Good quality NICs will also have more of the advanced adapter settings listed below. While a basic off-brand NIC may suffice for casual use on a home computer, any tech-savvy power user, if you use P2P appliactions, media streaming, gaming, or running any type of server, you should opt for a good brand NIC for better reliability and performance under load. Use quality brand name network adapters - as trivial as this may sound, using a good quality Gigabit Intel/Broadcom network adapter helps improve throughput, reduces CPU utilization when under load, provides for good driver support, etc. Many settings depend upon your particular network and usage. Consider testing performance using some type of network analyzer or even a simple throughput test before and after making changes. Keep in mind that many of these settings can significantly affect performance and reliability in a good or bad way.
We will also offer some general suggestions on setting up your LAN for the best possible network performance. The information in this article is intended to improve understanding of all common and advanced network adapter settings under current Windows versions.
