Network card

I'm building a home server and needed a network card, I scoured kijiji, craigslist, all online retailers and finally found something on ebay, it's a brand new Intel i340-t2 server network card ( http://ark.intel.com/products/49185/Intel-Ethernet-Server-Adapter-I340-T2 ) for 65ish $. The issue is that there isn't anything online that explains or reviews this card, the only thing I've found is that it is made for IBM by intel.... I don't know what that means for me. Will it work with windows 7 pro/ultimate? are there drivers? etc. the only drivers i've found are for the i340-t4. Would they work? intel's site does not list it as a compatible device for that driver.

 

need your collective expertise, hopefully Wendell's vast knowledge in these matters.

 

thanks

 

P.S. if all is well, do you think it's a good choice for the money? I'll be teaming them for increased bandwidth. I'll be using it as a backup pc to backup 3 laptops and 2 desktops and as a raid 5 server (hardware raid) for streaming music and movies so I was wanting to get as much bandwidth as i can get.

Hey Jathor,

The card you have there will probably work as it is listed by Intel to be compliant with Windows Server 2008 R2. Is that the OS you are going to use or are you going some other route? (Linux, FreeNAS, etc.)

What I would recommend would be to not look at it at all. Its 2nd hand and pricy for the money.

Amazon has this Intel dual Server NIC http://www.amazon.com/Intel-1000-Dual-Server-Adapter/dp/B000BMZHX2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393683556&sr=8-2&keywords=dual+gigabit

And its actually mentioned by Logan and Wendell on the Tek to work awesome for a server. It will do the same trick, be cheaper and new at the same time. 

So yeah, put one or 2 of those and maybe use the Motherboard's LAN as a passthrough or something and you've got yourself a bangin' server. 

Out of curiosity: what Specs are you running? I just bought the parts for a new mini Server I plan on running with an I3. 

Best of Luck!

PS: Where you looking at the 4 port version or 2 port version? If you find the 4 port version, its a MUCH better deal, assuming you really need it.

yeah I checked that nic out but saw that it was on end of life so i didnt consider it and yeah I just got confirmed that i'll be getting my hands on a windows server 2008 from a friend of mine that got it through work. I'll be running an i3 540 on a p7h55d-m evo (old pc I built my brother a while ago. I recently upgraded his whole rig so it was just lying around). Two ports would be more than enough and anyways I wouldn't have anymore ports left on my router. good idea btw for the passthrough, didnt think of that.