Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express network adapter

I decided to give my computer a bit of an upgrade. Since I needed two network cards and was short on slots, I needed a network card for a PCI-E slot. I had plenty of time, so I decided to buy one on AliExpress.

I found one that looked good based on the description, and the price was right too. The seller's risk rating was practically zero. I placed the order, and the package arrived 20 days after the seller shipped it. By the way, the seller has a discount or sale on now, and the card costs 3.63.




Since I don't really trust Chinese manufacturers, I took a close look at the board first. My intuition didn't let me down: the main chip was not only soldered off-center, but there were also solder bridges in three places (marked with arrows).


I didn't bother figuring out exactly what these pins do, but the solder bridge was on the pins connected to the memory chip and the power pins. So at the very least, the card definitely wouldn't have been detected; at worst, I could have ended up without a new computer.

And of course, the link speed is hilariously labeled in hertz.

Without plugging it into the computer, I wrote to the seller saying that I'd received the package, but the card didn't work because the chip was poorly soldered. He replied, asking me to send a video. I have no idea what he expected to see in it. I told him I'd try to take a photo, but everything was so tiny that he probably wouldn't be able to make anything out. I sent the message.

When I didn't get a reply, I grabbed my soldering iron, cleaned up the solder bridges, and tested the card—it works.

The card was detected as a Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. Since I already had Realtek drivers installed, it started working right away; I didn't need to install anything else.
Device Manager identifies it as—
PCIVEN_10EC&DEV_8168&SUBSYS_816810EC&REV_024&293AFFCC&1&00E0

I tested the copy speed, but it was limited by the router's port speed. (I was surprised to find I had no way to test the card at gigabit speeds.) I still can't test gigabit, and to be honest, I don't see an urgent need for it yet—100 Mbps is enough. But I've never seen a 100 Mbps PCI-E card, so I'll keep this one. Besides, I doubt I could buy one here for this price.


In the end, I told the seller I'd resoldered the chip and the card worked, and that I'd confirm receipt, but that I was very unhappy with it. The build quality is really poor. The seller offered a $3 refund, which I accepted. I didn't really have any particular complaints about the seller; he responded promptly and was easy to deal with.

But that's not the point. The takeaway from this mini-review is that, just to be safe, before plugging a new piece of hardware into your computer, take the time to inspect it carefully so you don't end up without a computer at all.

Overall, shipping was excellent, the card is as basic as they come, the price is reasonable, and delivery was fast—but the quality is pretty bad.

I guess this is how they assembled my network card