Cheap Windows 10 network cards that do 10 Gb over cat6(a)

[anderstn]

Hi

I recently took the plunge and bought a 10 Gb nic for my NAS and transceivers for my switch. For this I bought fiberoptic parts, however as they have come dramatically down in price I also bought a 10 Gb RJ45 transceiver for my switch thinking that I can use it for my machine. However to do so I need a 10 Gb network card with an RJ45 connection that is compatible with Windows 10 Pro. My knowledge of good second hand 10 Gb cards is pretty much exclusive to server operating systems and most only support fiberoptic transceivers. Does anybody have some suggestions for second hand cards available on ebay that is compatible with Windows 10 Pro and supports 10 Gb connections via RJ45, either directly via RJ45 ports on the card or via transceivers.

PS: I am aware that this is not directly a FreeBSD/Truenas question, but I'm guessing the general use case I'm presenting is not that uncommon in a home setting and thus relevant to a large part of the Truenas user base.

 

[jgreco]

Moderator note: this isn't a TrueNAS issue, but for the sake of visibility I'm not going to immediately move this to off-topic.

 

[jgreco]

is compatible with Windows 10 Pro and supports 10 Gb connections via RJ45

Due to the general lack of uptake of 10GBASE-T over the last decade, this is basically limited to maybe the Aquantia aQtion card or the Intel X540's and friends, in my opinion. Both are around $100 used.

By way of comparison, the SFP+ Mellanox ConnectX-3 is about $25-$30.

The reason the SFP+ stuff is cheap is because it is being flushed out of data centers in favor of faster ethernet gear, creating a glut, and depressing prices. On the other hand, owners of Intel or Aquantia copper cards are often hobbyists/SOHO, and therefore unlikely to be selling their cards, because they're already invested in the fastest copper money can buy.

 

[Ericloewe]

already invested in the fastest copper money can buy

Well, fastest twisted-pair anyway.

or via transceivers.

Ehh... You'd need to hit the 80 buck range to make that worth the extra hassle, but transceivers are, optimistically, 60 bucks and up, so you'll have a bit of a hard time with that approach. The ConnectX-3s are all over eBay at the prices @jgreco mentioned and they're just about the cheapest 10G option, but you end up at Intel X540 prices... Plus, the X540 has two ports, typically.

Sidenote: When dealing with rackmount gear, the proprietary formats have terrible resale value, which is great for buyers. Dell rNDCs, for instance, are like 40 bucks for a card with an X540-T2 plus an I350-T2, which is great value for those of us unlucky enough to be stuck with a heap of 10GBase-T gear. SFP+ equivalents also exist at similar prices.

 

[anderstn]

Thx for the help guys. I ended up buying an Intel X540-T2 card secondhand on eBay from a Chinese seller. Probably ripped from a decommissioned server. The price difference wasn't huge so i opted for the actual Intel branded version but I noticed there were some OEM variants (Dell, HP etc) that used the same Intel chip. Would these play well with Windows 10 and the standard Intel driver or would they end up being unsupported as most of these vendors don't release Windows 10 drivers for their server parts.

 

[Ericloewe]

Chinese seller.

Yikes, that's definitely likely fake territory...

there were some OEM variants (Dell, HP etc) that used the same Intel chip. Would these play well with Windows 10 and the standard Intel driver or would they end up being unsupported as most of these vendors don't release Windows 10 drivers for their server parts.

They're all basically the same thing. Some are straight rebadges, some use slightly different boards to better fit whatever the vendor wanted to use them in. Drivers are absolutely identical and you get them from Intel, unless you're a masochist.

 

[jgreco]

definitely likely fake territory...

Well, potentially, yes. Let's just say it is substantially riskier.

Hardware Buying Guide - some tips for not getting ripped off

I've been giving this information out piecemeal for years, and should maybe have it summarized in one place. There's been a lot of people who are wary of secondary market sources for hardware, such as eBay, due to bad experiences with other...

www.truenas.com

 

[anderstn]

Yikes, that's definitely likely fake territory...

The seller he had that new fancy "Top Rated Plus" rating and was shipping loads of them so my guess is it's one guy or a company that specializes in buying discontinued enterprise hardware in bulk and selling it in parts. As for why China the reason is all US and European vendors tend to end up costing way more due to shipping charges. It's quite ridiculous how a package from China can cost 1/10 to 1/20 the price of a package from an EU country despite being half a world away as opposed to a few nations (equivalent in distance to a few states for for people in the US) over. But that's just the way it is when you are living in Europe in a country that's not an EU member.

They're all basically the same thing. Some are straight rebadges, some use slightly different boards to better fit whatever the vendor wanted to use them in. Drivers are absolutely identical and you get them from Intel, unless you're a masochist.

Thx. Good to know for next time.