1 gigabit NIC card troubles

[Jeff]

I purchased a GA311 Netgear 1 gigabit NIC for my Ubuntu server (running 
on 2.5 GHz Dell Precision 340).  The card performs dismally.  I read 
online that the card does not do well with Linux.

So my questions are this:
First... is there any software out there to make the card perform?

SECOND... if not, what card would work as a standard PCI card with LINUX 
for 1 gigabit NIC?

Thanks
Jeff