Second hand NICs and legitimacy (when to look out for clones?)

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Magebarf

New Member
Aug 15, 2018
15
3
3
Sweden
I recently started a project where I need to grab a hold of a solid NIC (10GbE, 2 slot, SFP+ or RJ-45), which of course snowballed into me acquiring a set of different NICs on ebay as the prices was "too good to be true". While waiting on deliveries, I thought I'd see if the collective knowledge on this forum could help getting a good knowledge base on legitimacy of NICs, as that's kind of flying blind when trying to shop through second hand sources such as ebay etc.

So, we all know there are a lot of reasons the NICs may be a lot cheaper than retail. Just being used, being refurbished, being a slightly less known OEM model that won't get such a high price sold used, etc. and then we have the pirates/clones/illegitimate builds.

As for the OEM part, I feel like the existing thread does a quite good job of summing up what's out there and what's not.

When it comes to the question of clones and non-authorized (re)productions however, I haven't seen any good guide, so my general question here is really; What models of NIC should you be vary of when it comes to clones? And, the follow up; does it matter, or do they still work? Maybe not fully up to par, but to an acceptable level?

For one, it feels like almost all the Intel X5xx series has been copied already, with the X550 one being the only one I haven't heard of for certain.
Intel X520 and X540 seems to be very common to find clones of on eBay. Normal signs seems to be lack of Yottamark, as well as odd countries of origin. Is it a "known fact" that all of Intel's NICs are produced in Malaysia, or do they have multiple production sites?

Mellanox also seems quite frequently copied. I've spotted what I believe are clones of the ConnectX-3 series, as well as the ConnectX-4 Lx series. My first go to point here is the SFP+/SFP28/QSFP connectors which has a quite "unique" look on all the pictures Mellanox themselves show. It looks like they have integrated heat sinks of sorts. Do Mellanox models come with "smooth"/flat SFP cages as well, or is it only the "spiky" models? Are the ConnectX-5 and 6 models spared from clones so far?

Chelsio, same thing here, at least for generation 5; looks to be ten different models and builds all carrying the same model number when looking at eBay. Are the 6th generation already cloned as well, or are they spared for now?

The only one I've seen so far, where the NICs I've encountered seem to be somewhat identical, making me believe there at least fewer clones of, are the Solarflare ones. At the same time, they've been around for so long that I kind of assume that the pirated versions does exist out there as well.

Maybe the easiest way is by building a "database" of anecdotal evidence; Have you bought a second hand NIC that turned out to be a clone/unauthorized product? If so, what make and model was it? Did it still work out alright, or (as stories I've seen in a few threads) overheated, lack features etc.?
 

Magebarf

New Member
Aug 15, 2018
15
3
3
Sweden
I can follow up that I've reached out to Intel, Mellanox and Chelsio to ask if they have any pointers on how to navigate the second hand markets, and if there's anything good to think about (like licensed features that could/need to be transferred etc.) when buying a used NIC.

Initial note is that I understand that these are not questions that are prioritized/high interest for them, as I do not really consider hobbyists as their main customer segment. In addition they make no direct profit from the second hand market, so just any answer is a good, and above expected, effort on their behalf.

To start with, I don't think I've reached the right persons, which in itself is a challenge, but from the answers I got none actually answered the questions.
Chelsio has not given any reply.
Mellanox ignored the second hand market entirely and instead redirected me towards their local sales agents for my region.
Intel simply stated that on the support division, where I ended up at warranty/troubleshooting, they considered that type of recommendations advertising, which was not anything they were allowed to do. Instead they pointed me to their Intel Community Platform (Forums) where this type of questions could be asked. There are very few discussions today in their forums touching the topic of counterfeit NICs.

All my own research so far has only landed any good information on the Intel NICs where the Yottamark is the best guide:
YottaMark* Sticker on Intel® Ethernet Adapters
Also for the Intel products, they maintain a device ID list of different models, but as I assume this is part of what needs to be identical for any clones to be able to use the same drivers, I'm not too sure it's all that useful:
List of Supported Retail Intel® Ethernet Adapters

As noted in the initial post, these are things hard to see/discover on most listings on ebay etc. as they are easily faked.

For Chelsio and Mellanox I've not found any similar resources on how to validate the authenticity of their products. I kind of guess that once you have a card in your hand you can use the serial number to communicate with their support about it, but again I guess this would be easy to just copy from a legit NIC.