Hi,
Does anyone have recommendations regarding a good Intel 2.5 GbE NIC? I have an old PC with an Intel I7 7700 and was hoping to as a 2.5 Gb card in it. And if you know of any good Realtek ones to use, would you be able to share any links?
Thanks much!
Marin
Depends on what software you are trying to run.
I am wanting to use it on Windows 11.
I prefer Intel NICs since they seem to have less firmware issues from my experience.
I do as well, I just don’t know what brand to go with when I look on Amazon/ebay. Also, have read that some people prefer i226-V instead of I225 ones due to prior issues but I am not sure if they are still relevant now.
Appreciate it if you have any product links you would be willing to share.
thanks!
Not much experience with a 2.5gbit NIC here. I am using one in my workstation. Upgraded from W10 to W11 without any issue. This NIC is using an Intel I225 chipset. Paid €45,94 (with shipping) for it 1 1/2 year ago.
Not much to say about it. Works without any issue for now. Windows is showing speeds up to 280MB per second.
FYI: Uptimed® | 2.5G Workstation RJ45 Netwerkkaart (In Dutch)
This may be more money than you want to spend, but it will future proof you pretty well. It is a 10gb card that is backward compatible with 5gbe, 2.5 gbe and 1gbe. I stuck one in my Synology DS-1621+ nd I really couldn’t be happier with it. Food for thought.
Great! Thank you for the link!
There are Intel x710 on eBay for cheaper, you might need to buy an SFP+ style and put a twisted pair module it it. But that will still be cheaper than that New egg card.
Are you sure? I see the cards for ~40, but the SFP+ modules are $35-40 each. The intel X550 card was only $115. Seems to me the cost is the same either way. Plus with the X550 there are no concerns about module compatibility or heat generation from the modules.
The x550 card I saw was $400+.
Pretty sure there are some x710 twisted pair cards out there, you lose the ability to go DAC or optical in the future.
I’ve had good luck with a couple of Intel I225-T1 PCIx network adapter cards. I put one in my Supermicro / Xeon based TrueNAS system and the other in a Dell Windows 10 (now Windows 11) tower.
And looking on Amazon I see that there is now an I226-T1 version of this card available…
Thank you! Are you able to share the link of the product you are looking at?
For the I225-T1:
For the I226-T1:
I noticed the I225-T1 is now shown as “used” inventory only since it has been superseded by the I226-T1. If your system has the necessary drivers to support the I226 chip, I myself would choose that NIC.
Nice. Thanks so much!
Sometimes you can find the i225 and i226 on ebay for a cheap price if you only need a single port. I’ve seen some dual port cards, but they can be few and far between.
Also note that if you have an a+e slot for a wifi card, and you don’t need it, you can get i226-v cards to go in that slot. All of my lab HP T740 have had the wifi removed and replaced with i226-v cards. Took some hot glue to mount the connector, and a little cutting of the back shell, but it works. I’ve only used these with gigabit so far, and probably won’t change that in the near future (next paragraph).
And all that said, most of my needs are now 10g, and with either DAC or optical. Or dropping back down to gigabit with POE+ or higher power. I recently upgraded an old Cisco 2960s with 10g and POE+ for an Extreme 5420m with 25g, and 48 gigabit with up to 90 watts per port POE++, included dual 900 watt power supplies. Absolutely a killer deal compared to the cost, and it was brand new in box, no warranty or support contract, but upgrading firmware is the same as Cisco, got to find a person that knows a person… I’m still trying to work on this with the manufacturer, would be nice to register as a lab user and still be able to get firmware without paying a support contract, or paying a reduced contract if it was reasonable. These companies don’t understand that lab can turn into millions of dollars of production equipment. Our last upgrade at work was around $1.4 million for a complete switch upgrade and 5 years of support.