TL;DR: Despite having a premium above the commodity ethernet card manufacturers (TP-Link, D-Link, Realtek, etc.), it is 100% worth it in terms of stability, driver support and performance. Buy this if your current network card is giving you problems. DEFINITELY buy this if you (like me): (1) have a Qualcomm Atheros network card on your motherboard, (2) get random, bluescreen/dump-less crashes and (3) are on Windows 10 1803. (and disable the onboard card in the BIOS afterwards)
I bought this adapter to replace an EOL (end-of-life) Atheros onboard network adapter after it started crashing, freezing and even corrupting data --even with the last drivers released. I could've gone for any $10-$20 off-the-shelf ethernet adapter, but I picked Intel because of their excellent track record for performance, stability, driver support and feature set.
It was 100% worth it.
The crashes I mentioned above were solved, and even some CPU-intensive games (Overwatch) performed better, getting me ~10-20 FPS more on avg in higher-CPU maps. (bring me back up from ~90FPS to ~120FPS) The adapter is still well-supported, with Windows 10 1803-compatible drivers to boot. I got measurably less jitter than on my Qualcomm Atheros onboard adapter, even before I had the crashing issues with it. Network performance was also better with more consistent ping and reaching my max speed faster, alongside less System CPU usage. The card even has a lot of settings to fine-tune for performance, CPU usage, bandwidth & latency. There's even a guide on Intel's site with presets to favor one over the other. (e.g.: "use these settings to reduce latency and increase bandwidth at the possible cost of CPU usage")
I considered this versus the cheaper, 2010 card model --
Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter EXPI9301CTBLK
-- and decided to go with this model due to having a newer chipset (2013) a couple more features, and none of the current "broken features in Windows 10" issues the older model has.
Finally, this card was worth the buy and I recommend it to anyone looking for a well-supported network card that won't give you any issues, and even more so if you're looking to replace a buggy network card.
| Brand | Intel |
|---|---|
| Item model number | I210T1 |
| Item Weight | 2.46 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 1 x 1 x 1 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 1 x 1 x 1 inches |
| Color | multicolor |
| Voltage | 240 Volts |
| Manufacturer | Intel |
| ASIN | B00ESFF2JC |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | October 5, 2013 |
