I've been searching around for a few days but haven't really come to a satisfying conclusion as to which is a good direction to go. I'm looking for a PCIe card to connect my QNAP TVS-h874X to a Unifi USW-Enterprise-8-PoE. The QNAP came with a dual-port 10GBASE-T card, but the switch only has SFP+ connections. I've read that the base-t SFP+ transceivers eat a lot of power, so it seems like the best bet is to get an SFP+ PCIe card.
Looking at the List of NICs post and digging around what's available new, the Intel X710-DA2 seems like a good choice (conveniently one of the lower power options) and is available on FS.com - https://www.fs.com/products/75600.html - but it's $300. I then see that there's a Mellanox MCX4121A-ACAT ConnectX-4 SFP28 available - https://www.fs.com/products/119650.html - and it's only $260.
I see people talking about "dirt cheap" network cards, but that seems to be in older threads before certain lines of cards went EOL and corporate mergers happened. I'd be happy with any solid, low-ish power, fanless PCIe 3 or 4 card.
Questions:
1) is the Intel X710-DA2 the best/a good bet for my situation? I'd prefer to buy new from a reputable seller to avoid DOAs and fakes.
2) Can I buy an SFP28, use an SFP+ DAC to connect to the switch? As an added bonus I'd have myself future proofed for potential SFP28 (much) later and save a few bucks.
Looking at the List of NICs post and digging around what's available new, the Intel X710-DA2 seems like a good choice (conveniently one of the lower power options) and is available on FS.com - https://www.fs.com/products/75600.html - but it's $300. I then see that there's a Mellanox MCX4121A-ACAT ConnectX-4 SFP28 available - https://www.fs.com/products/119650.html - and it's only $260.
I see people talking about "dirt cheap" network cards, but that seems to be in older threads before certain lines of cards went EOL and corporate mergers happened. I'd be happy with any solid, low-ish power, fanless PCIe 3 or 4 card.
Questions:
1) is the Intel X710-DA2 the best/a good bet for my situation? I'd prefer to buy new from a reputable seller to avoid DOAs and fakes.
2) Can I buy an SFP28, use an SFP+ DAC to connect to the switch? As an added bonus I'd have myself future proofed for potential SFP28 (much) later and save a few bucks.
