10Gb SFP+ single port = cheaper than dirt

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canta

Well-Known Member
Nov 26, 2014
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I just ordered 2 Chelsio NICs that came with 2 TwinAx cables. Knew nothing about them until I read this thread. Thanks. :)
you can buy twinax cable -> Amphenol E321471 Aipc 571540012 SFP 10GbE SFP Twinax Cable 1 Meter | eBay

start best offer with $4 each and maximum $5 each

the seller is very responsive, even you submit low-baller price :p. this is the same seller that you bought i340 :D.

the shipping is depend on your location,
I bought 3 total with shipping is ~$24

two melanox X2 $30 + 3 twinax cables $24 , I bough extra cable for planning to buy more X2 in the future when the price is down further. very affordable to get 10G upgrade. Still looking for the switch.
 
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tiro_uspsss

New Member
Feb 27, 2011
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I did a quick browse of this thread, couldn't find what I was looking for...

for those with the MCX-2 & running W8.1/10, where did you get the drivers? I can't seem to find any! :(

TIA!

edit: ignore... found them.. am a retard
 

Krailor

New Member
Sep 22, 2015
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I'm running Win 10 and the card just immediately worked when I turned my computer back on after installing it. Not even a driver install dialog, it just showed the network up and running at 10g.

I'm connected to a MikroTik CRS210-8G-2S+IN with the other 10g port connected to a N54L running Xpenology (which also Just Worked).
 
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Rain

Active Member
May 13, 2013
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I can confirm that these ConnectX-2 cards work great on Windows 10, though definitely don't use the default drivers included with Windows. They perform terribly. WinOF v4.95 installs perfectly fine on Windows 10 if you use the 8.1 x64 version. The performance is much, much better -- full 10Gb instead of about 6Gb or less.

WinOF can be found here: http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=32
Don't install WinOF-2, and don't install the latest version of WinOF (5.10) as it is only for Win7. Click "Archived Versions" and install the 4.95 Win8.1 version.
 
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JayG30

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Feb 23, 2015
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Maybe a stupid question but will they work under hyper-v server 2012R2? I'm guessing yes
 

Vlad

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Oct 3, 2015
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Mellanox ConnectX-2 EN 671798 001 666172 001 HP 10GB Mellanox Connectx 2 PCIe 10GbE Ethernet NIC | eBay get this $19 OBO. Ha!

SFP+ about the best you'll find. 10gb hook up to a Mikrotik or somethin or the cheap SFP+ switches. nice.
What else would it take besides 1 of these Mellanox cards for each of my PCs to set up a 10GB network. A switch I'm sure, but which one? What about OS support for these cards? What about cables?

Right now I'm running the current version of NAS4Free as my file/media server, and have 1 Win8.1 & 1 Win10 PC. I'm not adverse to using Linux if I have to, though I don't have much experience with it.

Sort of bored with the speed of Gigabit ethernet.

*** Can someone please list everything I would need to get a 10GB network going with one of these Mellanox (or other) cards and 1 server with 2 PCs? THANKS!
 
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Chuckleb

Moderator
Mar 5, 2013
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To tell you the truth, maximizing 10Gb is hard. It is hard to tell the difference between 1Gb and 10Gb since most things you normally do are so bursty as is. The real advantages are seen with large data transfers with parallel streams, and lower latency. The bad part is the cost of switches and whatnot.

For most users and use, 10Gb is worthless. If you are doing it to experiment and fun, then sure... But it costs you. Go back through the threads first though, my fingers can retype everything :)
 

Chuckleb

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Mar 5, 2013
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@jfeldt if you have done all that testing, you may have dud cards. Have you tried another PC?

One thing people should consider is that all this gear is meant for server cases with high airflow. If cards get hot, put active cooling in (20mm fans) or run your case fans faster/add more case fans. Ventilation is important. We've destroyed a couple cards in tight cases at work.
 
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canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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....
Neither of the cards will let my PC finish POST in either of my remaining PCI-e slots, with or without an SFP+ inserted. When I take the cards out the card heatsink is pretty hot. Has anyone else had any problems with their cards? Any hints?
what is your motherboard model/type


sure. the heatsink is hot :D. you need some extra air flow as a simple quik. low rpm fan that blows to the heatsink will help.
once you know server parts, you would know what to do :D
 

canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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...
For most users and use, 10Gb is worthless. If you are doing it to experiment and fun, then sure... But it costs you. Go back through the threads first though, my fingers can retype everything :)
10gb shines when running multiple backup threads :D.
how is LB4M ?.. $95 total with shipping
 

jfeldt

Member
Jul 19, 2015
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Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I have airflow, only ran the cards for maybe two minutes and lost patience after the POSTs continued to not finish. I have an X8SAX board. An Intel x520 and FusionIO 160GB SLC cards hae happily lived in those slots for many months, and they are happy again putting them back in. I suspect bad cards, but it's weird to get two bad ones in my mind.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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The Quanta LB4M works great! With iperf I easily managed to transfer data with top speed.
Those LB4M's are great switches, just high on power/ noise. If those are not a major concern, great switches!