Should I use onboard network/firewire or dedicated pci cards?

[Pete]

Hi

I'm going to buy the Asrock 939SLI32-eSATA2 motherboard.
http://www.asrock.com/product/939SLI32-eSATA2.htm

The board comes with firewire and 10/100/100 lan.

I have 2 network cards doing nothing as follows:

Allied Telesyn 2500 Network Card
closest I can find is here:
http://www.alliedtelesyn.co.uk/en-gb...fid=54&pid=196

D-Link DFE-530TX Network Card
http://www.alliedtelesyn.co.uk/en-gb/products/cat/product.asp?cid=12&fid=54&pid=196


I also have a Pinnacle Firewire Booster 2B card doing nothing
http://cgi.ebay.com/PINNACLE-FIRE-W...QitemZ8735051165QQcategoryZ3759QQcmdZViewItem


As it will cost me nothing either way, should I use these cards or the
onboard solutions.

Will the onboard solutions drain much power from the cpu or is it negligable
now?

Would the onboard solutions, being newer, have more features?

Would using more pci cards mean fewer resources?


Thanks

Pete

 

[Rod Speed]

I'm going to buy the Asrock 939SLI32-eSATA2 motherboard.
http://www.asrock.com/product/939SLI32-eSATA2.htm

The board comes with firewire and 10/100/100 lan.

I have 2 network cards doing nothing as follows:

Allied Telesyn 2500 Network Card
closest I can find is here:
http://www.alliedtelesyn.co.uk/en-gb...fid=54&pid=196

D-Link DFE-530TX Network Card
http://www.alliedtelesyn.co.uk/en-gb/products/cat/product.asp?cid=12&fid=54&pid=196

I also have a Pinnacle Firewire Booster 2B card doing nothing
http://cgi.ebay.com/PINNACLE-FIRE-W...QitemZ8735051165QQcategoryZ3759QQcmdZViewItem

As it will cost me nothing either way, should I use these cards or the onboard
solutions.

No point in using the cards now.

Will the onboard solutions drain much power from the cpu
Nope.

or is it negligable now?

It was always negligable.

Would the onboard solutions, being newer, have more features?

Probably not with those cards.

Would using more pci cards mean fewer resources?

Yes, and is pointless.

 

[John McGaw]

Hi

I'm going to buy the Asrock 939SLI32-eSATA2 motherboard.
http://www.asrock.com/product/939SLI32-eSATA2.htm

The board comes with firewire and 10/100/100 lan.

I have 2 network cards doing nothing as follows:

Allied Telesyn 2500 Network Card
closest I can find is here:
http://www.alliedtelesyn.co.uk/en-gb...fid=54&pid=196

D-Link DFE-530TX Network Card
http://www.alliedtelesyn.co.uk/en-gb/products/cat/product.asp?cid=12&fid=54&pid=196


I also have a Pinnacle Firewire Booster 2B card doing nothing
http://cgi.ebay.com/PINNACLE-FIRE-W...QitemZ8735051165QQcategoryZ3759QQcmdZViewItem


As it will cost me nothing either way, should I use these cards or the
onboard solutions.

Will the onboard solutions drain much power from the cpu or is it negligable
now?

Would the onboard solutions, being newer, have more features?

Would using more pci cards mean fewer resources?


Thanks

Pete

Assuming that your new MB really supports 10/100/1000 and you simply
made a typo you definitely should go with the onboard networking since
the cards you cite are totally obsolete and their maximum speed is 10
times slower. The firewire card you cite is a really bizarre bit of
hardware that seems to have been made when firewire was something
strange and new.

I'd certainly stick with the internal parts where possible. In those
cases where it might be possible to surpass normal MB hardware, such as
high-end sound then it would make sense to disable the onboard and use a
top-end PCI or PCI-E add-on.

Power dissipation probably isn't a major concern either way but the more
components you insert in the system the less efficient the cooling may
become because of stagnant air in the PCI socket area.

 

[Pete]

No point in using the cards now.


It was always negligable.


Probably not with those cards.


Yes, and is pointless.

Thanks Rod

 

[Pete]

Assuming that your new MB really supports 10/100/1000 and you simply
made a typo you definitely should go with the onboard networking since
the cards you cite are totally obsolete and their maximum speed is 10
times slower. The firewire card you cite is a really bizarre bit of
hardware that seems to have been made when firewire was something
strange and new.

Bizarre? Why? I'm intreagued. It was given to me and I've never used it; I
should have known.

I'd certainly stick with the internal parts where possible. In those
cases where it might be possible to surpass normal MB hardware, such
as high-end sound then it would make sense to disable the onboard and
use a top-end PCI or PCI-E add-on.

Power dissipation probably isn't a major concern either way but the
more components you insert in the system the less efficient the
cooling may become because of stagnant air in the PCI socket area.

Thanks John

 

[DaveW]

Use the onboard versions. They do not use CPU cycles appreciably. And this
will leave you with unused PCI slots.