10gbe over Thunderbolt 3?

[spadz93]

Just finished running Cat6a thru the home i'm moving into. Currently trying to find a way to run 10gbe to an ITX-based machine that already has a GPU installed, so pci-e is out of the question. All the thunderbolt 3 to 10gbe RJ45 boxes seem to have really dodgy reviews, but the SFP+ ones seem to be better. I don't mind getting a transceiver to assist with that, but was hoping I could get some more first-hand experience from members here who have tried things that have/haven't worked so I can make a more informed decision on what to purchase.

[jaslion]

Got some fast usb on there? If you got 10Gb/s usb then that can work.

 

Any reason you need such fast internet or is it just because you can? If it's the latter just leave it be nothing wrong with "just" Gigabit.

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, jaslion said:

Got some fast usb on there? If you got 10Gb/s usb then that can work.

 

Any reason you need such fast internet or is it just because you can? If it's the latter just leave it be nothing wrong with "just" Gigabit.

There are no 10Gbit USB adapters on the market and even if there were that's still 10Gbit in one direction at a time + overheads.  Frustratingly there aren't even 5Gbit USB 3.1 Gen 2 adapters, the current ones on the market are Gen 1 and top out at 3.6Gbit due to overheads - its what I use on my ITX system.

 

Another problem is 10Gbit over copper uses a lot of power, it would probably work over fibre but I don't think USB has enough current for copper.

I did find one other option, if your board has two M.2 slots you can sacrifice one with an M.2 to PCIe adapter.

 

To make matters worse still, Windows Update has borked all my PCs network speeds at some point.  I noticed none of them can do over 2-3Gbit up and the one machine with 10Gbit can only do 7Gbit down.  Boot into Linux and they get line rate no problem (except the limitation mentioned above on the 5Gbit adapter).

[spadz93]

5 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

There are no 10Gbit USB adapters on the market and even if there were that's still 10Gbit in one direction at a time + overheads.  Frustratingly there aren't even 5Gbit USB 3.1 Gen 2 adapters, the current ones on the market are Gen 1 and top out at 3.6Gbit due to overheads - its what I use on my ITX system.

 

Another problem is 10Gbit over copper uses a lot of power, it would probably work over fibre but I don't think USB has enough current for copper.

I did find one other option, if your board has two M.2 slots you can sacrifice one with an M.2 to PCIe adapter.

 

To make matters worse still, Windows Update has borked all my PCs network speeds at some point.  I noticed none of them can do over 2-3Gbit up and the one machine with 10Gbit can only do 7Gbit down.  Boot into Linux and they get line rate no problem (except the limitation mentioned above on the 5Gbit adapter).

I haven't fully dismissed the thought of pulling one of the ethernet lines out of that room and replacing it with fiber, but was hoping that there existed a simpler solution that didn't involve running another cable to that room. I'm not against trying out one of those m.2 adapters and getting a pcie card, but would just have to get creative with a mounting solution

[whispous]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/OWC-Thunderbolt-Ethernet-Adapter-OWCTB3ADP10GBE/dp/B07K7SMF89

 

They do exist! As stated above, might not do 10gigabit in both directions simultaneously, but given you're not asking to use this in a server to server or datacentre environment, how much of a big deal would that be anyway?

[Lurick]

I've personally used this one with an Intel NUC and had no problems with 10Gbit:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KTLP44W/

[Alex Atkin UK]

5 hours ago, whispous said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/OWC-Thunderbolt-Ethernet-Adapter-OWCTB3ADP10GBE/dp/B07K7SMF89

 

They do exist! As stated above, might not do 10gigabit in both directions simultaneously, but given you're not asking to use this in a server to server or datacentre environment, how much of a big deal would that be anyway?

That's Thunderbolt not USB.  I realise the topic was Thunderbolt but it seemed people went on to discuss USB solutions which do not exist.

Thunderbolt of course work fine as they are simply a way of sending standard PCIe over a cable.

[jasonvp]

On 5/1/2021 at 3:55 PM, spadz93 said:

All the thunderbolt 3 to 10gbe RJ45 boxes seem to have really dodgy reviews, but the SFP+ ones seem to be better.

I have the CalDigit Tbolt3-to-10Gig unit and it works wonderfully with my Macbook Pro.  I'd assume it works fine with Windows on a PC, but have no experience with that.  It does get a wee bit toasty; the entire shell is its heat sink.  But I can, via iperf, get 10G speeds through it.

[spadz93]

Seems like the general consensus is that they run hot, and like anything else, things run better when they're cooled. Maybe I can affix a small usb fan onto one so that it dissipates heat better.

[Alex Atkin UK]

4 hours ago, spadz93 said:

Seems like the general consensus is that they run hot, and like anything else, things run better when they're cooled. Maybe I can affix a small usb fan onto one so that it dissipates heat better.

They are generally built as one big heatsink, I don't think its a problem if the one you get is a nice chunky metal unit.  I'd be wary of USB fans as they usually have no protection so if it failed dead short it could fry the USB controller on the motherboard.

[jasonvp]

15 hours ago, spadz93 said:

and like anything else, things run better when they're cooled.

That's not really true in this case.  I just included included the "warm" bit so you're fully aware of what you're getting into.  You won't burn yourself touching it, for instance.  The shell of the CalDigit I have can hit maybe high 30s/low 40s* C.  But even at those temps, it works fine.