25 Dec
2001
25 Dec
'01
12:54 p.m.
On Tue, 25 Dec 2001, Ethan Dicks wrote:
There were very few *ISA* 10/100 NICs ever made. The
3C515 is one of
them. One of the local junk shops has a couple behind the counter.
They are marked $20. I have no idea if that's a reasonable price or
if they are gouging (they also have some used RTC8139-based boards
next to them for $7, for comparison).
$20 sounds reasonable for a genuine 3c515. These boards are actually still
manufactured and sold, but your typical computer shop isn't going to stock
them. I often buy used as-is 3c509 cards of various revisions/models for
$1-$3. Since all the EtherLink III series and newer cards have a lifetime
warranty, I don't care if they are dead or damaged when I buy them. A new
509 can be had for under $12 these days, often under $10 if buying in bulk
(12, 24 or larger) packs.
Holger Kruse was considering adding support under
Miami for a 3C515
on a GG2 Bus+, but at the time, 3c515 boards were unobtanium, and
they wouldn't be fast, anyway. The only reason to really use an
ISA 10/100 card is if you have a non-PCI machine, and your network
infrastructure is 100 *only* (I have a 4-port 100BaseT hub from NetGear,
for instance - it was cheap at the time).
Since the ISA bus has such limited bandwith, you'll never see the full
100mb/s performance. I still use 509 cards for my ISA boxes since the
price/performance doesn't justify the extra cost. (This message will pass
thru several 509 cards before it gets to my uplink.)
-Toth