PCIe x4 2x10 GbE NIC Recommendations? Do these exist? (Looking for X550-T2, but SFP+)

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John T Davis

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Nov 19, 2022
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Hello,

I think I'm on a futile quest, but I wanted to check here before I gave up.

The Intel X550-T2 is a 2x10 GbE NIC in a PCIe 3.0x4 form factor. Is there any equivalent SFP+ card?

I have a motherboard with a closed PCIe x4 slot ... I have wedged a Mellanox Connect-X4 in there with an x4 riser cable, but it's unduly precarious.

I'm also not a huge fan of the X550's lack of temperature sensor, especially on an RJ-45 power-guzzler (8-12w idle).

Thanks for any suggestions. :)
 
Wasmachineman_NL

Wasmachineman_NL

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Aug 7, 2019
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I was gonna say X710-DA2 but that's a x8 card :skull:

Gonna be real hard to find something in x4 flavor OP, most if not all SFP+ cards are x8.
 
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John T Davis

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Wasmachineman_NL said:
I was gonna say X710-DA2 but that's a x8 card :skull:

Gonna be real hard to find something in x4 flavor OP, most if not all SFP+ cards are x8.
Click to expand...
Still not sure why a -DA2 needs to be an x8, but I suspect they're using the same PCB on each variant to save money and have less SKUs.

I've not found any x4 SFP+ 2x 10GbE cards at all.
Any idea why these only exist as RJ-45s?
 
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blunden

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Nov 29, 2019
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John T Davis said:
Still not sure why a -DA2 needs to be an x8, but I suspect they're using the same PCB on each variant to save money and have less SKUs.

I've not found any x4 SFP+ 2x 10GbE cards at all.
Any idea why these only exist as RJ-45s?
Click to expand...
It's probably so that they can be used in PCI-E 2.0 boards as well. PCB reuse could also be a side benefit. :)
 
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John T Davis

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Phence said:
Can you bifuricate the slot? If yes, you could do something like this within a 3-4W combined TDP:
PCIe to NVMe & NGFF Adapter | M.2 for Home Server - Zima

2 x RTL8127 10GbE M.2 Card – ODROID
Click to expand...
This is a Dell workstation board; unfortunately bifurcation is not supported. I've already had unnecessary difficulties because I only have one x16 and two x4 slots, and one of those x4 slots is close-ended for no good reason.

Hence my annoyance at almost every dual 10 GbE being x8. :p

That said, I'm going to hold on to those links. When I have the chance to experiment with another board, I'm definitely coming back to that. :)
 
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nexox

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Phence said:
Can you bifuricate the slot? If yes, you could do something like this within a 3-4W combined TDP:
PCIe to NVMe & NGFF Adapter | M.2 for Home Server - Zima
Click to expand...
Note that's a single NVMe m.2 and a single SATA m.2 which only gets power from the PCIe slot, you plug in a SATA cable for data. Not much out there will bifurcate to x2x2 or really any combination of links narrower than x4 - there are some switches and the odd embedded system but they're rare.
 
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Phence

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nexox said:
Note that's a single NVMe m.2 and a single SATA m.2 which only gets power from the PCIe slot, you plug in a SATA cable for data. Not much out there will bifurcate to x2x2 or really any combination of links narrower than x4 - there are some switches and the odd embedded system but they're rare.
Click to expand...
Ah you're right. Fail lol.

Maybe the only solutions then is one of those QNAP PCI-e card then that has a controller/switch built in so you don't need bifurcation. But then the M.2 share the bandwidth, depending on how many lanes and what Generation you run.

Then from there the M.2 NICs lol.
 
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John T Davis

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Update: The box of rocks that might actually be a real NIC has made it through US Customs and will be here on ... Wednesday, probably.
  1. Yes, I could fix that typo, but for all we know, that's how they pronounce it in French.
  2. TIL US Customs has facilities in Jamaica?
  3. After some checking, Jamaica is still not part of the US, so at least part of my Cold War-era geography education remains relevant.
But seriously, they were making it sound like it'd be closer to the end of the month, so this is surprisingly fast.

1784489381974.png
 
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John T Davis

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Update: Now it's in my office. It's very well packed, which is nice considering my USPS branch tried to destroy it by stuffing it into a mailbox it didn't fit in. The outer shipping box (the red box) took minor crunch damage, but the card prevailed.

The forum is not in the mood to let me post photos or a link to Imgur, so here they are: https://imgur.com/a/french-lenovo-nvidia-mellanox-2x10-gbe-cx-4-pcie-3-0x4-card-2HY0igo

As you can see from the photos, there's a sticker linking to a Lenovo driver download page (their internal Box instance?), which makes me wonder if this was a bespoke Lenovo OEM part. So, now I expect that this might have Lenovo OEM firmware on it.

There's also a serial number. Not sure if there's a way to validate that.

I'll take some more photos when I install it. So far, I don't have reason to think it's a fraud, but I also don't really know what to look for.

EDIT: You probably saw this when I was still fighting with the link to the photos. I've updated the post with the URL for the album. Forum won't let me post the link as an actual link.
 
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John T Davis

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mostlycorn said:
Nice! Did you have to pay any customs/import fees?
Click to expand...
Y'know, now that you mention it, I didn't.
Not sure how that worked out. I guess we're not at war with France this week.

There was a notice on the listing that I was responsible for any tariff/import fees, but I only paid once, and that was just the basic shipping.
I did have to pay 9.64 Euros in "taxes" when I checked out, so I suppose the import duties could have been included in that? That's about 9.45% of the actual purchase price, before shipping…
 
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