Realtek then dominated by being cheaper and simpler than Intel; they had the majority of the NIC marketshare (70%+) in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Realtek then dominated by being cheaper and simpler than Intel; they had the majority of the NIC marketshare (70%+) in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Most realtek is F tier, they basically repeat the bad part of this NE2000 saga, and the simplicity comes at the cost of CPU cycles. In that sense the Intel PCH controllers were great.
"Good enough for most people and cheap" is what Realtek do.