Maverick009
Senior Member
I have been looking at a quad 2.5G NIC, using the i225 chip. Anyone try this card? For about $76 I am tempted to grab it.
I have a dual Realtek 2.5G card sitting to the side right now. I can definitely get your point, but the i225 chipset has had firmware updates and newer drivers that pretty much fix the issues it launched with as I have a couple motherboards including my highend Asus X670e cross hair hero board with integrated Intel i225 that works well now.I would avoid those as the plague, as the i225 chips have some serious bugs. The onboard i225 on my motherboards kept having disconnects from the network at random when I tested it. Luckily I don't use it, as I'm on 10 Gbps, but I wanted to give it a try, but it was a no go.
For 2.5 Gbps, Realtek is the only choice when it comes to add-in cards.
None of that truly fixed the issue, I tested this less than six months ago. I have a Gigabyte X670E board.
It's a hardware design flaw, which can't be fixed via firmware or drivers.
Older Realtek 2.5 Gbps hardware also have some issues.
I have an X550-T2 stuffed in my pfSense router and very happy with that. Works like a charm. I am actually building a new router now based on an X10SDV-4C-TN2F and am looking at an X710-T2L for that. Available overhere for about 270 Euro.I honestly haven't had an issue with the chipsets....However, I might hold off on even purchasing it as I caught an Intel X550-X2 Dual 10G card between $139-194 and picking it up for that price.
Yeah I have been eyeing a few network upgrades that if all works out may be all implemented by End of year to early next year. I have a new Netgear CM2000 modem with a single 2.5G Jack that will replace my CM1200 modem that I found for a good price new. I am going to pickup an Intel X550-T2 card soon. That is the short-term updates and will go good with my Opnsense router (been a couple years and made the switch over recently running 27.1.5 as of today). I am actually looking at upgrading to WiFi7 with the TP-Link EAP783 AP and adding a 24-Port 2.5G POE Switch with 4 10G SFP+ ports which is the bigger project that may happen by end of this year.I have an X550-T2 stuffed in my pfSense router and very happy with that. Works like a charm. I am actually building a new router now based on an X10SDV-4C-TN2F and am looking at an X710-T2L for that. Available overhere for about 270 Euro.
Yeah I have been eyeing a few network upgrades that if all works out may be all implemented by End of year to early next year. I have a new Netgear CM2000 modem with a single 2.5G Jack that will replace my CM1200 modem that I found for a good price new. I am going to pickup an Intel X550-T2 card soon. That is the short-term updates and will go good with my Opnsense router (been a couple years and made the switch over recently running 27.1.5 as of today). I am actually looking at upgrading to WiFi7 with the TP-Link EAP783 AP and adding a 24-Port 2.5G POE Switch with 4 10G SFP+ ports which is the bigger project that may happen by end of this year.
I would avoid those as the plague, as the i225 chips have some serious bugs. The onboard i225 on my motherboards kept having disconnects from the network at random when I tested it. Luckily I don't use it, as I'm on 10 Gbps, but I wanted to give it a try, but it was a no go.
For 2.5 Gbps, Realtek is the only choice when it comes to add-in cards.
If one wants to stay in the intel fold, anything based on the X550 chipset is good - they are N-Base-T, which is good up to 10 gigabit over copper - not sure how they would work on Windows clients (WinServer shouldn't be a problem) and Linux support is good with newer distributions and kernels...
So, are you saying 10gig NIC drivers are not in Windows 11? You have to buy server. Can you load the drivers? I want to use a Windows 11 PC as a NAS with a 10gig NIC.
The Intel NICs will work with Windows clients including Windows 11. The usual difference between client and server for Windows is the amount of concurrent users allowed. On WIndows, at least before 11, a maximum of 10 could download/uploads were allowed where as Server was unlimited based on hardware.So, are you saying 10gig NIC drivers are not in Windows 11? You have to buy server. Can you load the drivers? I want to use a Windows 11 PC as a NAS with a 10gig NIC.
I have a Dell Broadcom 10gig NIC I thought I would use in my new Dell PC for my NAS. I was hoping it would update the Microcode when Dell scanned it. I guess I could use my Intel x540-T2 if I had to. I will have to buy another 10gig NIC.
So I did make a decision to get an Intel X550-T2 card. Part of the fast track decision was due to my Intel X540-T2 was having problems and cannot tell yet if the card went bad. All I know is my gaming PC that connects to an unmanaged 2.5G POE switch with a 10G SFP+ connection going to the X540-T2 card was having issues and specifically causing server timeout errors on EA's server when playing BF2042 as I am sure that was saturated the connection enough. I thought it was EA, but once I moved my connection from the 2.5G unmanaged switch to my bigger 24P managed TP-Link managed switch all issues went away.
I am thinking to move the X540 to another PC and test the connections out. It may just be a bigger problem with my custom Opnsense router and the FreeBSD Kernel. I am thinking also if Opnsense/Pfsense and the FreeBSD kernel they are based off of with the drivers are the issue, I will see it after I slide this X550-T2 card in as well.
I don't necessarily think it is the module. It supports multiple switches and states it works with Intel cards with the X550 listed and the X540 should work. I will be doing more testing and should know once the cards are switched if it is the card or not as well.Whose 10G SFP+ mini gbic module, are you using in your 2.5G switch? It might be that. I have not tried my X540-T2 yet. It is still sitting on my desk as it just came in. I need a couple for my mini gbic modules for my Cisco switch. I may buy Cisco or Intel. I have not researched it. I have 2 10gig RJ45 copper ports on my switch but if I want to use 4 ports then I need a couple.
Good to hear about the Windows 11 drivers. I figured you could load them if nothing else.
The Intel X710-T2L is the latest 10gig copper card. But I don't know if there is support in FreeBSD 14. There is in FreeBSD 15 but you have to run Pfsense.
Thread starter | Title | Forum | Replies | Date |
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J | Intel I225-V and network switches | Switches, NICs and cabling | 12 |
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