10Gbase-T flood is on - Cheap dual port Intel X540-T2's

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GladLock96

Member
Nov 8, 2016
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I don't trust anything that does state whether it works or not and also because it is sold as "as is with no return"
 

Kuz

Member
Oct 7, 2016
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This site costs me too much money as it is. My ebay budget is blown out already for the next two years.... just a month into finding these forums I am hosed :( Who should I complain to? I demands that heads roll for these impulse purchases I have made....the list is getting long!
 
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Gnodu

Active Member
Oct 10, 2015
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@Kuz LOL

Ya know, it's funny. Some folks can't stand the fake ones-- which i'd bet these are-- yet when i ordered a supposedly real one (x540-t2) through Amazon and posted a review (and notified them via 800 number) that they were working but clearly non-genuine... Not a single response- no feedback on my review, no edit to the ad, no response . I kinda figured I'd done my part-- as if nobody cared there enough to notice.

I think I paid just at 200$-- the board lithography was almost perfect- the x540 chip looked very real (but crummy heatsink tape-- removed and replaced), but the parts (as noted in STH article/forum pics/post) and DEFINITELY the packaging (misspelling "flr" as "fIr" was copied in a way that only a native Chinese speaker could have copied it.

I actually opted to keep it, after it survived a 24 hour ordeal without showing any issues (or going above 55 degrees C in a NON-forced air environment), but in the future, I'm now aware that "fulfilled by ... " doesnt mean anything more than "ships immediately under Prime".

Should I keep it or return? Any strong feelings? Is it more likely to burn out later? Would I be better off with a particular OEM version??
 

J--

Active Member
Aug 13, 2016
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What are the "fake" ones, exactly? Is it some other chipset altogether? Not 10GbE?
 

xnoodle

Active Member
Jan 4, 2011
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I believe most of the 'counterfeits' use a real chipset or one that didn't pass QC, and then the other components are equivalents or not as stringent as the original.
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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New York City
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What are the "fake" ones, exactly? Is it some other chipset altogether? Not 10GbE?
I discussed the rather wide range of possibilities in this post.
I believe most of the 'counterfeits' use a real chipset or one that didn't pass QC, and then the other components are equivalents or not as stringent as the original.
I'm not sure about the "didn't pass QC", for a couple of reasons. First, Intel must have some testing done at the component level once the chip is bonded and the package sealed (in addition to the many tests done during the wafer process) and the rejects would never be shipped. If there were enough finished board duds that they made up a good portion of the many non-genuine cards, Intel would look at the whole process - final test at chip packaging, transport damage on the way to the board assembly site, errors at the assembly site, and design problems resulting in a marginal product. And once they had a pile of duds, they would probably make the decision to not rework the boards to change out the actual chip just to re-use the dud on a counterfeit board. Aside from likely being the most expensive component on the board, rework plays havoc with production - a regular assembly line has a constant flow of product through various stages, with those stages designed so nothing "backs up" previous stages. So there might be 3 Step C lines feeding 2 Step D lines, if D takes only 2/3 the time of C.

But rework is incredibly variable depending on the number of duds (one thing no factory wants is a steady supply of duds) and is a much more manual process than regular assembly, even if the fault has been conclusively proven to be in a specific component. Yes, labor is cheap there, but a fast, predictable process still takes precedence. And you have to reball the pads on the chip without any guarantee of success using it in an automated production system for the fakes. Far easier to take completed boards that flunked QA and scrap them. Particular at this price point for a single card - if it was a $10,000 Cisco router that would be another issue entirely).

This may involve dishonesty on the part of the assembler ("yessir, we scrapped those! <wink>") or a contracted recycling company who was supposed to scrap them but instead sold them. With the tangled chains of ownership of many of these companies, it becomes almost impossible to determine who is ultimately responsible for the diversion of the supposedly-scrapped boards. Intel may have found a problem with either the chip fabrication process or the mask (for example, the Sandy Bridge SATA issue) and declared a large pile of chips bad, but that wouldn't explain the ever-increasing number of fakes in the market, nor how all of the duds made it somewhere they could be put on boards (most of the SATA bug chips never made it that far, IIRC).

While I haven't visited the Asian factories involved, I have been involved in rework at various levels (from being the "change-the-chips guy" to upper management) for both factory and 3rd-party rework operations, and I still have a complete, functional SMD rework system at home. So I'm very familiar with the process.