What are the possible uses of the second ethernet on double ethernet Motherboards

[complich8]

Yeah .... umm ... nobody uses those that way, because it's retarded.

As far as I can see it, there's three reasons to have dual nics on a system.
(1) to multi-home the system on two different networks (eg: to provide a service to both networks).
(2) to aggregate together and get more bandwidth on the same network (which typically requires a managed switch and driver support).
(3) having a fall-back in case a port goes bad.

If neither of the first two applies to you, yeah, you really don't need it. But as a feature, it's basically free, and hardware does fail from time to time, so if you plan to keep the system around for the medium- to long-term (say, 5 or 6 years) it might come in handy.

[Buffalobiian]

(2) to aggregate together and get more bandwidth on the same network (which typically requires a managed switch and driver support).

So like, use two cables and get a 2Gbit conenction or something?

[David75]

thanks for the info.
I had the idea these uses could be possible, but of no interrest to your average user (even most geeks?) except number 3.

I find it strange motherboard manufacturers spend money on something with that little use.

Dual nic might be the right terms to google for better answers.
Thanks for that too, didn"t think of queries with this wording.