Intel I225-V and network switches

[Joel_w]

Hi,

I’m finally installing wired Ethernet in my home and I have a few 2.5 Gbps capable devices so I want to get a switch that can handle that speed.

However two of the computers have an Intel I225-V version 2 chip and I’ve heard of all the problems they seem to have.

So I’m just wondering if anyone have experience with specific switches and these Intel chips? I’ve heard that they work better with some switches than others, but have not really found any models mentioned.

I’m mainly looking for a five or maybe eight port switch.

 

[degrub]

do you have a use case that can/will saturate 1 Gbit/s lan between two devices on your lan ?
what is your ISP Down/Up ?
If not save some money and just use an inexpensive 1 Gb/s switch until the prices for 10 Gb/s lan equipment becomes cost effective.

 

[Joel_w]

do you have a use case that can/will saturate 1 Gbit/s lan between two devices on your lan ?
what is your ISP Down/Up ?
If not save some money and just use an inexpensive 1 Gb/s switch until the prices for 10 Gb/s lan equipment becomes cost effective.

Yes I do and the goal is to increase the transfer rate on my LAN since my internet connection tops out at 1 Gbps up and down. Of course it's not necessary by any means but while I'm at it I might as well try to at least get the speed up between my computers and NAS a bit.

Around €100 for a switch should be worth it, but I'm trying to avoid having to buy new network cards at the same time.

 

[degrub]

i would buy only low cost and fully returnable. Unless you can find a thread somewhere that says "this worked for me" with same OS, driver, card, and switch.

You could try a reddit topic under intel lan cards or similar. Did you search on the Intel support forums ?

 

[anotherengineer]

Hi,

I’m finally installing wired Ethernet in my home and I have a few 2.5 Gbps capable devices so I want to get a switch that can handle that speed.

However two of the computers have an Intel I225-V version 2 chip and I’ve heard of all the problems they seem to have.

So I’m just wondering if anyone have experience with specific switches and these Intel chips? I’ve heard that they work better with some switches than others, but have not really found any models mentioned.

I’m mainly looking for a five or maybe eight port switch.

Hmm, I'd be wary, I have read that even ver.3 can still have some issues, and I think it's at version 4 now?? I have read that the latest version realtek 2.5Gb chip is pretty good. The Intel i210-T1 is supposed to be good but only 1Gb, but supported to 2035 or something? (regarding Ethernet cards - not too sure regarding switches)

 

[Joel_w]

Thanks, just the kind of answer I was hoping for. I've already looked at the Qnap since it's been recommended for other reasons so I went ahead and ordered one.

Have you gotten it to work reliably at speeds faster than 1 Gbps with your I225-V devices?

I have already checked that I have the latest firmware that Asus has released an updater for, since the chips are on my motherboards. They both run version 1.45 or 1.69 (there are two versions reported in the updater tool). I've seen later versions too but it sounds a bit risky to update to a firmware made for another board. On the other hand, if I don't get it working I will probably have to buy at least one Realtek PCIE card so I might as well risk it.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I can recommend the TRENDnet TEG-S380 V2.0R, low power, small formfactor, decent price and so far it has not missed a beat.
Can't tell you how well it works with the Intel chips though, as I have disabled my onboard Intel i225-V.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I’d recommend checking the latest firmware updates for both your NICs and the switches to ensure the best compatibility and performance. Firmware updates often address many of the issues that arise from chipset incompatibilities.

Dumb switches can in general not be upgraded firmware wise and the only way to upgrade the firmware on an onboard NIC is to upgrade the motherboard UEFI/BIOS.

 

[RMerlin]

I use both a Vimin and a Mokerlink switch on my network. They pretty much all use the same Realtek chips, so I went for a lower priced one. Paying a $100 premium to get something that may or may not work properly with an Intel NIC is a waste of time and money - get a $40 TP-Link PCI-E adapter, and save $100 on the switch itself.

 

[Joel_w]

I use both a Vimin and a Mokerlink switch on my network. They pretty much all use the same Realtek chips, so I went for a lower priced one. Paying a $100 premium to get something that may or may not work properly with an Intel NIC is a waste of time and money - get a $40 TP-Link PCI-E adapter, and save $100 on the switch itself.

Well that's a good point but the difference between the cheapest 2.5 Gbps switch I could find here and the Qnap was only about €40 so it doesn't really matter too much. I'll take a chance and go get a network card or two if I have to.

 

[RMerlin]

Well that's a good point but the difference between the cheapest 2.5 Gbps switch I could find here and the Qnap was only about €40 so it doesn't really matter too much. I'll take a chance and go get a network card or two if I have to.

The price difference is much higher here. On Amazon.ca:

Mokerlink 8 ports: $84 CAD
QNAP 6 ports: $210 CAD

You get fewer ports for more than double the price.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The price difference is much higher here. On Amazon.ca:

Mokerlink 8 ports: $84 CAD
QNAP 6 ports: $210 CAD

You get fewer ports for more than double the price.

Unfortunately a lot of the low cost switches that are readily available in North America, cost as much as more well known brands in Europe.
I picked up my TRENDnet for less than any of the xinese random brand products that Amazon sells here in Sweden.
Yes, you can get some 4+1 port models on the cheap, but I needed eight ports (well, technically more to cover all the outlets) and none of the weirdo brands came close in price. Admittedly QNAP was nowhere in the running when it came to being affordable.

 

[Joel_w]

Ok, if someone googles this in the future I wanted to give an update. Both of my computers with Intel I225-V version 2 NICs seems to work just fine with the QNAP QSW-1105-5T. I'm still in the middle of moving and unpacking so I haven't had a ton of time to play with it but I have been keeping an eye on both of the computers for a week now. Not a single disconnect and I always get a 2.5 Gbps connection.

They're both connected with about 20 meters of Cat 6 cable each, installed by a professional, with a meter or two of Cat 6A patch cables at the ends.

According to iperf3 I get about 2.37 Gbps between these computers and my NAS and my SMB transfers are noticeably quicker than with my old wifi setup (which reached about 1.2 Gbps to the router).

I've done a little bit of testing too to see if I have packet loss problems but I haven't seen any. I can run Pingplotter to the NAS for hours without packet loss and an hour or so of online Doom worked perfectly.