10Gb NIC for Windows Server

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burdell

New Member
Jun 30, 2020
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Hey, I'm trying to find a cheap NIC for my home Windows server and was hoping someone might have a suggestion. What's a good 10Gb SFP+ NIC that has Windows support? The Intel and Chelsio cards seem to mostly be over a hundred dollars and was hoping to find something a lot cheaper than that. I see some NICs from Emulex, QLogic, SolarFlare that are all much cheaper but I don't know which ones work well with Windows. Does anyone have any experience and recommendations for that? I'm running Windows Server 2019.

Thanks,
Brian
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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Do you have a switch? Or do you need dual port cards?

Asking because connectx-3 40gbe nics are dirt cheap, supported by windows out of the box, support any transceivers and cables you can find and have a large user base here in the forums :D
 

burdell

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Jun 30, 2020
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I have an Aruba switch that has 4 10Gb SFP+ ports, I'd like to connect a couple Windows machines to that switch via the 10Gb uplinks. Are the connectx-3 cards backward compatible with a 10Gb SFP+ port? If so, sounds like a winner.
 

BoredSysadmin

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Mar 2, 2019
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One more option is older Solarflare adapters. They are fast (for 10gig), using only 4W of power and only $13 (shipped) on ebay

Windows drivers available (2019 not supported I think)

And you won't need QSFP+ to SFP+ adapters :)
 

burdell

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Jun 30, 2020
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I'd rather not fool with adapters and that Solarflare is definitely budget friendly. Any idea if Windows has built-in support for the Xilinix cards?
 

BoredSysadmin

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Mar 2, 2019
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I'd rather not fool with adapters and that Solarflare is definitely budget friendly. Any idea if Windows has built-in support for the Xilinix cards?
I think it at this price the gamble is worth to try it out yourself.
 

burdell

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Jun 30, 2020
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Agreed, I'm going to order one if no one else replies with specific knowledge about compatibility.
 
Jul 19, 2020
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One thing to watch out for is the PCIe bracket. Some of these used cards only include half-height brackets, which won't fit in most cases that aren't rack mount servers. So if you get one of those, you'll either have to run the card without the bracket installed, or find a bracket somewhere else. And there are no standards for the bracket cutouts, so if you go that route you'll probably have to find one for the exact same model of card.
 

LodeRunner

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Apr 27, 2019
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Probably slightly more expensive than the SolarFlare cards, but I got Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT cards for my workstations and servers. Worked out of box; worked a bit better after I got the latest drivers and firmware from Mellanox for them.
 

burdell

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Jun 30, 2020
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Thanks everyone, the Mellanox card looks like the best bet, it has the full height bracket I need as well as Win2019 drivers.
 

burdell

New Member
Jun 30, 2020
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Thanks everyone for the help with this, I received my Mellanox cards and some SFP+ modules and am happy to report that everything worked fine. Windows Server 2019 recognized the card immediately and connected to the network at 10 Gb. I also ordered a SolarFlare card to try out but it won't be here for awhile, I'll report back if Win2019 recognizes it or not.
 
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burdell

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Jun 30, 2020
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FYI, I ordered one of the Solarflare cards just out of curiosity and they don't work with Windows Server 2019. Windows reports it as an unrecognized ethernet adapter and Xilinx doesn't offer a 2019 driver.

So, for anyone looking for an SFP+ NIC for a whitebox server, the Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT ConnectX-3 cards are both recognized by Windows Server 2019 and have 2019 driver support you can download > here <. The Solarflare SFN5152 has neither.
 
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burdell

New Member
Jun 30, 2020
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I didn't, I had tried some Win10 drivers on 2019 for something else that didn't work and assumed in general that Win10 drivers weren't compatible but that post you linked seems to indicate they are. If I get a chance, I'll try it again.