What's the recommended 10Gb Multigig capable NIC in 2023?

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bleomycin

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Nov 22, 2014
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I'm not really up to date on what the best oem sku's are to pick up a multi-gig capable 10Gb rj45 nic anymore. With the minefield of counterfeit stuff on ebay I'm hesitant to buy anything X550 based on a whim. It also seems like single port x550 nics are pushing $180-$200 which seems like a lot.

I hear mixed things about AQC107 based options, then trendnet has ones with Tehuti Networks chipsets that I know nothing about. I just want something reliable under linux, low power and multigig capable (cat5e in my house manages 5Gb or 10Gb depending on the length of the run, I want flexibility). Wouldn't think that'd be a tall ask anymore but I guess it still kinda is?
 

pimposh

hardware pimp
Nov 19, 2022
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Speaking of Aquantia, then AQC113S is more power efficient than AQC107 which draws a lot. There are some 113 based cars out already.
No issues so far with 180+ days uptime in my case (Linux).
 

bleomycin

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Nov 22, 2014
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Speaking of Aquantia, then AQC113S is more power efficient than AQC107 which draws a lot. There are some 113 based cars out already.
No issues so far with 180+ days uptime in my case (Linux).
Thanks! I knew the AQC107 was pretty old just didn’t know what the new version was. I see the AQC113 is used in the new apple products as well so that’s slightly encouraging. Assuming it can push 10Gb reliably without the need for jumbo frames it may be the ticket for my needs!
 

VMman

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Jun 26, 2013
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I'm not really up to date on what the best oem sku's are to pick up a multi-gig capable 10Gb rj45 nic anymore. With the minefield of counterfeit stuff on ebay I'm hesitant to buy anything X550 based on a whim. It also seems like single port x550 nics are pushing $180-$200 which seems like a lot.

I hear mixed things about AQC107 based options, then trendnet has ones with Tehuti Networks chipsets that I know nothing about. I just want something reliable under linux, low power and multigig capable (cat5e in my house manages 5Gb or 10Gb depending on the length of the run, I want flexibility). Wouldn't think that'd be a tall ask anymore but I guess it still kinda is?

Does it have to be X550?

I've used many of these in the past with no issues.

Supermicro AOC-STG-i2T V2 10GbE RJ45 10GBASE-T Ethernet Adapter Intel X540-T2

I see them listed on ebay for ~$70
 

bleomycin

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Nov 22, 2014
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Does it have to be X550?

I've used many of these in the past with no issues.

Supermicro AOC-STG-i2T V2 10GbE RJ45 10GBASE-T Ethernet Adapter Intel X540-T2

I see them listed on ebay for ~$70
Nope, not married to any chipset. Just needs to support multigig and be low power. It looks like at least some x540 nics have fans on the heatsinks, that's not encouraging for the low power requirement.
 

sko

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Jun 11, 2021
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low power
pick one
If you really want/need low power and heat, use SFP+ with optic transceivers or at least DACs


As for reliable and proper driver support on all platforms: just go for intel X5*0 chipsets as has been the recommendation for the last 10 years...
10GBit has been a solved problem for 20 years now with battle-tested chipsets that have been in the market for 10+ years - so why should there be something "gamechangingly" new in 2023 for an old technology?
 
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VMman

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Most of them that going into servers will have passive heatsinks for ambient airflow.

Are you planning to use this in a desktop?
 

Tummler

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Jul 1, 2017
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It was my understanding that the Intel X7*0 chipsets consumed significantly less power than Intel X5*0 chipsets, all else equal (i.e., same connection type and speed).

I have a vague recollection of reading testing results that supported this conclusion but I am drawing a blank and where I read it (maybe in an article posted here?).
 

zer0sum

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Mar 8, 2013
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Budget option is the Supermicro AOC-STGN-i2S ($30-50) with a DAC or fiber transcievers
May, or may not be cheaper than copper depending on what you already have

 
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sko

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Jun 11, 2021
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It was my understanding that the Intel X7*0 chipsets consumed significantly less power than Intel X5*0 chipsets, all else equal (i.e., same connection type and speed).

I have a vague recollection of reading testing results that supported this conclusion but I am drawing a blank and where I read it (maybe in an article posted here?).
e.g.

True, the X700 series draws ~30% less power than the X500 SFP+ variants if both used with optical transceivers and in fact if you use optics it almost doesn't matter at what speed they are running, they will always have <1W (typical 0.7W) of actual power going into the fiber compared to 4-8W (depending on length) going into those ancient copper wires.
For a homelab you have to consider if those 30% less power draw of the chipset (IIRC in practice ~0.5-1W per port) are worth the still relatively huge price difference. Used X520-DA2 cards can be easily found for 60-70EUR/USD, X720 were priced more towards the 200EUR/USD mark when I last checked.

So regardless of what chipset you use, you will save AT LEAST~5W per port in power consumption and ultimately heat on both ends if using optics rather than copper. For only 10 connections you already have a difference of ~100W in power consumption - or 876kWh/year.
 
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Tummler

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@sko, don't disagree with your observation concerning the significance of the reduction in powers consumption going from X500 to X700 series in most circumstances. I was hyper-focused on power consumption due to the highly related variable of heat production since I was looking for a NIC to install in a small form factor workstation. I am now restarting the search process afresh after previously shelving my planned upgrade of my home network a while back.

And for the record, I also agree with your advice about avoiding copper if heat is an issue. My problem is that I am relying on a CAT6 line for my office that was ran by the previous owner in an inaccessible space under that part of the house that is also blocked by multiple barriers. The previous home owner is a good guy who is always willing to answer my questions about the house, so I asked him how in the hell he ran that line. He said he and his brother shoved his five-year-old nephew through a very small gap, and he then was able to crawl over to the wall where the line terminates. Unfortunately, there never seems to be industrious five-year-olds around when I am in need of some child labor.
 
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mattventura

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Nov 9, 2022
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Depends on what you're using it for.

Do you need SR-IOV? Which features specifically?

Do the "features"/bugs of the X710 and friends affect your use case?

Plugging a multi-gig standalone transceiver into an SFP+ port can work, but it can also be a disaster if flow control isn't happening properly, because the card still "sees" it as 10Gb.
 
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HDGuy

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Jan 29, 2023
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Budget option is the Supermicro AOC-STGN-i2S ($30-50) with a DAC or fiber transcievers
May, or may not be cheaper than copper depending on what you already have

I just picked up a Solarflare 7120 off eBay for $15. Worked fine in both my Windows 11 (once you find the drivers) and Unraid box. I know people say they tend to run hot but I’m not finding that to be the case. Well worth the $15.
 

mattventura

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Nov 9, 2022
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I just picked up a Solarflare 7120 off eBay for $15. Worked fine in both my Windows 11 (once you find the drivers) and Unraid box. I know people say they tend to run hot but I’m not finding that to be the case. Well worth the $15.
Nice work, I tried one but it gave me nothing but BSODs.
 

HDGuy

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Jan 29, 2023
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Nice work, I tried one but it gave me nothing but BSODs.
Really? My Windows 11 machine is a 5820k and my Unraid server is an even older Xeon E3 1226 v3, it worked fine in both no problems, and for UnRaid it was pretty much plug and play, just needed to delete network.cfg and restart. It’s not like I have a particularly lot of cooling in either case. Could it be you received a bad card? From what people were saying here I’m surprised it works so well in both cases- it’s actually a little faster than my Connectx3 which cost me 2x as much.
 

jakobeon

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Feb 7, 2023
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Really? My Windows 11 machine is a 5820k and my Unraid server is an even older Xeon E3 1226 v3, it worked fine in both no problems, and for UnRaid it was pretty much plug and play, just needed to delete network.cfg and restart. It’s not like I have a particularly lot of cooling in either case. Could it be you received a bad card? From what people were saying here I’m surprised it works so well in both cases- it’s actually a little faster than my Connectx3 which cost me 2x as much.
Are you using DAC, RJ45, or Optical for your interconnects?