32 or 64 Bit Network Card

[Longhair13]

What is the difference (beside the price) between the 32 bit and 64 bit network cards?

[mccoffee]

My guess is the only difference is the drivers that come with the network card if you have a 32 bit operating system stick to the 32 bit card.

[YeOldeStonecat]

You'll find better giga NICs...since the old 32 bit PCI bus (33 MHz) is limited in shared throughput...giga NICs that are only 32 bit PCI are..well, don't perform optimal. Giga NICs on a 64 bit bus (66 MHz) can stretch their legs more...nudge that giga speed.

It's the bits of the bus...hardware, not related to wether you have Windows 64 or not.

Similar to RAID controller cards..get into bigger and faster RAID volumes...they really need the larger bus.

Many 64 bit cards are backwards compatible and will still work in a pokey old 32 bit bus.

[mccoffee]

You'll find better giga NICs...since the old 32 bit PCI bus (33 MHz) is limited in shared throughput...giga NICs that are only 32 bit PCI are..well, don't perform optimal. Giga NICs on a 64 bit bus (66 MHz) can stretch their legs more...nudge that giga speed.

It's the bits of the bus...hardware, not related to wether you have Windows 64 or not.

Similar to RAID controller cards..get into bigger and faster RAID volumes...they really need the larger bus.

Many 64 bit cards are backwards compatible and will still work in a pokey old 32 bit bus.

that's for that explanation didn't know it worked backwards yeold good to know