Comparison: Intel i350-T4 Genuine vs Fake
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i can tell you one i learned through pain staking trial and error, Dell FKHKC Intel Ethernet X550-T2 doesn't support it =(
in proxmox when you issue the command it just says permission denied and you can't seemingly bypass it through any means, from reading threads people have even tried to flash it with OEM intel firmware and it doesn't work
Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on whether this is a legit Intel i350-T2 (various differences from the T4).
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I discovered Intel's System Support Utility at link below which does a comprehensive scan of the entire machine and returns reams of data. I'm fairly confident the card I have is legitimate because the part number and the serial number sticker on the card match the same numbers in the SSU report. Also, the card has the TXC label over the crystal, and the MAC address sticker like the genuine T4 in the report and that address is matched in the SSU report. I also peeled back a sticker on the ethernet transformer and confirmed that the "Delta" is embossed not printed.
www.intel.com
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I discovered Intel's System Support Utility at link below which does a comprehensive scan of the entire machine and returns reams of data. I'm fairly confident the card I have is legitimate because the part number and the serial number sticker on the card match the same numbers in the SSU report. Also, the card has the TXC label over the crystal, and the MAC address sticker like the genuine T4 in the report and that address is matched in the SSU report. I also peeled back a sticker on the ethernet transformer and confirmed that the "Delta" is embossed not printed.
Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*
This download is for version 3.0.0.2 of the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) for Windows*.
www.intel.com
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In my experience with Intel's utility for detecting fake cpus, if the utility says it's a fake, it's a fake.. Not sure if the nic one is as good as the cpu one, but I would think it is.
Just a quick question. And btw, holy shit are there wide spectrum of cards. Some sell i350 T4V2's for 110€ and closer inspection its obvious fake. On the other hand, someone sells 50€ lenovo cards that does look like the real deal. My question:
Dell aperantely in their i350's doesnt support SRV-IO, right?
Does anyone else does this? Lenovo/Oracle/Cisco/HP etc. All should be identical with the Intel original I350-T4's? Lenovo does sell their own non PCI-e blue cards, talking about the pcie variant here.
@Samir do you happen to know?
Dell aperantely in their i350's doesnt support SRV-IO, right?
Does anyone else does this? Lenovo/Oracle/Cisco/HP etc. All should be identical with the Intel original I350-T4's? Lenovo does sell their own non PCI-e blue cards, talking about the pcie variant here.
@Samir do you happen to know?
I haven't looked into any of the more recent cards since I originally found this thread years ago. For the specifics, I would search for each of the brand's part numbers and SRV-IO and see what search results return. If there are any issues, someone would be discussing it online somewhere.@Samir do you happen to know?
I've found a few listing where the pictures do not match what is ultimately delivered. I've resorted to buying the seller to find legit ones, e.g I bought one of these, its a legit v2 for $110.
I350T4V2 Original Intel 1GbE Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T4V2 Both brackets | eBay
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Hello all,
I have 3 Intel I350 cards...two 4 port and one 2 port card. Can someone please tell me if these are fake or authentic. I think the 4 port cards are real but they are exhibiting major issues in my Proxmox server, trying to do PCI passthrough. The 2 port card looks fake but it works. Go figure.
Thanks,
Steve
I have 3 Intel I350 cards...two 4 port and one 2 port card. Can someone please tell me if these are fake or authentic. I think the 4 port cards are real but they are exhibiting major issues in my Proxmox server, trying to do PCI passthrough. The 2 port card looks fake but it works. Go figure.
Thanks,
Steve
@SteveFP Top one might be knock off with recycled chip, because no OEM or manufacturer on label or in silk screen that I can make out. Also no embossing on the coils packages. 4 ports look like genuine Intel. Chinese haven't written Intel on stuff for a long time when doing their own runs.
PS: Dog-owner? Suggest to clean your desk from all that fur and vacuum the place before handling electronics.
PPS: Various Broadcom 5719 go for very cheap compared to i350. Maybe an alternative for you. Got a Dell branded card from China recently, couldn't figure out any drawbacks compared to Intel chip. CPUs are fast enough so any offloading does not matter at 1 Gbps.
PS: Dog-owner? Suggest to clean your desk from all that fur and vacuum the place before handling electronics.
PPS: Various Broadcom 5719 go for very cheap compared to i350. Maybe an alternative for you. Got a Dell branded card from China recently, couldn't figure out any drawbacks compared to Intel chip. CPUs are fast enough so any offloading does not matter at 1 Gbps.
It's curious that the 'fake' one works with PCI pass-through but the 'genuine' ones do not. I would like a card that can do both PCI pass-through and SR-IOV. Can the Broadcom card you mentioned do this?
I usually do all my work in my lab, which is in my basement, but was not going to walk 3 flights of stairs to take pics.
Desk is a freaking mess.. I have been in Hong Kong for 2 months and got back last Friday.
Thanks,
Steve
I usually do all my work in my lab, which is in my basement, but was not going to walk 3 flights of stairs to take pics.
Desk is a freaking mess.. I have been in Hong Kong for 2 months and got back last Friday.
Thanks,
Steve
Says "Virtual Channel" but not "Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)". So I am going to say "no". Card has the latest firmware from Dell from 2024. And all ports land in the same IOMMU group. Some Reddit posts claim there are i350 with SR-IOV disabled.
Code:
# lshw -c network -businfo
Bus info Device Class Description
==========================================================
pci@0000:17:00.0 enp23s0f0 network NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
pci@0000:17:00.1 enp23s0f1 network NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
pci@0000:17:00.2 enp23s0f2 network NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
pci@0000:17:00.3 enp23s0f3 network NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
pci@0000:1a:00.0 enp26s0f0 network Ethernet Connection X722 for 1GbE
pci@0000:1a:00.1 enp26s0f1 network Ethernet Connection X722 for 1GbE
pci@0000:1a:00.2 enp26s0f2 network Ethernet Connection X722 for 1GbE
pci@0000:1a:00.3 enp26s0f3 network Ethernet Connection X722 for 1GbE
pci@0000:b3:00.0 enp179s0 network MT27500 Family [ConnectX-3]
usb@1:11 wlp0s20f0u11 network Wireless interface
pci@0000:b3:00.0 enp179s0d1 network MT27500 Family [ConnectX-3]
# lspci -vs 0000:17:00.0
17:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)
Subsystem: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries 4-port 1Gb Ethernet Adapter
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 55, NUMA node 0, IOMMU group 8
Memory at 27fff4b0000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]
Memory at 27fff4a0000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]
Memory at 27fff490000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at c5ec0000 [disabled] [size=256K]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable- Count=1/8 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [a0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=17 Masked-
Capabilities: [ac] Express Endpoint, IntMsgNum 0
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [13c] Device Serial Number XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
Capabilities: [150] Power Budgeting <?>
Capabilities: [160] Virtual Channel
Kernel driver in use: tg3
Kernel modules: tg3I ran into the cards with SR-IOV disabled but there is a way to change the firmware.
Sounds like Virtual Channel is their version of SR-IOV but I am going to do some research.
I found a couple V2 I350 cards, so going to see if those are operational. It's a real shame that China has screwed things up for us. We shouldn't have to go through all of this validation.
Sounds like Virtual Channel is their version of SR-IOV but I am going to do some research.
I found a couple V2 I350 cards, so going to see if those are operational. It's a real shame that China has screwed things up for us. We shouldn't have to go through all of this validation.
bear in mind that its not necessarily all china in this, some manufacturers lock SR-IOV behind firmware which you can't change (or at least not that i've seen).
take my previous post as an example in this, that was a genuine Dell part but Dell decided to lock SR-IOV away.
take my previous post as an example in this, that was a genuine Dell part but Dell decided to lock SR-IOV away.
My opinion is that the top one is definitly fake, an older one too when they didn't copy so well. The bottom two could be fake or real--the Dell and HP fakes are identical to the real ones so you'll only know when you use both in the same system and one is acting funny--that one will be the fake. 'Acting funny' was how the fakes were first spotted as fake Intels would have problems with iscsi, but that was years ago. Today's fakes are very, very good in terms of looking real. The fakers have seen this thread and changed their tactics.
And as far as Intel's logo--I've had fakes in my hands that had Intel logos as well as stickers serials, the works, even a box and driver disc. There are no scruples when it comes to fakes so there's no Prado vs Prada like back in the day, now it will say Prada and only someone familiar with the real goods will know the difference. Unfortantely for electronics you can't tell by looking, just testing them fully and in every scenario.
You might as well have had a flakey original Intel card, where somebody ripped off some components when uninstalling or handling the card and you didn't (and couldn't, without super close inspection) see that. The capacitors and other SMD parts, on the other side from where the chip is, are really tiny. Smash card on table too hard and now you are missing three, one gone completely and the other two cracked.
I guess the rabbit hole here is, where did he get those cards. Or is there some way newer component on a card with a date code far far away into the future from say 2013. This would be a hint towards a clone. Also back in 2013 Dell and even Intel used to have something called quality control teams. When Dell disabled SR-IOV it might not even have been product differentiation, but unsolved issues with Intel's drivers, firmware, or bugs in the chip, or at least in an older stepping. Which Intel hid behind an NDA.
That can happen too, but this was from extensive reading on others' experiences and warranty attempts with Intel. I personally avoided the whole issue by getting some not commonly faked at the time HP cards that were the same as the Intels.
Best way to check for fakes would be an official manufacturer's program to do so, but then the fakers would possibly use it or at least make sure their cards passed the tests (kinda like gaming cpu benchmarks became a thing in the early 64-bit cpu days). Man, I miss 3com--they had a really good disk that took care of everything--diagnostic testing, drivers, the works. No one did it that well and never will again.
That could be it. For example the SR-IOV on the 'Devices settings' for each NIC will only appear and has the option to be enable or not when 'Integrated device' in Dell BIOS settings set to enabled it (SR-IOV). I did not test the card on other generic system but there's possibility. (I'll try and check it one day).
P/S : Yesterday I bought another 3 I350-T4. But not a Dell. I need 2nd opinion on these in my next comment. It does seems legit and genuine HP enterprise version. But not sure if actually it's something else
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Yesterday I bought another 3 I350-T4 for my custom Proxmox cluster servers. Aiming to utilize the SR-IOV feature. Expected to arrive around a week later.
Been told HP and it does seems like one. It does seems legit and genuine HP enterprise version. But I'm not 100% sure. There're some suspicion here and there (QA, Component printing (even embossed)).
Not sure if worth for them to produce a great A aux component clone at such level that it's better for them to officially be in the OEM list. So at least I'm hoping this is a OEM version which according almost 100% to the intel production ref card (intel, Dell, HP, Cisco, etc.).
I'm thinking to dissemble heatsink and check on the I350 chipset itself and compare it to actually genuine I350 chip. (Not yet search for it, and I'm not thinking to turnoff my server to check on it. haha).
Just that it's frustrating to just being able analyze it only on the physical level. Never ending.
Thus, I'm building a list of Software side approach to fetch the card detail and features to inspect it. HPE Warranty history check, iSCSI, SR-IOV, Stress test and emulates all possible supposed features in genuine I350. that I have no idea yet what else to check and test. To finally accept and not return it before return timeframe window is closing.
Targeting at least a reliable card even though not an intel production line product or counterfeit. at least a genuine I350 chipset.
Here's the expected actually being delivered item (Been dealing with this suppliers before for used Dell parts, but not on critical item like this) :
Been told HP and it does seems like one. It does seems legit and genuine HP enterprise version. But I'm not 100% sure. There're some suspicion here and there (QA, Component printing (even embossed)).
Not sure if worth for them to produce a great A aux component clone at such level that it's better for them to officially be in the OEM list. So at least I'm hoping this is a OEM version which according almost 100% to the intel production ref card (intel, Dell, HP, Cisco, etc.).
I'm thinking to dissemble heatsink and check on the I350 chipset itself and compare it to actually genuine I350 chip. (Not yet search for it, and I'm not thinking to turnoff my server to check on it. haha).
Just that it's frustrating to just being able analyze it only on the physical level. Never ending.
Thus, I'm building a list of Software side approach to fetch the card detail and features to inspect it. HPE Warranty history check, iSCSI, SR-IOV, Stress test and emulates all possible supposed features in genuine I350. that I have no idea yet what else to check and test. To finally accept and not return it before return timeframe window is closing.
Targeting at least a reliable card even though not an intel production line product or counterfeit. at least a genuine I350 chipset.
Here's the expected actually being delivered item (Been dealing with this suppliers before for used Dell parts, but not on critical item like this) :
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