nics with onboard processor

[Jeremy]

i've noticed that this cheap d-link Nic (DFE-530TX) has a full height pc board with lots more circuitry than the standard cheapo cards. will this work independent of the cpu (the server i own has a slower processor in it) and work at the max speed the network and disks can handle (i'm running disks capable of over 15MB/sec sustained)?

[JWynn]

Dunno, but here is some info from their website on all their cards:

http://www.dlink.com/products/category.asp?cid=4

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally posted by Jeremy
i've noticed that this cheap d-link Nic (DFE-530TX) has a full height pc board with lots more circuitry than the standard cheapo cards. will this work independent of the cpu (the server i own has a slower processor in it) and work at the max speed the network and disks can handle (i'm running disks capable of over 15MB/sec sustained)?

There are some NICs that are better than others. The amount of circuitry that you see isn't a good indicator...but yes it's true that many of the cheaper 19 dollar NIC's are more "software/CPU driven" than many of the better 75 dollar NIC's like 3COM or Intel Pro's. I really like 3COM and Intel NICs. I also don't mind Netgear and the NIC on many nVidia nForce boards. Other brands I really try to stay away from.

Now when it comes to servers...real server grade NIC's...these are network cards designed for the high loads of servers. They usually cost over 100 dollars..such as the 3COM 990svr.

Remember all other NICs are just desktop NICs. Like desktop OS's...they really aren't designed for more than 10 concurrent connections. You want a server to perform like a server should, you should put on a server OS, and a server grade NIC.