2.5 GbE cards

[DanceswithUnix]

Anyone here played with one of these?

Was looking for a network card for the second interface on my new server, and noticed the Realtek 2.5GbE controller that you get on some of the recent motherboards is available on a card for £30.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/2-5GBase-...dp/B07Y2GWVB8/

Not quite impulse purchase money given I would need two to play with, and I can't find any info on whether they work in Centos 8 Linux. So I went with an Intel 210 GbE card instead, but must admit I was tempted to try one.

[ik9000]

I've got both on my mobo and both play nicely so far. I'm even using old drivers so they work with win7 and all seems well

[iggy]

Results may vary. I've got realtek 2.5 on my x570 motherboard and it's up and down like a yoyo. I literally can't play online with it. intel nic is rock solid though.

[ik9000]

Results may vary. I've got realtek 2.5 on my x570 motherboard and it's up and down like a yoyo. I literally can't play online with it. intel nic is rock solid though.

what board and which drivers out of interest?

[iggy]

what board and which drivers out of interest?

MSI Unify, pretty much every set of drivers I could find, including the ones that came with the board. All power settings for the onboard disabled, and every other setting I could find that might make a difference finagled. No difference.

For the price of the board in ops post, I was going to suggest something like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mellanox-...P/132546881750 but the cheap 10gb rj45 Transceivers seem to have dried up

[ik9000]

MSI Unify, pretty much every set of drivers I could find, including the ones that came with the board. All power settings for the onboard disabled, and every other setting I could find that might make a difference finagled. No difference.

For the price of the board in ops post, I was going to suggest something like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mellanox-...P/132546881750 but the cheap 10gb rj45 Transceivers seem to have dried up

ok I've got the ACE so pretty much the same circuitry. Let me see which version I'm using as I downloaded a realtek version for win7 use and it's been fine. Didn't notice any issues in 10 either.

[ik9000]

ok I've got the ACE so pretty much the same circuitry. Let me see which version I'm using as I downloaded a realtek version for win7 use and it's been fine. Didn't notice any issues in 10 either.

the win7 version is from the zip file from the realtek site 7130_03232020 for 8125, 8111 and works fine including long periods of LAN gaming.
The win10 version is from the zip file msi version w10_10.38.1118.2019 and I haven't noticed any problems (not tried any gaming sessions)

[hammy434]

I've got the Realtek 8125B on mine, seems to work well, I think the normal 8125 does have issues though.

Intel's 2.5G I225-V has had issues on earlier revisions (B1/B2) which are still being shipped on some motherboards fixed in B3, but no way of knowing what you get till you have it and check.

[Spreadie]

Most of the Aquantia NBASE-T cards seem well supported in Linux these days.

For the price of the board in ops post, I was going to suggest something like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mellanox-...P/132546881750 but the cheap 10gb rj45 Transceivers seem to have dried up

Yeah, cheap RJ45 10G modules are increasingly rare - I got my first one for about £40 and the next one cost me £60, just weeks later.

Depending on distance, DAC might be a better option for SFP, although if you go with MM fibre you can find cheap 10G SFP modules - I picked up a few for around £10 each about a year ago. Fibre presents it's own problems with cable routing, mind.

To the OP, if you're sticking with 2.5G, USB dongles are an option - although 5G isn't really worth it on USB because all the dongles are USB 3.1 Gen1 (regardless of Type A or C) so they cap out at 5G and, after a bit of overhead, you'll probably see 3.5G on average - not worth the premium over the 2.5G models.

[DanceswithUnix]

To the OP, if you're sticking with 2.5G, USB dongles are an option - although 5G isn't really worth it on USB because all the dongles are USB 3.1 Gen1 (regardless of Type A or C) so they cap out at 5G and, after a bit of overhead, you'll probably see 3.5G on average - not worth the premium over the 2.5G models.

Ta, but this is quite a thread resurrection and I've moved on
At the time I ended up with an Intel based 1GbE card because I wanted that machine to act as a PTP server. An odd requirement that I needed at the time because I work on measurement products and needed hardware PTP support for high precision even if the time accuracy was only going to be as good as a cheap GPS unit.

Since then, my wife's recent PC upgrade came with an 8125B based 2.5GbE network port on the Asus motherboard. It is plugged into a 1GbE switch, so has no advantage so far, but it seems OK.
At work I have been playing with Mellanox 25GbE cards. Now those are two port and something like £250 before you get the SFPs to plug in, but that's a handy bump in speed from 1Gb. Switches are crippling for a home user, but I could probably get away with a couple of cards in a motherboard with an Athlon 3000G running pfsense for a high speed backbone. I couldn't afford that myself, but if work stumps up for the cards it might be possible.

[Spreadie]

Bah, didn't spot the posting date.

[iggy]

Oh, haha. Neither did I.

[DanceswithUnix]

Not the worst thread resurrection we've had on here I'm sure, some useful info was added