topic Re: 10 or 100??? in Networking

10 or 100???

Barry Hunter — Thu, 02 Oct 2003 21:08:52 GMT

Folks,

I have a RealTek RTL8029(AS) PCI Ethernet Adapter running on my WinXP box. My question is can this card support 100Mbps or just 10? It has defaulted to 10 so this may answer my question but if anyone knows diffrent, I would appreciate your comments.

Many thanks

Barry

Re: 10 or 100???

Roger Faucher — Thu, 02 Oct 2003 21:40:58 GMT

Barry:

I found no evidence that it supports Fast Ethernet (100Mbps).

Roger

Re: 10 or 100???

Jim Mallett — Thu, 02 Oct 2003 21:49:14 GMT

Barry,

It appears that NIC is only 10MBps, see the manufacturer page:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/products1-2.aspx?modelid=3

To double check you could go:
Start > Settings > Network & Dial Up and choose the network adapter. Once it's open choose "Configure" and under the "Advanced" tab you should see a choice called "Link Speed and Duplex". You'll likely only see settings for 10MBps. (On XP the steps to get in there may be a bit different but that should give you an idea.)

Jim

Re: 10 or 100???

Norman_21 — Thu, 02 Oct 2003 22:39:32 GMT

Just an add on to what Jim has said.
In WinXP on the advanced TAB, select Link speed and Duplex, if it's Auto detect, then your NIC is auto sense that means it supports both 10/100
other wise, it is what the option is telling you!

Good luck

Re: 10 or 100???

Barry Hunter — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 04:54:00 GMT

Cheers guys for the responses.

Pretty much as I figured.

Oh well, will just have to go out and spend some cash on a 100Mbps card.

Barry

Re: 10 or 100???

Roger Faucher — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 09:54:52 GMT

Barry:

I just bought one for $20 from Office Depot with $12 worth of mail-in rebates. (D-Link 530)

Roger

Re: 10 or 100???

John Collier — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 11:45:47 GMT

Barry,

Just to put my $.02 in, I see Fast Ethernet cards all over the place for less than $10.00 USD. Some sites you might look at:

http://www.okcmasters.com
http://www.officemax.com
http://www.pcclub.com
http://www.tigerdirect.com
http://www.pricewatch.com

In my humble opinion, I saved the best link for last but you can be the judge on that ;-)

Re: 10 or 100???

Jim Mallett — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 12:48:41 GMT

Barry,

Are you actually networking multiple computers? Or just connecting to a cable/dsl modem? If you don't have a home network the 10MBps will probably suffice because you'll never exceed that anyway. The best you would get with cable or dsl is 2-3MBps.
If you are using a home network, just keep in mind that it is only as strong as the weakest link. So even if you put a 100MB card in and you have a switch/router/hub at 10MB you'll end up auto-negotiating to the slower speed.

Just some thoughts....

(All that being said, having the 100MB in there is usually the best choice.)

Jim

Re: 10 or 100???

Barry Hunter — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 14:21:09 GMT

Thanks guys for your sage advice,

I am running a home network and yes the weak link(s) are the two NIC cards me and my g/f are running on our computers.

I have solved my problems however by 'half-inching' a couple of 3Com 10/100's from my old man as he was no longer using them.

Cheers folks,

Barry