i have a dual lan motherboard and used it regularly for networking like xbox. my new build has no dual lan so can i use a pci ethernet card like dual lan or do i need a switch now.

Say what?

What are you trying to achieve?

i have been using a dual lan motherboard and using the second onboard ethernet port as a router. the new board i have does not have dual lan so i will need a way to run the cat 5. i am trying to avoid using a router/switch and i have a spare pci Ethernet card. so im wondering if i could install it and use it the same as i used the dual lan board.

Yes you can.

You should be able to bridge or route between any pair of network interfaces on your machine, whether they are onboard, installed in a PCI slot, connected by USB, or any other way.

They don't need to be the same type of interface either. You could use an 802.11b wireless interface and a Gigabit wired interface for example.

This is true under Windows and Linux.

nice...........thanks. ill stop shopping for a router now