NIC for Steam Link - Is there any point in buying a more exensive card?

[jammybstard]

I've been repurposing my Steammachine into an office PC and Plex Media-server and also plan to use steam a Steam Link I bought last year to get my games back into the living room now the PC has moved.

It's going to have a wired connection to the router in the office and to minimize latency for the steam link I'm going to run some dedicated CAT6 (or whatever) down the wall of the house so there is a back-to-back link between a NIC on the PC and the Steam-Link. for this I'm going to have to get another NIC, for my remaining PCIe slot.

It already has an on-board NIC (Realtek® 8111G, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller) which I intend to use for the internet connection/Plex server side of things

For the Steam-Link link I was planning on just adding a cheap Realtek based PCIe NIC like the TP-Link TG3468 that can be picked up for peanuts.
but as latency is the important factor with the Steam-Link I was wondering if it is worth considering a more expensive option to reduce latency?

Or am I worrying about this too much seen as it's just a Steam-Link connected to a TV

PCPartPicker part list:
CPU: *AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor (£88.28 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B 45.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£41.42 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: *Asus A88XM-Plus Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard (£66.98 @ Novatech)
Memory: AMD R9 Gamer Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory
Storage: OCZ ARC 100 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£95.93 @ Misco UK)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£67.78 @ Misco UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£59.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex Platinum 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£189.91 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Case Fan: ARCTIC F12 PWM 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£5.67 @ Ebuyer)
Case Fan: ARCTIC F12 PWM 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£5.67 @ Ebuyer)
Case Fan: ARCTIC F12 PWM 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£5.67 @ Ebuyer)

 

[kanewolf]

I think you are worrying about this too much. I would start with just the onboard NIC. Until you prove you have a problem, then the simplest answer is a single NIC and an ethernet switch.

 

[jammybstard]

Your probably right. But I have the cable and I have to run Ethernet down the side of the house anyway so its as easy to pull two cable runs in as it is one.
I also have to move the phone line while I'm on as it currently terminates in the middle of the kitchen wall which is really messy to connect the ADSL router to.
I'll probably go with a cheap second NIC for the steam link and see how it goes.

 

[kanewolf]

I don't recommend it. Windows really prefers 1 NIC. You can do two (or more) but it is not as easy at it should be. Just put a switch at your computer. A single line back to the router and the PC and TV off the switch. That is the most efficient method.

 

[jammybstard]

Any second NIC configured with just an IP address and a mask should be fine. In my experience Windows is fine with multiple NICs, Multiple default gateways are an issue, That's when you ave to start mucking around with static routes and metrics.

 

[kanewolf]

Absolutely only one default gateway. If the OP understands what is required for multiple subnets and static IP addressing, then go for it. But a single NIC, a gigabit switch and DHCP makes everything much simpler....