10Gbit card for desktop

[Octopuss]

I have T1700G-28TQ 10Gbit switch anad have been thinking about upgrading connection to my PC with 10Gbit (I am an impatient ass and running backups is annoying the hell out of me).
The switch has four SFP+ slots.
Would you rather buy RJ45 card or would you go with optical cable?
I've been eying XG-C100C｜Wired Networking｜ASUS Global this one and the price is just about right, but I'd need something like MikroTik S+RJ10 module as well, which would drive the price up. On the other hand, DAC cables are by no means cheap (I'd need something in the 5-7m range worth of cable).
What would you buy and why? Tips for other cards with RJ45 are also welcome no matter what.

 

[i386]

What would you buy and why?

I would get a mellanox nic (~40€ per nic +shipping) and sfp+ transceivers (~15€ each +shipping in Germany/EU) + multimode fibers (like 30€ for 20m new om4) because it's cheaper than the sfp+ to rj45 adapters and mellanox is far better than the aquantia stuff used in the asus cards

 

[Octopuss]

Hold on, what's multimode fibers? I am pretty much a networking virgin (and always will be).
What items exactly am I looking for in this case? Transceiver is the same thing as the Mikrotik module? I am not familiar with the terminology.

 

[LodeRunner]

Edit for basic dictionary:
Multimode: describes how the laser works; there is also single mode. Difference matters when dealing with long range applications (over 300 meters). You'll be fine with multimode.
LC: a type of fiber connector
Transceiver: the pluggable module that goes in the SFP+ cage, can be optical, copper (RJ45), or a DAC

Original post:
Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT is a good choice for a card. FS.com for transceivers and cable, usually good, if not always the very best pricing.
For short range (under 300m) you use OM4 multimode fiber and matching optics. Longer range or some higher speeds would require OS1 or OS2 single mode and different optics.

A 7m DAC from fs.com is 32 USD. Or if going fiber, 2x 10Gb SFP+ at 20 USD/ea, plus a 7m OM4 LC/LC fiber for 11 USD. So the DAC may come in cheaper depending on your regional currency, taxes, and shipping, but probably not.

Doing RJ45 transcievers would be more expensive at 65 USD each.

That ASUS NIC is 93 USD, the Microtik S+RJ10 is 65 USD. So a Mellanox card from eBay + a 7m DAC would be cheaper by 80 US or so, depending on the exact cost and shipping of the MCX311A-XCAT.

 

[Octopuss]

Ok, but isn't ConnectX-3 going EOL soon? I like to only use hardware that still have active driver support.

 

[klui]

All CX3s are EOL.

Getting into fiber isn't that simple. You need to not only get parts to make stuff work but ensure your fibers and transceivers are clean before you connect them together. If your switch is close to your PC just get direct attached cables.

 

[Octopuss]

Ok that solves that dilemma
Is there a way to tell legit Mellanox card though? Ebay is full of them, but I suspect most comes from chinese sellers that claim the item is in Europe, which could be pretty misleading.

 

[AveryFreeman]

I had no issue buying the cheapest CX3s I could possibly find on ebay. Got 4 MCX354a-qcbts made by various vendors, HP, EMC, etc. for $30-$35 ea and flashed them all with stock fcbt firmware. Piece of cake. Awesome cards, unbelievably affordable...

 

[LodeRunner]

I had no issue buying the cheapest CX3s I could possibly find on ebay. Got 4 MCX354a-qcbts made by various vendors, HP, EMC, etc. for $30-$35 ea and flashed them all with stock fcbt firmware. Piece of cake. Awesome cards, unbelievably affordable...

If those are QSFP then he’d need a QSA for it and those can be hard to find.

As far as legitimate, I don’t think there are many fakes? They’re not as popular as Intel.

As an alternative but costing a bit more, the Intel X520-DA1/2 cards are commonly available and well supported. I doubt Intel is EoL’ing those anytime soon.

 

[acquacow]

You can get Aquantia 10G cards for $99 and a cheap Netgear switch that's all RJ45. Netgear GS110MX 8-Port Unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet Switch - GS110MX-100NAS 606449128864 | eBay

Edit: Newegg actually has that netgear for $172 right now: NETGEAR 10-Port Gigabit/10G Ethernet Unmanaged Switch - Newegg.com

I've been running the aquantia 10gig cards for the last few years with no issues.

I have more expensive, managed 10Gig switches, but that little switch will get you two ports of 10G and the rest support 1Gig.
Put your desktop and big NAS on the two 10Gig, and then everything else on the 1G ports..

 

[klui]

They're readily available on eBay for as low as $16 each now. Close to the $10 I paid in 2020. There was a time when the prices spiked and there are still some that are more expensive. These are Mellanox-branded.

 

[Octopuss]

Hm, I can't find suitable DAC cable on fs.com. It's only 1m or 3m

TP-LINK TXC432-CU3M 10G SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable - FS.com Europe

Check TP-LINK TXC432-CU3M Compatible 10G SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable data sheet (3m, passive, SFP+ to SFP+, 30AWG) and price list on FS.COM, buy it now!

www.fs.com

 

[LodeRunner]

I can't find if your T1700G-28TQ is vendor locked. If it is, then you would do a custom cable:
Customised 10G SFP+ Passive DAC Copper Twinax Cable - FS Germany and pick 7m length and "Dual-Compatibility solution" and in the notes box say what device is on each end.
If it will take any transceiver, then this is fine:
Cisco ONS-SC+-10G-CU7 10G SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable - FS Germany
Mellanox cards, at least CX3's, do not require Mellanox modules to my knowledge. I have fs.com's programmer, so I just buy their generic DACs/SFPs as needed and code them myself.

 

[i386]

I can't find if your T1700G-28TQ is vendor locked.

So far it works with all transceivers and dac cables

 

[TRACKER]

last few years i got couple of these cards from fleabay for 35-40$
"Dell Broadcom 57810S Dual Port 10GBASE-T"
Dual 10Gbase-T ports, work perfectly fine under Windows, Linux, Truenas...

 

[Sean Ho]

Hm, I can't find suitable DAC cable on fs.com. It's only 1m or 3m

TP-LINK TXC432-CU3M 10G SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable - FS.com Europe

Check TP-LINK TXC432-CU3M Compatible 10G SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable data sheet (3m, passive, SFP+ to SFP+, 30AWG) and price list on FS.COM, buy it now!

www.fs.com

487660-001 HP c-Class 10GbE SFP+ to SFP+ 7m DAC Cable 487658-B21 487970-001 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 487660-001 HP c-Class 10GbE SFP+ to SFP+ 7m DAC Cable 487658-B21 487970-001 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

SFP+ 10G DAC Direct Attach Copper Twinax Cable For Cisco SFP H10GB CU1M 0.5~7M | eBay

10Gtek SFP+ DAC cable based on IEEE 802.3ae and MSA SFF-8472, SFF-8431, support 1~10G multi-rate communication and application such as 10G Ethernet, 8~10FC. 2-pair differential twinax cable. SFP+ to SFP+ Connetor.

www.ebay.com

StarTech Dell EMC Dac-sfp-10g-3m Compatible Cable 3 M 10 GbE DACSFP10G3M for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for StarTech Dell EMC Dac-sfp-10g-3m Compatible Cable 3 M 10 GbE DACSFP10G3M at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[Octopuss]

I've just checked the cabling in the flat and going with DAC cable would be a major pain in the ass. Definitely doable, but I would have to cut all the cables in the living room, pull the damn snake through two walls, and remove one of the cable to make room for the DAC, then push it back and reterminate all ends into the goddamn wall sockets. The cables go through a plastic pipe in the kitchen because I only moved in when the place was reconstructed and noone thought there would be any kind of network. The pipe just barely has room for four cat6 cables. Gah.

So the other option is RJ45. Are there any downsides to this compared to DAC? I'd need a different card and a transceiver obviously, but I could use the existing cables and save lots of annoying work (and wife wouldn't want to kill me for cursing for half a day).

 

[WANg]

Ok, but isn't ConnectX-3 going EOL soon? I like to only use hardware that still have active driver support.

Unless you need some nifty keen feature like SR-IOV or RDMA over converged ethernet (ROCE), you really don’t need active driver support as much as ”mature support”. 10GbE has been mainstream in the server space for at least 13 years, used 10GbE fiber cards are ridiculously cheap (20 bucks for a Solarflare 7 series, 30 for an Intel X520 or a Mellanox Cx3), most of the active developments are on the 100/400Gbps boards nowadays, and unless you specifically need nGigE, no point buying a Marvell Aquantia card like the Asus.

The bigger challenge here is to figure out what generic singlemode SFP+ modules plays nice with that switch and whatever card you choose to buy, and whether you can source pre-terminated OS2 fiber with LC connectors at the lengths that you want, how to run or mount the fibers and then connect them up. Don’t use DAC cables unless you are directly connecting equipments less than 3 meters away.

 

[Octopuss]

How about weirdly cheap chinese cables like 1M MINI SAS 36P SFF-8087 TO 4 SFF-8482 CONNECTORS ADAPTER With SATA Power Cable | eBay ?

 

[LodeRunner]

For copper FS.com Cisco SFP-10G-T-S Compatible 10GBASE-T SFP+ Transceiver Module - FS or the MikroTik S+RJ10; both are ~$65 USD assuming you get a copper card. i386 noted above that your switch does not appear to be picky about the modules. FS.com might be safer as it will be coded as a generic Cisco. I don't know what the MikroTik is coded as.

Your current switch doesn't support nBaseT, so a used enterprise 10G-BaseT card from eBay or Amazon is probably a better choice.

Going with a SFP card, and 2x FS.com Cisco SFP+ and 7-10m of OM4 MM fiber may cost a bit more (10-15 USD maybe?) than a copper solution in your case, but fiber cards and transceivers run cooler and draw less power. Many, not all, copper 10G cards either have active cooling are or designed to be in server rack chassis with high airflow.