Gigabit lan mobo?

[freeject]

Im building another PC for my roomate, but he's on a very tight budget. Its mainly a gaming rig - he really likes multiplayer FPS. Its going to be based on a 3000+ althon 64 w/ a 9800 pro that I will be flashing to XT.

Im stuck on the mobo. I cant decide whether to go with a CHAINTECH VNF3-250 or tell him to spend an extra $60 on a neo platinum. It would jump the total price of this box from $500 to $560 and $525 is his ceiling. Hes relying entirely on me for advice and I'll be honest - I dont know what kind of difference he will see with a gigabit lan versus his 10/100 card. My question to you is what exactly is Gigabit lan and will have an impact on his gaming?

Edit: btw, our house runs on a cable modem split between 4 people on a typical linksys wireless network.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Gigabit LAN is just 1000mbps instead of the standard 100mpbs. You need a gigabit router/switch and another computer that needs gigabit network card for him benefit from gigabit. You can always add in a gigabit card later at a price much less than $60.

Gaming barely uses any bandwidth on a 100mbps network and you'll be limited to your cable modem speeds anyways which should be between 1-5mbps. It'll help in file transfers but as I mentioned you need the whole setup for it to work at gigabit speeds.

Are there any other differences between the Neo Platinum version? If not, save the money and skip the gigabit.

P.S. Gigabit network cards will scale down to 100mbps and 10mbps speeds.

 

[freeject]

Thats was really helpful, thanks

 

[orangat]

If you budget is tight, you might want to consider the Asrock SIS755 mobo as well for less than $80.