The tg3 driver package released by Broadcom is based on the lastest in-kernel tg3 driver with some added compatibility code to make it backwards compatible with most 2.6 kernels and some 2.4 kernels (generally newer than 2.4.24). If you are using the latest upstream kernel from www.kernel.org, you generally do not need to download the tg3 driver package from Broadcom as the latest upstream kernel has the latest tg3 patches.

There are a few minor differences to be aware of if you are migrating from the bcm5700 driver to the tg3 driver. The tg3 driver does not support the Broadcom proprietary load balancing software module known as BASP. The Linux bonding driver and 8021q driver provide similar functionalities and can be used with tg3. BASP will also be discontinued. The tg3 driver also does not support module parameters to configure the device (line speed, flow control, ring sizes, etc) but relies on standard Linux utilities such as ethtool. Other than these differences, the two drivers are very similar in terms of hardware support, robustness, and performance.