External or built-in network card?

Question

Computer networks

Good afternoon.
The question is actually this. There will be a nas server with a heavy load, and then I thought that the built-in network or separate pci-e is better, since it will be necessary to receive and give files of different sizes, software raid 6, gigalan switch and a constant speed will be above 100. Therefore, I thought that the processor (i3) would eat more, since it is necessary to consider raid and network traffic is quite high, and which of them has better performance, despite the fact that the built-in regular gig realtek.

Answer 1

And you check. For example using iperf. If will not pull out gigabit, then put pcie. But I think you will rather run into disk performance.

Answer 2

Other things being equal, I would choose a separate card. The reason is that if it burns out, it is easier to replace it than the motherboard. Well, in case you think about a reserve, you will need it anyway. And the performance certainly does not depend on the form factor.

Answer 3

Your software raid will gobble up more CPU than any network card...

Answer 4

there is no difference between built-in and external if the chip is the same. Otherwise, we simply compare the controller chips.
PS. For your task - do not do nonsense ...