10GbE NIC in PCIe 2.0 x1 (x16 slot), Will this cause problem?

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testcb00

New Member
Feb 26, 2021
5
1
3
Hi everyone,

I want to upgrade my custom build TrueNAS to 10GbE. However, I find that the motherboard only remain a PCIe 2.0 x1 (in x16 slot).
I accept the low bandwidth (5GT/s) but I would like to know if the card will fail to work in that slot.

Any recommendations are welcome :) Thank you.
 

firworks

Member
May 7, 2021
37
27
18
I'm running a Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT CX311A card in a PCI-E 2.0x1 slot right now on AMD's X470 platform. I'm able to get just over 3Gb/sec on an iperf run.

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 317 MBytes 266 Mbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 317 MBytes 266 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 6] 0.00-10.00 sec 318 MBytes 267 Mbits/sec sender
[ 6] 0.00-10.00 sec 318 MBytes 267 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 8] 0.00-10.00 sec 318 MBytes 267 Mbits/sec sender
[ 8] 0.00-10.00 sec 318 MBytes 267 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 10] 0.00-10.00 sec 317 MBytes 266 Mbits/sec sender
[ 10] 0.00-10.00 sec 317 MBytes 266 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 12] 0.00-10.00 sec 477 MBytes 400 Mbits/sec sender
[ 12] 0.00-10.00 sec 477 MBytes 400 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 14] 0.00-10.00 sec 477 MBytes 400 Mbits/sec sender
[ 14] 0.00-10.00 sec 477 MBytes 400 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 16] 0.00-10.00 sec 476 MBytes 399 Mbits/sec sender
[ 16] 0.00-10.00 sec 476 MBytes 399 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 18] 0.00-10.00 sec 476 MBytes 400 Mbits/sec sender
[ 18] 0.00-10.00 sec 476 MBytes 400 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 20] 0.00-10.00 sec 318 MBytes 267 Mbits/sec sender
[ 20] 0.00-10.00 sec 318 MBytes 266 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 22] 0.00-10.00 sec 316 MBytes 265 Mbits/sec sender
[ 22] 0.00-10.00 sec 316 MBytes 265 Mbits/sec receiver
[SUM] 0.00-10.00 sec 3.72 GBytes 3.20 Gbits/sec sender
[SUM] 0.00-10.00 sec 3.72 GBytes 3.20 Gbits/sec receiver
I've only been running it for a few weeks on windows but the hardware seems happy running in this fashion. You'd have to determine though if a ConnectX-3 card will work well with TrueNAS/BSD. This particular hardware does work in the slot config you are asking about at least.
 

testcb00

New Member
Feb 26, 2021
5
1
3
I'm running a Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT CX311A card in a PCI-E 2.0x1 slot right now on AMD's X470 platform. I'm able to get just over 3Gb/sec on an iperf run.



I've only been running it for a few weeks on windows but the hardware seems happy running in this fashion. You'd have to determine though if a ConnectX-3 card will work well with TrueNAS/BSD. This particular hardware does work in the slot config you are asking about at least.
Thank for your reply, firworks. The speed is enough in my case.
My network are using Mellanox ConnectX-2 (PCIe 2.0 x8), one in my PC (AMD B450 Platform, Chipset PCIe 2.0 x4) and another in my pfSense router (Intel H67 Platform, CPU PCIe 3.0 x16). MTU is 9000 in pfSense and 9014 in PC (Windows 10). I can get around 7 Gbit/s in short period and 6 Gbit/s in long period.


Code:
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec   850 MBytes  7.13 Gbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec   934 MBytes  7.83 Gbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec   916 MBytes  7.68 Gbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec   925 MBytes  7.76 Gbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec   917 MBytes  7.69 Gbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec   910 MBytes  7.63 Gbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec   914 MBytes  7.66 Gbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec   952 MBytes  7.98 Gbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec   928 MBytes  7.78 Gbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec   925 MBytes  7.76 Gbits/sec
[  4]  10.00-11.00  sec   936 MBytes  7.85 Gbits/sec
[  4]  11.00-12.00  sec   926 MBytes  7.77 Gbits/sec
[  4]  12.00-13.00  sec   905 MBytes  7.59 Gbits/sec
[  4]  13.00-14.00  sec   937 MBytes  7.86 Gbits/sec
[  4]  14.00-15.00  sec   895 MBytes  7.51 Gbits/sec
[  4]  15.00-16.00  sec   936 MBytes  7.85 Gbits/sec
[  4]  16.00-17.00  sec   926 MBytes  7.77 Gbits/sec
[  4]  17.00-18.00  sec   910 MBytes  7.63 Gbits/sec
[  4]  18.00-19.00  sec   942 MBytes  7.90 Gbits/sec
[  4]  19.00-20.00  sec   911 MBytes  7.64 Gbits/sec
[  4]  20.00-21.00  sec   934 MBytes  7.83 Gbits/sec
[  4]  21.00-22.00  sec   929 MBytes  7.79 Gbits/sec
[  4]  22.00-23.00  sec   922 MBytes  7.73 Gbits/sec
[  4]  23.00-24.00  sec   923 MBytes  7.74 Gbits/sec
[  4]  24.00-25.00  sec   948 MBytes  7.96 Gbits/sec
[  4]  25.00-26.00  sec   927 MBytes  7.77 Gbits/sec
[  4]  26.00-27.00  sec   946 MBytes  7.94 Gbits/sec
[  4]  27.00-28.00  sec   934 MBytes  7.83 Gbits/sec
[  4]  28.00-29.00  sec   956 MBytes  8.02 Gbits/sec
[  4]  29.00-30.00  sec   969 MBytes  8.13 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-30.00  sec  27.1 GBytes  7.77 Gbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-30.00  sec  27.1 GBytes  7.77 Gbits/sec                  receiver
Code:
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-521.02 sec   388 GBytes  6.39 Gbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-521.02 sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  receiver