Need quick m/b buying advice!

[supashaka]

I'm looking at the Gigabyte AB350M-D3V AM4 DDR4 mATX Motherboard as it's on a promotion, but don't know if it's compatible.

I've started having trouble with my ethernet adapter (slowed browsing/ constant buffering on video/ any downloads have slowed to a crawl) and I'm hoping that buying a cheap new Motherboard will fix the problem. But I have an Intel processor, does that mean it won't be compatible? Why can't I find this motherboard on PCPartPicker to check compatibility? Hope someone can give me tips:

CPU: Intel - Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£230.77 @ PC World Business)
Motherboard: MSI - Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Kingston - HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£58.36 @ More Computers)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£81.24 @ More Computers)
Video Card: MSI - Radeon R9 285 2GB Video Card
Case: Corsair - SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case (£44.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: XFX - TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£101.38 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ - GL2250HM 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor (£89.99 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Cooler Master - CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £646.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-22 22:18 BST+0100

 

[WildCard999]

It won't be compatible, you need a 1150 socket Intel motherboard. The Gigabyte AB350 is a AMD AM4 socket motherboard.

Try downloading the newest drivers/firmware for your Ethernet adapter and see if that fixes the problem.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-PC-Mate#down-driver

 

[profoundnoah]

Like wild said, it won't be compatible. When you're referring to your ethernet adapter, are you talking about the one built into your motherboard or a third-party one? If on-board, download the latest drivers and see if that helps.

 

[supashaka]

It won't be compatible, you need a 1150 socket Intel motherboard. The Gigabyte AB350 is a AMD AM4 socket motherboard.

Try downloading the newest drivers/firmware for your Ethernet adapter and see if that fixes the problem.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-PC-Mate#down-driver

Thanks guys, it's onboard Ethernet and I already downloaded and updated the driver to the latest with no luck. I posted in more detail here:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3749782/ethernet-adapter-problem-slow-browsing-downloading-constant-buffering-video.html

So far nobody has been able to help unfortunately, and I was told buying a 3rd party external USB ethernet adapter wouldn't actually 'replace' the onboard one, so it would only provide a solution if the actual physical port to the onboard adapter is damaged (and not the adapter itself).

I can't see any damage on the actual physical port/connector where the ethernet cable plugs in. I'd love to be able to buy some cheap ethernet adapter that would fix the problem but am guessing that won't help so instead of possibly wasting money on something I'm thinking I should just look for a cheap motherboard compatible with my current build. Any ideas for one I could go for (good value for money without losing funcionality/performance)?

 

[Ztdutxjgxgtu]

If you are sure your mobo has issue, not windows or drivers, nuy a ethernet lan pci card, its cheap and works

 

[supashaka]

If you are sure your mobo has issue, not windows or drivers, nuy a ethernet lan pci card, its cheap and works

I'm not sure unfortunately, but I've done a fresh install of Windows and have updated drivers with no luck. Could you suggest a cheap NIC/PCI card which won't sacrifice performance? Also I don't know the exact PCI port type I need, is it PCI/PCI express1/4/8/16/x/mini etc? I have no idea.

Also, how would I 'disconnect' the onboard NIC when I connect the new NIC via PCI?

 

[Ztdutxjgxgtu]

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/stMFf7/rosewill-wired-network-card-rc411
Something like this will do, no brand preference,

 

[supashaka]

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/stMFf7/rosewill-wired-network-card-rc411
Something like this will do, no brand preference,

I can't find that anywhere from UK for some reason. So it has to be PCI-Express x1 to work? What about something cheap like:?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-100Mbps-RJ45-Ethernet-NIC-LAN-Network-PCI-Card-Adapter-For-Desktop-Computer/282917762820

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-100-Mbps-NIC-RJ45-RTL8139D-LAN-Network-PCI-Card-Adapter-for-Computer-PC-/252245944352?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

(can't figure out it's PCI type?? Or would something this cheap bottleneck my system in some way?) or this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PCI-E-10-100-1000-Mbps-Gigabit-Ethernet-Lan-Card-RealTek-RTL811E-PCI-Express-UK/173328590781

 

[Ztdutxjgxgtu]

This will work on pcie 16 slot, with100mb max
I,d prefer a pcie x1 for shorter and easier to find empty slot, also see if you want to max out you internet speed

 

[supashaka]

This will work on pcie 16 slot, with100mb max
I,d prefer a pcie x1 for shorter and easier to find empty slot, also see if you want to max out you internet speed

You're referring to the £2 one (1st in the list) being PCI Express x16? So you're saying it is compatible? Internet speeds in the UK are pretty slow compared to the rest of the world, I currently have regular broadband with 12 mbps max, and am due to switch to virgin media next month (up to 100mbps but will likely be around 50mbps max for my location in London) so do you mean it wouldn't bottleneck bearing that in mind? When you say easier to find slot, If I bought the £2 one is it possible there won't be a free slot for that type?

I also found this with slot type PCI-EX1, is it compatible?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8111E-PCI-E-X1-RJ45-Gigabit-Ethernet-network-card-Adapter-NIC-M4B7-/202370915170?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

How would I 'disconnect' or disable the onboard NIC when I connect the new NIC via PCI?

 

[WildCard999]

You should be able to disable the ethernet connection on your motherboard right in the Control Panel > Network & Sharing Center > Network Connections. Then I'd install a adapter (wifi or hardline), you'll still want to download the newest drivers for the adapter.

One thing maybe to try before doing this ^^^, have you tried replacing your ethernet cable?

 

[supashaka]

You should be able to disable the ethernet connection on your motherboard right in the Control Panel > Network & Sharing Center > Network Connections. Then I'd install a adapter (wifi or hardline), you'll still want to download the newest drivers for the adapter.

One thing maybe to try before doing this ^^^, have you tried replacing your ethernet cable?

I found it in Control panel > Network & Sharing Center > Change adapter settings. I take it you're saying the last one I linked is compatible

I have tried:

1) Tested with spares (ethernet phone cable/micro filter/RJ11 from router to PC).
Connected the router to the micro filter/BT phone master socket and even tried direct without the micro filter into the test socket.

2) Tried 2 other browsers and with antivirus uninstalled.

3) Deleted the Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller driver and updated to the latest from the MSI website.

4) In Device Manager right clicked on ethernet/network adapter - Properties - Advanced tab; for the 'Speed & duplex' property tried changing to different values, beginning with 100 Mbps full duplex to 10 Mbps full duplex

5) Bought a new SSD and did a fresh install of Windows 7

 

[supashaka]

This will work on pcie 16 slot, with100mb max
I,d prefer a pcie x1 for shorter and easier to find empty slot, also see if you want to max out you internet speed

So I wanted to update you guys since you helped me. The network card arrived the same day as the virgin media installation. On the new 100MBPs virgin media connection I got 110 MBPs and....all the problems were completely solved (with the original built in network card)!

When I changed back to the old origin broadband connection I disabled the normal network adapter in device manager and installed the new one, and that also solved all the problems. The speed is now constant and doesn't jump up and down, the buffering is (mostly) gone and downloads are back to normal (original) fast speeds. I think the fact that some buffering does still occur (3 times in 15 min on Iplayer) reflects the only thing which hasn't changed: the max speed is still coming up as 8.9 MBPs (but at least it's now consistent).

So the big question: what actually caused all this? With the original NIC when I plug in the virgin ethernet the problems are gone, so at 1st I thought the culprit must be the Openreach connection (probably within my premises). Then the new NIC solved the problem also so I'm back to thinking it could still be the old NIC which somehow developed a fault (taking into consideration the fact that all other devices were always working fine)?

Before we had the torrential down-pour of rain that day, we used to get around 12 MBPs and immediately after that day and all the problems it brought (re-read the OP) it was 9 MBPs max and completely unstable. Now it's still 9, but stable. The problem is when my current Virgin contract expires the price will go way up and I'll have to go back to an openreach connection, so I really do want to try to figure out the solution. But Origin broadband (and any other company I'm guessing) say if they send out an openreach engineer and their equipment shows my PC to be at fault then I'll be charged £175 or whatever it was!