Too many network adapters? (The REAL ones!)

[zeeakawanted]

Hello, good people!

I have pretty solid PC rig based on Asus Z87-DELUXE MB (Intel Core i7-4770K, Kingston HyperX DDR3 32GB, etc...) which is currently running Windows 8.1 Pro, and one thing which bothers me lately is (maybe!) too many network adapters which possibly might interfere with one another? Btw, be gentle to me, cause I'm a complete IT knob 🙁, but please do tell me should I maybe UNINSTALL one of these, and if that is a case - which one?

THANK you sooo much in advance!

P.S. I'm not doing enything crazy (network wise!), the said PC is plugged in with that yellow cable (I told you I'm a knob! 😀), and a couple of laptops use the Wi-Fi. Also, I just recently created a home network (which rarely and barely works!), but that is totally another story...

P.P.S. While installing the Windows, I remember there's been literally a mini-war between Asus' and Intel's drivers and controllers, so it's very possible that I have installed more of these things than I actually needed.

 

[nigelivey]

How many lan ports does it have. The Spec sheet says 2. An Intel and a Realteck. In which case your device manager is correct. You also have VPN installed.

 

[zeeakawanted]

Dear nigelivey,

Thank you so much for the prompt answer. This is the part of of my MB's specification:

Actually, the thing that I have been the most curious about is this "Broadcom 802.11ac Network Adapter", because looking for the most reliable and steady web browsers for streaming movies (watching some live events etc.), I came across following advice:

• Use a 5 GHz frequency if your router supports it. The common 2.4 GHz frequency is used by household appliances, so is more crowded. Avoiding it is like getting into the carpool lane on a freeway: smoother sailing.

• Use Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi if possible. If you're viewing a movie on your computer's large monitor, have it connect to​ the internet via its Ethernet cable rather than Wi-Fi.

And while the later is pretty self-explanatory (yellow cable, right? 😉 ), this 5 GHz thing is pretty confusing for me, because I wasn't sure that this "Broadcom 802.11ac Network Adapter" is the only Wi-Fi adapter I have installed. But now, thanks to your answer (which inspired me to dig deeper into the matter!), I'm pretty sure it is.

However, I'm still unsure why do I need THE TWO LAN's? Is only one is not enough, an if it is - WHICH one to choose (because it's better, more compatible with the rest of the whole system, etc.)?

Once again, THANK you so much! Also, I'd like to thank and the others who might find my question intriguing (or, at least, not overly dumb! 😀 ) and offer some of their own opinions...

 

[bill001g]

It is more why did you buy a motherboard with 2 lan adapters. Manufactures love to put unneeded junk on devices. They want to get those people who think more is always better.

Even having wireless tends to be sometime questionable in desktop machines. Everyone knows ethernet is better and since the machines are not moving around the ability to run wireless tends to lose some of its value. Only someone who can not get a ethernet connection should be using wireless and then there really is no reason to even have the ethernet ports if you can't use them.

Although there are some people that will find a use for having multiple network ports it is not something common. You can only really use 1 port wireless/wired to connect to your router without some very special configurations.

 

[zeeakawanted]

Thanks, bill001g!

You say:

You can only really use 1 port wireless/wired to connect to your router without some very special configurations.

... which I'm basically agree with, but INTEL or the REALTEK - the (million dollar) question is now?!!

(Maybe, instead of - OK, seemingly! - simple question, I should create some pool and let the majority to decide... )

 

[bill001g]

Which do you like better ? Ethernet is extremely old standard compared to most everything else. The manufactures have had so many years to figure out the optimum features in their chips there is almost no difference.

Pretty much the only one you avoid is killer. Not so much because of the chipset, it is actually based on realtek chipset, but because of the bloatware they added to the drivers to make people think there is such a thing as a "gaming" ethernet port.

 

[zeeakawanted]

Thanks again, bill001, you're such a trooper!

I am not a gaming person (so, there is no CRAZY, real time, multiplayer online shooting or speed racing! ), but it really annoys me when I'm watching some scientific/TED talk (like yesterday, for example) and the speaker "freezes" (looking like he is, God forbid, just having the stroke or something) every two minutes or so... OK, I understand that bug might be on the other side, as well, but I also want to be sure that I"m doing literally everything on my end, in order to be sure that these things dont happen in the future.

Btw, I really don't know which one I like better. Or, to be more precisely, I don't even know HOW (and based on what) to compare them...

 

[bill001g]

You need to be a expert in motherboard design to even guess. I have a master degree in electrical engineering and can barely understand the basics.

This is all stuff related to clocks and interrupts etc etc etc. Even if one was .0001ms faster does it really matter in real world. Pretty much for almost everyone there is no difference. This is like the guy who worries about the brand of car polish he uses because of difference in wind resistance.

 

[Ralston18]

And refuses to purchase "Turtle" wax.....

(Just could not resist.)