Two Network Adapters: Which Should I Use?

[J-Mac]

Hello all.

Quick question, though I may just ask Support about this too:

My Puget Systems computer, purchased in January, came with two network adapters but no direction as to which one is the preferred adapter. I remember my last computer, a Falcon NW Mach V, had the same issue but they had a drawing of the rear ports and there was a hand-drawn arrow pointing to one adapter along with a note that said, "Use This Network Adapter".

Anyway, the two on this box are:

1 - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
2 - Intel 82579V Gigabit Network Connection

Can anyone say which adapter would be the preferred one that I should use? I have been using the Realtek adapter for no particular reason other than that is the port I happened to plug the Ethernet cable in to when I set this box up.

I see regular occurring warnings listed in the Event Viewer as follows:

e1 cexpress, Event# 27:

Intel(R) 82579V Gigabit Network Connection
Network link is disconnected.

These warnings show every two hours, often followed immediately by this warning:

DNS Client Events, Event# 1014
Name resolution for the name isatap.pugetsystems.com timed out after none of the configured DNS servers responded.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Jim

[PCC-William]

You are welcome to use whichever adapter you want! Both support the same basic specs (10/100/1000 Ethernet). Realtek is more commonly found on motherboards as the built-in network chip, but Intel is generally regarded as having 'better' network adapters (especially for server-style workloads, or non-Windows operating systems). In the end, though, as long as it works for you that is what matters

[J-Mac]

Thanks William. Sorry I didn't reply sooner - I didn't get any notification that you had replied.

So there is no speed difference or anything? Nothing else in my build that would work better with one adapter or another?

Thanks again!

Jim

[PCC-William]

There is nothing that I am aware of which would make one or the other a better choice.

[MARC]

On the Asus P9X79 Deluxe, Asus states that the Intel NIC has a "Dual interconnect between the Integrated LAN controller and Physical Layer (PHY)"

Don't know if that will make any real world difference, but there you go. I would use the Intel Controller (check you manual for the location - on the P9X79 Deluxe, it's the top Lan port just below the wifi antenna jack).