Re: [gentoo-user] Ethernet card for puter

[Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com>]

Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
> Am Fri, Nov 05, 2021 at 08:03:32PM -0500 schrieb Dale:
>
>> I was looking at the mobo manual and noticed the built in network port
>> is a 1Gb chip as well.  It is a Realtec and the last time I tried to use
>> it, it was a bit flakey.  Sometimes it would work but sometimes I'd have
>> to restart the network to get it going again.  That was about a decade
>> ago.
> My PC is over 7 years old now and I’ve always been unsing its internal
> ethernet port. Most consumer boards use Realtek chips, and so does mine,
> because they are a little cheaper than Intel’s counterparts. Enthusiasts and
> power users like Intel more because it does more in hardware and offers more
> features, whereas the realtek driver puts some load on the CPU, AFAIK. But
> in my view, that is counting crumbs, as we say in Germany. I’ve never had
> bandwidth problems and always had the full 1 Gb to my NAS. For us normal
> home user folk, it won’t make a difference, IMHO. (Except if you are a
> purist and care about code quality; I think there were niggles with
> Realtek’s code a longer while back.)
>

With this mobo and the previous mobos, the built in network was always
messing up.  On my first rig some 20 years ago, it was horrible. 
Reminded me of a winmodem I've read about.  I think the position of Mars
had more to do with when it would work or not.  It was mostly not on the
first puter.  The one before current puter was better but I still never
knew what to expect with it.  My current system would work for several
days but then would start acting strange.  To be honest, it could be
hardware, it could be the drivers.  Point is, I couldn't depend on
either one.  So, I bought a well supported card, installed it, enabled
it in the kernel and it has been rock solid ever since.  As a matter of
fact, the card I'm currently using was in my previous puter and possibly
the one before that.  When I built this puter, I moved the card over to
this system.  That card is pretty old but I have never had problems with
it at all. 

>> I wonder, is the drivers better today than they were then?  I would have
>> used it all this time if it worked well.  Anyone have experience with this
>> in the last year or so that is showing it working really well and stable? 
>> Keep in mind, I run 24/7 here.  If that works fine, I could just use it. 
>> lspci shows this for the on board network:
>>
>> Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit
>> Ethernet Controller (rev 06)
> That’s the one veryone uses. I actually have two of those installed; one
> one-board, the other one as a PCIe card that I got from my old employer.
>
>> I have 2 PCIex1 and one PCIex 4 slots open.  The small ones are close to
>> my video card and I'm not sure I can use them.
> Sure you can. Are you a hardcore gamer? Does your card consume 100s of W all
> the time? Usually the GPU is the top-most card except for cases that hold
> the board upside-down (meaning hot air rises away).
>

I think the last time I was installing a SATA card, my video card was a
little thick.  Between the card itself and the heat sink for the chips,
it was to close for a card close to it, even if one ignores the heat
problem which shouldn't be much given my case fans and the whimpy video
card.  ;-)  I have a Cooler Master HAF-932 case with those large fans.

>> Can I plug these types of cards into the larger slots?
> Yes. Speeds are downward-compatible. One PCIe 2.0 lane is fast enough for 1
> Gb.
>
>> I think I read once that can be done.  It's been ages tho. My old network
>> card appears to be in a old PCI plain slot.  It's a really old card, works
>> faithfully tho. 
> If you change the filter in the link I gave you at the top, you can also
> look for PCI-based cards (unselect PCIe first). It’s possible that PCIe,
> though a faster interface, may be more frugal these days. When PCI was
> invented, power saving was not an issue.
>
>> This may require some rearranging.  Or using the on board network one. 
>> I'd really prefer the card tho.  They just tend to work better.
> Why should they? A hunch? The only real benefit is you can easliy swap them
> in case of failure. But as long as you have it and it works – why not give
> it a try with what you have before you spend more for something you may not
> even need?
>


I ordered the card but I'm going to test the built in network shortly. 
All I have to do is unplug cable from current card and plug into built
in port.  Once I start that network, good to go.  If it works, great. 
I'll have the card as a back up.  If it doesn't, card it is. 

BTW, I found a good deal on a 8TB hard drive and bought it.  The store
had Unix in the name so obviously I had to buy from there.  ROFL  So,
network card and hard drive on the way. 

Thanks to all for the info.  When I test the built in, I'll post back
how well it's working.  Just for confirmation.  :-D

Dale

:-)  :-)