Cheap non-Mellanox PCIe card for 40GbE QSFP+?

[Markess]

I found a few ConnectX-3 cards (CX354a) for around $12 each to try P2P 40GbE with some of my lab stuff and desktop. Linux was no issue, but the Desktop (i5-12600k + Win11) was continual BSODs. I eventually tracked the issue down to CX3 not playing well with the i5's efficient-cores on Windows: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...s-not-work-with-alder-lake-raptor-lake.39106/ .

Of course, in time honored Homelab Tradition, I can't let this defeat stand and I'll have to throw more money at it till I get it to work (even though I don't really need it...another time honored Homelab Tradition).

CX4 is supposed to work fine, but they go for about 8 times as much. Wondering if there's other older, non-Mellanox, QSFP+ options for cheap that work with Windows? Anyone with experience to share? TIA. Cheers!

 

[GuessWho]

I don't have a answer for you but wanted to bump the thread. I think most of the QSFP+ cards were from Mellanox anyway, just rebranded. Also the industry is moving from sfp+/qsfp+ to sfp28/qsfp28.

 

[rtech]

You can get Chelsio T580, Solarflare, Intel i think [A-Z]710 series
Have misread your post and i have not teste any of those on P-core E-core CPUs m though so my reply is not that helpful sorry.

 

[GuessWho]

I had some connnectx-2 vpi cards running on my home network that I'm starting to upgrade. The attached doc (converted to pdf from html to upload) says the connectx-3 is supported under windows 10 not sure about v11

 

[i386]

that work with Windows?

with intel p & e cores*

I had some connnectx-2 vpi cards running on my home network that I'm starting to upgrade. The attached doc (converted to pdf from html to upload) says the connectx-3 is supported under windows 10 not sure about v11

the nic is not the porblem but the intel cpu with it's different cores

 

[Markess]

with intel p & e cores*

the nic is not the porblem but the intel cpu with it's different cores

Yes, that's the question I guess...NICs that work with both P & E-Cores enabled.

My gut (which is frequently wrong unfortunately) says that its the Mellanox/Nvidia drivers for Windows and not the hardware itself. The most recent drivers were released before Alder Lake came out and do work fine with the E-Cores disabled. Linux seems to work fine with the all cores enabled. I use Linux primarily on this machine (Ubuntu Mate 22.04 currently) and it "just worked" with the open source drivers included the distro/repos.

In these sorts of situations, at least for me, its more a matter of "Not letting the hardware beat me...darn it!", and less of a need to get it operating. I don't really need the speed, so can take the time to research a bit before I make my next ill-conceived purchase I just never thought that the CPU architecture of a "Core Series" CPU would be an issue. Live and learn, I guess.