10GBit card upgrade

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Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
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Czech republic
I want to upgrade my home server with 10GBit speed, and have a dilemma what card to choose.

The options are Chelsio T520-SO-CR (if I can find one of the last revisions) or Intel X550-T1/T2 (I only need one port, but two never hurt if the price is the same or similar).

I'd like to hear about any other viable alternatives. The only hard requirements are:
1) Reasonably low power consumption, because I don't want the server to get too hot, because with 3x HDD and a SAS HBA is already is pretty warm these days.
2) It should be SFP+.

Today I learned about Mellanox cards. Quite a lot of stuff to digest for non-networking type of person.
They seem to be dirt cheap, possibly because some of them are old producs I guess?
Can anyone tell me anything about those? Only the X-2 card seems to support SFP+, but maybe the higher speed standards are backwards compatible? Even the ConnectX-4 Lx cost next to nothing compared to the Intel/Chelsio ones.
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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They seem to be dirt cheap, possibly because some of them are old producs I guess?
The connect-x 2 are cheap because they are eol since 2015/16? and come from decommissioned servers.
Connect-x 3 are cheap because they are almost eol (december 2019 if I remeber correctly) (and have already been removed from the active products page by mellanox).
Can anyone tell me anything about those?
I like mellanox cards becuase they work so far with all transceivers and cables I could find.
Only the X-2 card seems to support SFP+, but maybe the higher speed standards are backwards compatible?
There are cards with sfp+ (connect-x 3) and sfp28 (connect-x 4 and newer). Yo can also get nics with qsfp and use adapters for sfp
See this front page post by @Patrick : https://www.servethehome.com/using-a-40gbe-qsfp-nic-with-a-10gbe-switch-sfp/
 

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
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Czech republic
That sounds good.
Guess I could keep an eye out for ConnectX-4. I guess 3 would be enough, but non-EOL hardware will probably get longer driver support.
 

hceuterpe

New Member
May 22, 2019
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How about Connect X-3 Pro? I bought three of these dual cards in January and they work great. Unlike the EN, The Pro has no sign of EOL, and I highly suspect it will be around for a while since it's now the only SFP+ 10 GigE card now they make that Mellanox still considers mainstream supported.
 

klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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Unlike the EN, The Pro has no sign of EOL, and I highly suspect it will be around for a while since it's now the only SFP+ 10 GigE card now they make that Mellanox still considers mainstream supported.
"EN" only refer to their ethernet-only based ASICs and they have CX4, 5, and 6 ENs. All CX3s, including 3-Pros will be EoS (sale) the end of this year. 5 years afterwards, EoS (service) begins and that date marks when they stop improving or maintaining the product.

http://www.mellanox.com/page/eol
 

hceuterpe

New Member
May 22, 2019
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"EN" only refer to their ethernet-only based ASICs and they have CX4, 5, and 6 ENs. All CX3s, including 3-Pros will be EoS (sale) the end of this year. 5 years afterwards, EoS (service) begins and that date marks when they stop improving or maintaining the product.

http://www.mellanox.com/page/eol
Wrong. The EN based on their literature is effectively the prior generation vs. their Pro. Their release dates are several years apart, as well. Only the OCP form factor cards have been stated, and that won't suit that many folks here. The cards I got aren't even on the Mellanox spreadsheet for EOL products.
 

klui

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2019
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Wrong. The EN based on their literature is effectively the prior generation vs. their Pro. Their release dates are several years apart, as well. Only the OCP form factor cards have been stated, and that won't suit that many folks here. The cards I got aren't even on the Mellanox spreadsheet for EOL products.
That's news to me
http://www.mellanox.com/products/ethernet-adapter-cards/
Intelligent ConnectX-5 Ethernet (EN) adapter cards
Why doesn't http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=204&mtag=connectx_4_en_card show any CX4, 5, or 6 Pro products? That's because they don't make any with that designation.
 

TeleFragger

Active Member
Oct 26, 2016
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I want to upgrade my home server with 10GBit speed, and have a dilemma what card to choose.


2) It should be SFP+.

I went 10gb but I went with a super older Mellanox card... I went with ConnectX-1 cards, only because I picked up a few cards and a ton of cables from craigslist CHEAP... $55...
it is a special CX4 connector... I got a 6 port switch for $50 and I even bought a ConnectX-2 CX4 port style for $18.... so I am $125ish in on 6 10gb ports in my lab.

I do wish I could tie it into my 1gb network, but I cant or still learning how too....

I thought of going sfp+ and even any other card but to me 10gb is 10gb and my solution was for cost. These cards do get warm though....

I'm happy with my setup as I am able to copy files from my win10 box (nvme) to freenas (SSD Pool) @ 1.93GB/s...

my machines are
  1. Server 2019 - file share
  2. Windows 10 - plex
  3. ESXI 6.7u2 - vm lab
  4. ESXI 6.7u2 - vm lab
  5. Freenas - messin around with storage... iSCSI
  6. Windows 10 - gaming rig