Can an expert please tell me why my PC has two Gigabit LAN controllers?

[Stan Kay]

My computer motherboard is an ASUS P5B premium which contains dual gigabit
LAN controllers. I am using one for my home network and everything works
fine. In these circumstances I do understand why a second gigabit LAN
controller is provided.

Am I missing a trick here somewhere because I cannot see what purpose this
second controller might serve. Can someone please tell me?

 

[Stan Kay]

Hi Shawn,

I had not thought of that. Currently my internet connection and all file
transfers between home network PC's all go through one LAN controller via my
Belkin wireless router. I presume that if I use one LAN controller
exclusively for the internet and the second LAN controller for all other
network traffic then performance should improve. Will I need to get a
suitable Gigabit switch, hub or router to make this work?

 

[Steve Thackery]

I presume that if I use one LAN controller exclusively for the internet

and the second LAN controller for all other network traffic then
performance should improve.

No, it won't actually, and it may well lead to some complications. One
gigabit LAN port can easily handle all your traffic without even breaking a
sweat - the bottlenecks are all elsewhere. You definitely won't see a
performance improvement by splitting the traffic as you describe.

To be honest it's rare to actually need two LAN ports on a home PC. It is
mostly for if you want the PC to work like a bridge, switch, router or
firewall that it comes in handy. Or if you need to connect to two networks
which must remain isolated from each other.

None of this will apply to you, I'm sure. The best thing to do is ignore
the second port.

SteveT

 

[Stan Kay]

Many thanks for the advice. I now understand what can be done and your
latest advice is most appreciated.