Just putting an 98 SE system and I have two PCI network cards to choose from. First is a DFE-530TX+ Rev.E1. Second is a Linksys LNE100TX 5.1 . Anyone familiar enough with these cards to recommend using one over the other? (And anyone know what the empty sockets on the end are for?)
The DFE-530TX+ is a generic Realtek RTL8139, the LNE100TX is a DEC Tulip chip. Realtek has excellent driver support (you can still download the driver from their site), but the chips are lackluster, putting a heavy load on the CPU. If your CPU is very fast that can be an advantage, but with Win98SE I'd suspect your CPU isn't so fast - and then the Tulip wins. Off the top of my head I'd say the tipping point is somewhere just above 1GHz.
The empty sockets are for an optional boot PROM used for PXE (network) booting.
A (mostly accurate) listing of my computer systems: http://www.shelteringoak.com/OzzNet/
Thanks. Processor is a PIII 600 MHz, so I'll give the LNE100TX a try first.
