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Onboard networking?

post #1 of 13
7/22/07 at 11:44am
Thread Starter 
When I'm building a pc do I buy a network card or is there onboard networking? Does it take away from my CPU like onboard audio would?
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post #2 of 13
7/22/07 at 12:40pm
Most if not all motherboards (from about three years to today) come with an integrated network card so there is no need to buy a separate card. Just make sure that the motherboard comes with an ethernet port.

It shouldn't take that much away from the CPU as the integrated network card usually handles things by itself. Anyway, it's not like you're gonna get a noticeable performance hit by using the integrated card (if any).

There is something called the Killer NIC that supposedly makes gaming faster by offloading all the chores from the CPU and reduces PING times drastically but really $180-$250 to obtain 5 more frames per second and enhance your pings by perhaps a couple of ms it is just too much to pay.

For that price, you can throw something better into your computer. Unless you are a REAL benchmark freak and those five 3D Mark points really matter to you just an integrated or $10-20 NIC card would do fine. It's not like by adding a separate NIC card you're gonna jump from 30-60 frames per second or are gonna crush your previous benchmarks.
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post #3 of 13
7/22/07 at 2:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by moidock View Post
Most if not all motherboards (from about three years to today) come with an integrated network card so there is no need to buy a separate card. Just make sure that the motherboard comes with an ethernet port.

It shouldn't take that much away from the CPU as the integrated network card usually handles things by itself. Anyway, it's not like you're gonna get a noticeable performance hit by using the integrated card (if any).

There is something called the Killer NIC that supposedly makes gaming faster by offloading all the chores from the CPU and reduces PING times drastically but really $180-$250 to obtain 5 more frames per second and enhance your pings by perhaps a couple of ms it is just too much to pay.

For that price, you can throw something better into your computer. Unless you are a REAL benchmark freak and those five 3D Mark points really matter to you just an integrated or $10-20 NIC card would do fine. It's not like by adding a separate NIC card you're gonna jump from 30-60 frames per second or are gonna crush your previous benchmarks.

^everything he said, but id go farther and say there is NO diffrence by using a nic and onboard

now, onboard sound/video vs sound/vid cards, thats a huge diffrence


soulsaver
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post #4 of 13
7/22/07 at 7:59pm
Thread Starter 
thanks, very helpful
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post #5 of 13
7/25/07 at 3:21am
I would disagree with the onboard vs dedicated sound. HardOCP's motherboard evaluations have them testing with sound enabled and disabled on a system board, and the biggest difference they could get in performance was roughly 10% That's an IMPERCEPTIBLE difference to the naked eye.

Creative labs has the market cornered for true dedicated sound. Unfortunately all the bloatware they include with their cards (which you have to install should you want full multi-channel functionality) negates any performance gain you might get. The last two creative cards I owned were nothing but trouble thanks to their loading of crapware. I've received NO troubles from my integrated sound solutions.

Not saying that a Creative labs soundcard won't give you a better listening experience....they will. They just don't improve performance like they claim they do.
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post #6 of 13
7/25/07 at 11:00am
Thread Starter 
I'm not much of an audiophile by any means and the Asus P5K is supposed to have pretty good integrated sound so maybe I'll just stick with that if it won't give me that much of a hit
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post #7 of 13
7/26/07 at 3:01pm
[quote=MrEvil;2684009] and the biggest difference they could get in performance was roughly 10% That's an IMPERCEPTIBLE difference to the naked eye.

QUOTE]


thats actually a lot, when you think "i wanna multi task since i have a sound card now" 10% helps

but yes, 10% isnt eye noticeable, but it adds up, and if you can get better smoother sound, why not for what, 40-50 bucks?


soulsaver
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post #8 of 13
7/26/07 at 9:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stuckinasquare3 View Post
I'm not much of an audiophile by any means and the Asus P5K is supposed to have pretty good integrated sound so maybe I'll just stick with that if it won't give me that much of a hit
Lol you can get an audigy 2 ZS for $20.00.... You get that & here is the advantage- If you do not use the bloatware (I install the Creative Labs control panel for adv audio effects, but disable the services unless I need them.) They can be loaded by simply clicking on the Creative control panel app ). This has the advantage of providing better sound quality & no CPU usage. you can still load the Creative control panel if you need the additional capabilities
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post #9 of 13
7/29/07 at 7:26am
All boards out now come standard with an onboard nic, so unless you are running a server, there really isnt any need for a dedicated nic board.

As for audio, it is reccomended to use a dedicated board. On-mobo audio chipsets have become quite sophisticated over the past few years with some even offering 7.1 audio. The major problem with onboard audio is noise. Devices like yourhdd's create interference and as a result, you will here static in the background. for a clearer, smoother audio experience, a dedicated board is reccomended. You can pick up a cheapy turtle beach/soundblaster off newegg for under 20, and a nice xfi can be had for 50-60 onsale.
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post #10 of 13
7/29/07 at 6:21pm
Whatever you do, NEVER lose or damage your Creative Labs CD that came with the soundcard. The basic driver you can download from their site ONLY gives you the most basic functions. Surround sound won't work without installing from the CD...which is $15 if it happens to become unreadable or lost.

Creative's a bunch of douchebags IMO. They sell HARDWARE not software, so why are they so darned protective of their stupid bloatware?
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post #11 of 13
7/29/07 at 7:33pm
well these days you can download the creative audio console from them for free which has all the advanced options. Turtle Beach is a greate board maker though!
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post #12 of 13
8/4/07 at 10:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrEvil View Post
Whatever you do, NEVER lose or damage your Creative Labs CD that came with the soundcard. The basic driver you can download from their site ONLY gives you the most basic functions. Surround sound won't work without installing from the CD...which is $15 if it happens to become unreadable or lost.

Creative's a bunch of douchebags IMO. They sell HARDWARE not software, so why are they so darned protective of their stupid bloatware?

that first part isnt so true, i had a 5.1 surround sound system, no driver disk, downloaded the driver, and still got it coming out (was an OEM card)


soulsaver
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post #13 of 13
8/7/07 at 12:32am
imo, only reason to use a separate nic is if the onboard one goes bad, or you want to upgrade from 10/100 to 10/100/1000
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