Best 10GbE NIC

[PenguinMaster]

Who makes the best 10GbE NIC for windows 10?

 

I’ve seen good things about these:

 

>ASUS XG-C100C

>TP-Link TX401

>10GTek X540-10G-2T-X8

>Intel X540-T2

>ipolex X540-10G-2T

 

Which have you guys had luck with? I want the best out of box experience.

[tkitch]

intel makes damned solid NICs.

 

Caveat:  10GBit is annoying as hell.  Enjoy burning money.

[mariushm]

Manufacturer is less important, the "chipset" manufacturer matters more.

x540 chipset is made by Intel ... it's solid, but usually expensive.

The Asus card has Aquantia chipset, it's ok but from what i heard, the chip gets quite hot.

 

There's also the option of buying older SFP+ cards and using RJ45 to SFP+ transceivers if you must use ethernet cable.

Lots of cards with Intel or Broadcom chipsets that have SFP+ ports.

 

For example:

Solarflare SFN6122F Dual-Port SFP+ 10GbE PCI-E High Profile Server Adapter Card

Solarflare SFN7122F Flareon Ultra 2-Port 10GbE PCIe 3.0 Server I/OAdapter 0GVRR7

 

RJ45 transceivers used to be cheaper, now they're around 35-50$. 

 

But you can get a DAC cable (up to around 3-5 meters) or regular 10gbps transceivers for around 10-15$ and then use a basic lc-lc fiber cable as long as you want it.

 

DAC cables : https://www.fs.com/de-en/c/10g-sfp-dac-1114

AOC cables: https://www.fs.com/de-en/c/10g-sfp-aoc-2689 (like DAC but longer lengths, basically 2 transceivers + fiber, can be cheaper than buying separately)

 

ex transceiver : https://unixsurplus.com/brocade-57-0000075-01-10ge-sr-sfp-sw-transceiver/

or https://unixsurplus.com/new-finisar-ftlx8571d3bcl-10gb-sr-sw-10gb-s-sfp-optic-quanta-lb6m-lb4m-lb8/

 

LC-LC fiber (choose length) : LC-LC OM4 Multimode Fibre Patch Lead, Duplex Jumper 3m - FS Germany

 

 

 

[DogKnight]

I use a couple cards. Got an Intel X550-T1 and X550-T2. Both work perfectly. 

Also have a TP Link TX401. Works fine but requires drivers to be downloaded before it will be useable by Windows. So you'll need to use an onboard NIC to kick off Windows update. 

The Intel ones work out of the box without needing to download extra drivers. Also works with ESXI without needing to customize an install package if that's of use.