What think about 1GB Network cards for every machine on the Network?

[George Hester]

I put one in my Doamin Controller and it alone is very quick. But other
machines on the network just have run-of-the-mill 100MB cards. Is it
recommended to have the same cards on all the machines in the Network?

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Only if you have a gigabyte switch on the network to which they are all
connected.

 

[George Hester]

OK thanks I forgot about that little issue.

 

[Steve Duff [MVP]]

For certain things (like large file transfers, Autocad, etc.) you will see a moderate benefit to desktop gigabit. Transfers might
take say 20 seconds instead of 30. It will not, as people often expect, be anything close to 10x the speed.

In my experience for typical office applications, you won't see much benefit unless your current 100mbit network is badly
overloaded - in that case a high-quality gigabit server backbone adapter and cut-through switch is usually enough to remedy that
problem while still keeping your existing switch and desktop adapter investment mostly intact.

Offsetting the potential benefit is the cost and some real (though solveable) headaches with the current crop of gigabit cards and
drivers (one of them being that faster XP machines can boot to the login screen before the adapter is ready.) This may be one of
those times where waiting a little longer is a virtue.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.

 

[Colon Terminus]

My experience is that making the switch from 100mbit to 1000mbit resulted in
an approximate doubling of network throughput speed. This is with all Cat5e
cabling.

One thing worth mentioning, and as a wanting to others, do your homework
before you purchase. I have for years used D-Link NICs exclusively. I find
it quite handy to have the same NIC in every workstation. Even if the
computer comes with an on-board NIC, I'll disable it and put my preferred
NIC in there.

I began the trial with one small department consisting of fourteen
workstations. I installed a gigabit switch and put D-Link gigabit NICs in
each workstation. Everything worked swimmingly. A very noticeable
improvement.

But then ... I went to make a ghost image of one of the workstations with a
failing hard disk. Uhoh! No NDIS drivers. I contacted D-Link. Sure enough,
no DOS drivers of any sort were available nor was one planned.

So I had the dubious pleasure of scrapping 14 D-Link NICs and replacing them
with NICs from Intel.
Caveat Emptor - or better yet, do your homework.

For certain things (like large file transfers, Autocad, etc.) you will see

a moderate benefit to desktop gigabit. Transfers might

take say 20 seconds instead of 30. It will not, as people often expect, be

anything close to 10x the speed.

In my experience for typical office applications, you won't see much

benefit unless your current 100mbit network is badly

overloaded - in that case a high-quality gigabit server backbone adapter

and cut-through switch is usually enough to remedy that

problem while still keeping your existing switch and desktop adapter investment mostly intact.

Offsetting the potential benefit is the cost and some real (though

solveable) headaches with the current crop of gigabit cards and

drivers (one of them being that faster XP machines can boot to the login

screen before the adapter is ready.) This may be one of

those times where waiting a little longer is a virtue.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.