Gigabit Ethernet, Now Available

Over the holidays, I installed the Dell gigabit network switch in the data closet. And quickly realized that the only gigabit NIC I have on my network is my work laptop. At least I was able to confirm that it was connecting at the higher speeds.<br />n<br />nOn xmas day, I created an account and ordered two <a href=”http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833114004″ title=”network cards from newegg dot com”>gigabit NICs</a> from <a href=”http://www.newegg.com/” title=”newegg dot com”>newegg.com</a>. They got here the other day and last night went about installing them into the two desktop machines I have, the Dell and the old Compaq. It was a fairly simple operation, and the driver installed quick and easy into Windows and I was up and running at the higher speeds.<br />n<br />nThe reviews of the network cards on the site were pretty good, especially for my application, and the fact that these cards run the Realtek chip set makes them pretty standard and bulletproof. The drivers I received on CD were actually the latest available from the Realtek website, dated from March 2009, so that’s a clue things haven’t been just sitting on a shelf for years.<br />n<br />nI still have to do a test between a couple of these machines to verify the awesome speeds I should be able to now achieve, but too many other tasks beckon. Perhaps this weekend.