Intel 10Gb Fibre NIC - insanely cheap.

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cactus

Moderator
Jan 25, 2011
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CA
It looks like they have optics built in, which the original cost supports. Looking at ark they were also recently EOL(July '12)
 

Haitch

Member
Apr 18, 2011
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Albany, NY
Yep, built in optics - single mode LC connections (spec'd for 10km). I realize they've just been EOL'd, but I've been using EOL gear in my home labs for longer than I care to remember .... and Intel does tend to be good about driver support for even EOL stuff. These cards have current support in VMware 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, Windows server and desktop, and linux (latest drivers came out the same month it was EOL'd).

I wish they were the dual port models, but for what I want, they're fine.

H.
 

RimBlock

Active Member
Sep 18, 2011
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Have taken a chance and ordered 4. Two for my storage server and 2 for my ESXi Hosts (when I finish them up).

Shipping was steep at US$51 land USPS (cheapest option) to Ohio where I have a freight forwarding address. Shall see if they actually send out or reject.

If they work out then I will probably get a bunch more.

@Haitch, any info on what arrived for you ?.

RB

UPDATE: No international credit cards accepted :(. Will see if I can find another way to purchase. I appreciate the need to protect against fraud but we use a sms verification on all purchases here before the transaction is authorised so anyone committing fraud would also need my mobile or to have changed my verification mobile number. Oh well.
 
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john4200

New Member
Jan 1, 2011
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I wonder if the picture is inaccurate and they are somehow just selling the bare card without the XFP transceiver module. The XFP module is the expensive part.

That vendor gets a low rating on resellerratings:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Compu_America

I guess it might still be worth ordering 1 or 2 on the chance that you will really get a working, complete 10Gb card. But I think I will wait and see what happens to the guinea pig er, I mean Haitch. :)

Here's an interesting review of them from pricegrabber:

http://reviews.pricegrabber.com/compu-americacom/r/466/

I used to use this company fairly regularly, but they are definitely a risk now. They always list great prices online, but when you order something, it takes days for them to process and ship, and if the price is "too good", they simply cancel your order after about 4 days of no communication even though the items still appear on their site as "in stock". This has happened to me on 3 of my last 4 orders. I will no longer use this store and I recommend you look elsewhere also. Don't even bother trying to get answers from their customer service...
 
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RimBlock

Active Member
Sep 18, 2011
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Ok, so I used my freight forwarders concierge service where they purchase for my with a local credit card and then charge my card.

The order was cancelled. Reason...
Note: Unfortunately this item is out of stock. We apologise for any inconvenience caused this order will be cancelled and you will not be charged.
Shame but there you go ;).

RB
 

Haitch

Member
Apr 18, 2011
122
14
18
Albany, NY
I got a call from them today. The $63 price is just for a face plate for the NIC, if I want the card it will be $2000 .... Thought it was too good to be true .....

Order cancelled.

H.
 

RimBlock

Active Member
Sep 18, 2011
837
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Singapore
I must admit that their webite is probably one of the worst I have come across for being able to find anything. Seems like they list everything imaginable and then take orders and only fill them if stock is available. Funny how they diodn't want to take an international card for fear of fraud ........ :rolleyes:.

Oh well, back to the drawing board for the SAN & vSphere servers.

RB
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
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their service sucks and they are slow but $66 for IBM M5014 is solid and eventually arrived :)

You have to understand that you have to buy the content on your website. you have to type it in otherwise. Not free. Same with pics. Then someone has to manage stock/dropshipqty/pricing. For a company that deals in used, there are so many product variants that auto matching of the data doesn't work out. Amazon is the same. If you use UPC you'll have products that have more than one upc (aka 10gbit nic + bracket) so you'd have to match on a N:N relationship . 10/20 Packs are even trickier since the industry defaults to UOM=1 EA - you can always hunt down someone matching on a UPC a 10 PACK to a 1 PACK and get a deal.

People are on the other end of the wire - they do diligence so they don't buy that $2000 nic from [themselves,other used resellers] and sell it to your for $50 - but cracks do slip and you can get steals.

Trust me - new IT gear is hard enough to manage - Amazon routinely mismaps on UPC (silly since one product might have 8 revisions with 6 UPC's) - and they take them back and end up on warehousedeals. If amazon can't get it right, don't blame a smaller company. Buy.com likewise. Amazon/BUY has 100's of people working on product teams. A 10,20,50 man shop can't afford that.

If you think you can do a better job than Amazon/buy.com with content/inventory/supplier mapping/price - PM me. I'll be glad to hire/buy your product. Seriously.
 

RimBlock

Active Member
Sep 18, 2011
837
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Singapore
Interesting response.

Some would say, if you cannot do it well then don't do it.

It is not the customers responsibility to make sure the sellers product code matches the description. The company selling is responsible for their inventory. If someone orders a car and gets a hub cap, I don't think they would expect to be told "well it's difficult with lots of items, you do better". Their problem seems to be that they cannot handle the volumes and variety of products they are trying to deal with but, someone, somewhere in that company made the choice to go ahead with it. When you do that as a company, you either put the time and resources in place to handle it, make some mistakes and manage the odd complaint, make more mistakes and not be able to handle complaints so end up getting a poor reputation or go out of business as you loose consumer confidence.

Amazon generally get it right, in my experience, but they do also get it wrong now and then. I bought a Quad ET NIC based on the picture and received a box (i.e. 5x OEM) dual port ET NICs. I reported it and the seller stated Amazon had got the picture incorrect but the description was. I believe the problem still persists. They also didn't want the 5x dual ports back :confused:. Oh well, good for me.

The danger is when there are more people in customer services handling complaints than in the other areas making sure the issues do not arise in the first place.

RB
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
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Yes the humans are the error point. They make mistakes. If we can replace them with computers then this would not have happened as GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT is the #1 rule.

Also you know if you get the wrong item, Amazon forces a marketplace refund.