USB vs Ethernet

[godsquad]

I am looking at going with the 150K service as I surf a lot :blah: , and find a £7.99 increase over my £10.00 little to pay for 24/7 connection.

My PC is as follows;
Intel P3 550MHz CPU,
Intel SE440BX-2 Motherboard,
512K Memory,
Windows XP Home,
2 USB slots (1 used),
No Network connection.

My question is this "Will 150K work OK through my USB connection, or should I;
1. Buy an Ethernet Card,
2. Install it,
3. Mess around getting the drivers to work,
4. Stress out at having to re-activate XP with Microsoft,
or
5. Have a strong coffee, then give up with my 10/100 Card and use the USB."

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

BTW. I am reasonably PC literate regarding Electronics (HND Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering) and work for a large multi-national Radio Communications company. :blah:

[Dooby]

I would go with an ethernet card, USB can be problamatic and will consume resources on the PC.
I dont think you have to reactivate XP after only changing 1 piece of hardware, but could be wrong there.

[Jon M]

throughput on each of these is theoretically:

standard USB = 11mbps
USB2.0 = 400mbps (allegedly)
ethernet = 10/100mbps

considering the connection will only be using 150k (0.15mb) i can't see any of those being a problem.

i'd go with USB if you want ease of use.. but ethernet if you want to share your connection easily.

as long as you buy a main-stream branded network card.. the ethernet option should be just as easy as the USB option to set up.

[SMHarman]

throughput on each of these is theoretically:

standard USB = 11mbps
USB2.0 = 400mbps (allegedly)
ethernet = 10/100mbps

considering the connection will only be using 150k (0.15mb) i can't see any of those being a problem.

i'd go with USB if you want ease of use.. but ethernet if you want to share your connection easily.

as long as you buy a main-stream branded network card.. the ethernet option should be just as easy as the USB option to set up.

Adding a NIC card will not require reactivation of XP. Changing MOBO, CPU, things like that do. XP can see its still the same PC just with more HW. Mine has had the DVD ROM swapped for DVD +-RW, and an ISDN card, no registration requirements.

While the througput requiremetns will not stress USB, the CPU is also taking on the strain of creating IP packets to send to the USB. A NIC card will do this putting less strain on the CPU (which by todays standards is underpowered).
It's like buying a moped, or buying a pushbile and putting a motor on it. Both will do the job, just one is better designed to do it.

If youre on XP then getting drivers to work the NIC is not likely to be a problem plug and pray should get it right.

[Shaun]

I'd spend the £10ish on an ethernet card, plug it in and away you go ;) Not a real problem.

[kronas]

I'd spend the £10ish on an ethernet card, plug it in and away you go ;) Not a real problem.

yes you should not really spend much more then that on a ethernet card ethernet is always better then USB for broadband less load on the CPU and ethernet is for networking/broadband really because of its design

also preformance levels of the broadband service will be greatly increased

(plain english you are less likely to encounter future problems using ethernet)

[aliferste]

Ethernet without question!!

[godsquad]

Thanks guys for all your help :) , will keep you updated in a week or so, as I shall be offline for a while :walk: :drunk: :walk: .