Motherboard exploded, whats up with all the Realtek NICs?
So the motherboard in my file sever gave out and I decided to order a new one instead of waiting on the ASUS RMA (which can take weeks to months). I ended up with this. It seems most motherboard manufacturers are opting for the cheap Realtek NICs for on board network connectivity. This is very disappointing, especially if you use Linux or FreeBSD, just see this comment from the FreeBSD driver. * The RealTek 8139 PCI NIC redefines the meaning of ‘low end.’ This is *probably the worst PCI ethernet controller ever made, with the possible * exception of the FEAST chip made by SMC. The 8139 supports bus-master * DMA, but it has a terrible interface that nullifies any performance * gains that bus-master DMA usually offers. Click the link for the rest, it’s just as informative. It’s sad to see this progression in on board devices, first with the introduction of AC’97 sound and WinModems in the late 90s and the proliferation of integrated graphics solutions and crummy networking hardward today
