sure.
If not, no.
I use 10 Gb cards and a 10 Gb switch. While my internet maxes out at @ 1.4 Gbs I do transfer lots of files between my PC and NAS and 10 Gb is definitely faster. Wireless is, as usual, unreliable.
If your PC is limited to 1 Gb and you have faster than 1 Gbs internet a 2.5 Gb card would let you get the extra speed in the rare instances the net actually transfers data that fast. A 2.5 Gb switch is recommended otherwise a direct connection would be needed.
Network engineers opinion: Case of having non and going up to 1 excluded. If you don’t know you need one you don’t need it. Having more than 1GBs lan connection is only really useful if you work off of NAS, use PXE boot, run internal server for something like docker, surveillance etc.
2,5GBs LAN networking is going to be the future but it will be implemented into MOBOs when it’s required at wide scale.
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The only reason I see for you to need an extra one other than the one the mobo already has is to setup a proxy between a managed network and a direct internet connection.
I have one of these set up on the down low at work but hush hush. It serves to circumvent certain restrictions and a cloud proxy app.
Pretty much any modern motherboard has either 1 or 2.5 gig ethernet built in (sometimes even with 2 separate ports). As long as the ports work at all, they probably work at full speed. And since at best you’ll get 1gig internet at with a residential connection, going beyond that only makes sense if you are planning on using ethernet to connect to other local devices.
So there is pretty much just 2 use cases that would require buying one of these:
* Your motherboards ethernet is broken
* You need more ethernet ports than your motherboard has built in
* Your motherboard only has 1gig ethernet and you *need* 2.5gig
So imo it’s kind of a situation where you either already know for certain that you have a usecase for it or you do not need it.
Well if the onboard network isn’t enough for you then yes? My motherboard has a 2.5Gb port which was enough since my WAN was 1Gb max and my internal network also 2.5Gb.
However since a few months I have 4Gb fiber with a 10Gb modem (two separate 10Gb WAN + 10Gb LAN ports). Naturally I wanted the full speed so the 2.5Gb wasn’t enough anymore. So I got an external 10Gb network card foe my PC.
How often do you move large files between your computers at home? If the answer isn’t every day then you don’t need 2.5gig Ethernet. Also it’s not enough to just buy one network card, you need one for each computer and you need a 2.5gig switch, those cost like 100 bucks.
And no a discrete network card is not better than the one that’s built into your motherboard with the same bandwidth.
Look at the specs of your motherboard Ethernet port. Compare that with the specs from your isp. If your motherboard exceeds what your isp is delivering, it’s just a waste of money to buy that.
Are you Linus from Linus tech tips? If no, then no. If yes, then this is not the card for you.
Does your motherboard have ethernet? If no, then yes. Also what the fuck? If yes, then no.
No
Only if u are runnin a server
I’m still limited to 1TB by my ISP. I’ve had accidental steam library installs of a few games trigger my monthly cap. Rarely do I see the need to download any faster.
Though it was cool back when I was able to download my entire steam library in 2 minutes at 400-600MBps (not Mbps) connection back in 2013 at an Arizona State tech center I used to work at.
Lot’s of shit advice in this sub
Worth what? You don’t have an Ethernet port on your motherboard?
For most people, including gamers, the integrated networking is more than enough. If you have a modern motherboard, odds are you already have 2.5gig networking.
If you have to ask if you need it, you probably don’t.
My mobo ethernet port literally died. The wifi works fine, so I know its just the port.
I needed to get this, it works great. Unfortunately I had to sacrifice a pci port, but then again I barely use pci ports. The only other thing i have as a port is my capture card.
So yes, but situational.
Only if you have a server because it’s for transferring data. For daily Ethernet use, you are limited by the speed from your ISP. A 10 gigabit card will not make your Ethernet faster if the speed your ISP gave you is maxed at 100 mbps.
If you want to transfer a lot of data quickly on LAN then yes.
You need a ethernet card in one of 3 cases:
1) Your motherboard does not have a built in ethernet card and you need/want to use a LAN connection
2) Your o board Ethernet card is slower than your fastest possible network speed (quite unlikely)
3) you have set up some weird network setup which requires you to have more than 1 port
You probably don’t need that, if your rooter support 2.5 gb/s you’ll only need a cat 6 Ethernet cable and plug it directly from the rooter to the pc
Most of the motherboards have 1gb internet speed
So buying a 2.5gb card if you have 2.5gb internet it is worth it
If your motherboard doesn’t already have one, sure. Aside from that, the main reasons to use wired over wireless are if you’re having packet loss or unacceptable latency.