Hi, could you tell me which ethernet is better between “Intel 2.5 Gb Ethernet” and “Realtek 2.5 Gb Ethernet”? (Windows 11, Wi-Fi 5Ghz goes to max 150 Mbps)
The first is on the mobo “Asus prime z790-A” and the second on the “prime z790-P”
Hi, could you tell me which ethernet is better between “Intel 2.5 Gb Ethernet” and “Realtek 2.5 Gb Ethernet”? (Windows 11, Wi-Fi 5Ghz goes to max 150 Mbps)
The first is on the mobo “Asus prime z790-A” and the second on the “prime z790-P”
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I’m a lesser experienced member here, but so far both are fine for end user use.
Intel is very much preferred for server application, such as TrueNAS. I’ve personally had niggles with Realtek NICs that simply disappear as soon as Intel are involved (1-10Gb).
Hope that helps, but do wait for others to comment ![]()
understood, I don’t use NAS, instead in areas such as Deep learning, AI, machine learning and Cloud gaming Intel is still better? (Cloud gaming because I use the desktop as a virtual machine which sends the video signal to the laptop which simply shows the already rendered video)
As far as I know, if you’re gonna keep your machine on Windows and you have access to the motherboard vendor’s driver, I don’t think you’ll ever have any issues with the Realtek NIC. Usually the Intel NICs are preferred when using Linux because they have support out of the box and don’t need drivers to work.
But I also had luck with a Realtek NIC on my old laptop that straight up worked in Linux.
If I were you I’d try to list more pros and cons for each board and use that as a tool to decide which one suits your needs best.
You are not using a NAS now but you could convert one of your motherboard afterwards in the future. I didnt have a NAS last year and didnt plan on having one but unused hardware will somehow push you to at least try using a NAS. Should that happen, you are going to thank people that you had Intel on your Mobo instead of Realtek.
If you would have asked me this question like two or three years ago,
then i would probably have said intel.
Because realtek drivers could have been a little bit iffy sometimes.
However today i would say for most people it won´t really matter much.
Unless sever like stuff then intel is probably better or other specific things.
But for just internet and gaming etc it should not really matter that much.
I would say the same. Does not really matter now.
I have been running debian10 and 11 on old hardware (which was running windows prior to that) with onboard Intel and Realtek Nic.
I did not have any major issues. Event the aquantia NIC is running fine.
That’s what I was thinking - todays pc could become tomorrows server ![]()
I do wonder, if this is income related and like @MetalizeYourBrain said, the other board features might be more important, for example the Realtek one might have 2.5G, more SATA/PCI that work better for your use case.
you should be ok with any of them for windows use i can’t help for Linux
I don’t have 2.5 nor realtek but compared several aquantia 10gbit (asus nic + both amd and intel motherboards with it) and an intel x550-t1 nic that I bought before I had 10gb motherboards
and both work fine I would say the Intel 10gb cards are faster but 10gbit opens a pandora’s box of bottlenecks you will never see with 2.5Gb you need to transfer >3Gbit/s to start seeing differences
intel nics seem to have better more advanced settings like more cache and stuff but unless you know what you are doing they work best left as is anyway, windows at least does not like you toying with settings
to be blunt unless your a sysadmin or soc you shouldnt be able to tell if your using one brand over another.
both intel and realtech are well supported on linux and windows.
although in linux it can be a bit more of a faff to get working.
one thing i would take into account though is from watching linus.
pretty much anytime he interacts with an intel nic something breaks and he has to call tech support ![]()
Intel hardware is better but it’s less of a thing now CPUs are so fast.
For end user desktop don’t worry about it
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