Hardware Reviews3Com OfficeConnect Fast Ethernet Network Interface Card 10/100 Mbps PCI (3CSOHO-100TX) As many would expect from 3Com, the new 3Com OfficeConnect fast Ethernet card does not disappoint. It comes in a great package with lots of installation and setup guides, has great support, installed smoothly and is a top performer (although our Editor's Choice Netgear card was faster in our tests). The only major setback we could find to the 3Com card was the price (it was tough to find at our regular on-line stores, but we did we see it at our local CompUSA for $69.95). Price, or more accurately "value" in terms of what you get for the price, is a major factor in our reviews. Thus, 3Com misses our top mark or an Editor's Choice because it is hard to find the value in a card that costs 3x some of its competitors. More on that later. Overview
The 3Com card is a new offer from 3Com, targeted specifically at small office/home office markets, but it incorporates the fine quality we expect from 3Com. It's a fairly standard network interface card, uses a PCI slot, auto senses a 10 or 100Mbps network (usually based on the hub speed in small networks) and utilizes PCI bus mastering design to theoretically reduce CPU use during operation. It's an average-sized card (among the new small PCI cards) and has a clean layout on the board. The package also includes 3Com's OfficeConnect Network Assistant CD-ROM, a well-done, thorough resource on peer-to-peer networking with Windows95 and many related topics (connecting printers, using hubs v. switches, etc). Unfortunately, the CD-ROM does not include voice prompts (which we think would be helpful for first timers) and is limited to Windows 95. We all know Windows 98 has some installation routines and wizards that are just different enough to potentially throw off a first timer. Hopefully 3Com is working on the Windows 98 additions and will include that CD-ROM in future packages.
Overall, this is a solid card in a solid package that is extremely well targeted at home users. Congrats to 3Com for getting that right. Installation Installation was simply perfect with the 3Com card. The Windows 98 drivers were installed without a hitch and the install program also automatically installs an icon in the system tray to run the built-in, Windows-compatible diagnostic program. This is unlike most other card/driver combinations that include a DOS diagnostic program that is not nearly as integral to the OS. This is a nice touch and we have used this diagnostic program extensively in our homePCnetwork small office setup that includes three older 3Com cards with the same program. Performance Again, our main performance test involves two reads and two writes of a 30 megabyte file. Overall, the card averaged 24.90 seconds at 100 speed, ever so slightly slower than the 24.22 turned in by the Netgear card. At 10Mbps, the 3Com card averaged 41.11 seconds, in fact the fastest in our tests, beating the Netgear by a hair (41.71). Thus, in the real world, you would never detect any difference in these cards. The 3Com card, like the Netgear, is a fast card. Period.
Summary Overall, the 3Com card is an excellent performer and comes in a well-rounded, helpful package (with some limitations for Windows 98 users). Our major problem with the card is, as we mentioned, the price and what we would call the resulting value proposition. Let's look at this way. Nearly all of the major competitors have cards with good installation guides, good support and nearly identical performance. But those cards average around $25; you can get nearly three of them for the price of 3Com's offering. Now, let's be generous and give 3Com $15 for the very nice Network Assistant CD-ROM. We are up to $40. So you are still paying $30 for the quality of 3Com, which we admit does impress us. That's why we use many 3Com products in our homePCnetwork LAN. Yet, we also have to tell you in the equipment we have used and tested, we have only had one DOA (dead on arrival) product and that was a 3Com 8-port 10Mbps hub. We were stunned. Still, we don't disagree that 3Com has quality products, quality support and is a quality company. We just question whether all that is worth $30-40. We'll leave that ultimate decision to you. However, for us, it's a big enough factor to keep us from giving the card a straight A grade. Grade = A- Details
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