What to look for when buying 2.5 Gbit/s PCI-based network card?

[King Mustard]

The cheapest ones according to skinflint.co.uk are currently:

• £26 Syba SD-PEX24065 (Realtek RTL8125)
• £28 Icy Box IB-LAN300-PCI (Realtek RTL8125B)
• £28 Akasa AK-PCCE25-01 (Realtek RTL8125)
• £30 Trendnet TEG-25GECTX (Realtek RTL8125)
• £35 QNAP QXG-2G1T-I225 (Intel I225-LM)
• £35 DeLOCK 89564 (Realtek RTL8125)
• £49 StarTech ST2GPEX (Realtek RTL8125)

For example, I presume all the RTL8125 cards will be the same, so would go for the cheapest? - or is there more to look for than just the chipset?

 

[Wirko]

Some have a small heatsink on the chip. I'd prefer that. Those are the Trendnet card (37 €), and two more that I found on geizhals.eu (it's the same search engine but it shows all that's available in DE, AT, PL and UK):
- LogiLink PC0087 (23 €)
- Cudy PE25 (26 €) - this one has a scaringly big heatsink
Some cards, among them the Trendnet, have a conspicuous three-phase VRM with quite large inductors, which makes me believe that the chip can get hot:

Also, most seem to have both full height and low profile back plate included, but some may not.

 

[Bill_Bright]

The use of and type heatsink may or may not suggest a better design. A better design "may" use a heatsink to keep the protected high-quality device cool. A lessor design "may" use a heatsink to keep the protected lower-quality device from overheating. Or the use of a particular heatsink might just mean the card maker got a good "volume purchase" discounted deal from the heatsink maker on that particular heatsink.

So without having each card in front of me (to inspect soldering joints, for example), and without knowing full information about the components used, it really is pretty much a guessing game.

The good news is, Ethernet, and 2.5Gbps Ethernet (2.5GBASE-T) are "industry" standards. 2.5Gbps has been around for 6+ years. So no matter who makes the device, it must comply with industry standards and be 100% compatible with all other devices claiming to be 2.5GBASE-T devices. These makers cannot play Dell, HP, or Apple and create their own "proprietary" non-standard method of networking and call the device "2.5GBASE-T".

So, "in theory" you should be able to pull any of them out of a hat and be good to go.

If me, I would not go for the cheapest, or the most expensive. I would probably look in the middle and at the one with the longest warranty. A longer warranty does NOT indicate better quality. But it does suggest the maker has more confidence in their product.

Having said all that, IMO, of MUCH GREATER importance is your network cables. Ethernet cables are cheap, flimsy, easily damaged, often poorly made, but absolutely critically important network devices. For that reason, I always make my own cables.

I make my own for several reasons. Factory made cables rarely go through quality assurance testing before leaving the factory. I always test my cables with an inexpensive but highly efficient, ethernet cable continuity tester like this one. I promise you, testing your cables (self or factory made) before putting them in service can prevent episodes of high blood pressure, strokes, receding hair lines, runaway dogs, and more.

Also, if you pull your own cables through walls, floors and ceilings, doing so before attaching the connector lets you make smaller holes in said walls, floors and ceilings.

"Invest" in quality connectors and a quality crimper. Cheap tools result in cheap, often faulty results. But note quality results also take practice. So be ready to sacrifice a few short cables and a few connectors until you get the hang of it.

Another major reason I make my own is if I need a 17 inch cable to connect my router to my modem, I can make a 17 inch cable instead of having to buy a 3 or 6 foot cable. If I need a 14 foot cable to reach a computer or networked printer, I can make a 14 foot cable instead of having to buy a 25 foot cable.

Another nice thing is you can buy cable in bulk. That's typically much cheaper in the long run. I also use color coded boots to help me identify which cable goes where.

most seem to have both full height and low profile back plate included

This is an excellent point. If you have a low-profile (slim) case, or a standard width case, with both brackets included, you should have no problems securing the installed card.

 

[thewan]

if you are already using any realteks in your current network and they work fine, any one will do. though u may wanna get "brand names" that may use better pcb components and better board/solder quality (everything else besides the network chip itself)
but if this is your first realtek in your network, you might wanna avoid them and go straight for an intel, as realteks are more picky for ethernet cable quality than non realteks.
(i am speaking from experience)

 

[P4-630]

My motherboard came with a 10GbE LAN port, not using it at the moment, only the built in wifi works fine for now, but it's nice it's there if I need it in the near future.

 

[R-T-B]

If you aren't operating it at the full 10gbps mode some of these chips support, pretty much anything with a heatsink will suffice. Heatsinkless designs are best avoided at the multigig level simply because these chips do run hotter.

Honestly though, I wouldn't go for the realtek solutions, but rather one of the i-225v variants, as they run so cool they don't even NEED a heatsink (make sure and get the latest revision though, I'll link one that is):

https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-QXG-2G1T-I225-Single-4-Speed-Network/dp/B08FB83C1H/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3SS2NWLRCCUDX&keywords=i225v+nic&qid=1663429207&refinements=p_89%3AQNAP&rnid=2528832011&s=electronics&sprefix=i225v+nic%2Celectronics%2C106&sr=1-1

Drivers tend to be better intel side for NICs. That one also comes with full size bracket.

 

[phill]

The question I'd ask is, what is your network switch back bone speed - i.e. if your switch is a 1Gb, then its pointless looking at some 2.5Gb cards. Your still only going to get a 1Gb. Unless you just have two machines, make sure your switch will go faster. I think there might be some cheaper industrial kit out there to be honest, I've been picking up 10Gb network cards, dual port, for about £50 posted from Ebay. Combine together, 20Gb connection, bam!! Just remember to make sure your drive speed performance is faster than the network speed. It's amazing to me now, thinking that a SATA SSD that's 500MB/sec+ is still not enough when it comes to feeding even 5Gb network. My 10Gb network at home I have to use with NVME drives, all I wish'd I'd done now is get bigger NVME drives lol

My 10Gb cards can get warm, so make sure you do have some sort of air flow over them. I had a Supermicro card that had a fan on it and that thing wasn't quiet, so I put them in the servers downstairs. I have some passive cards now but they do warm up, a little air flow goes a long way Thought I'd mention it since @R-T-B said about the 2.5Gb cards not needing heatsinks

 

[R-T-B]

Thought I'd mention it since @R-T-B said about the 2.5Gb cards not needing heatsinks

Most do, some don't. The Intel Foxville 2.5gbps controllers are on the cooler side.

I imagine you are talking old enterprise cards ala the Intel X540-T2. Great cards, use one in my server. Definitely on the hotter side though. And some lack sub 10G speeds. Airflow with them anyways, is a must.

 

[phill]

Most do, some don't. The Intel Foxville 2.5gbps controllers are on the cooler side.

I imagine you are talking old enterprise cards ala the Intel X540-T2. Great cards, use one in my server. Definitely on the hotter side though. And some lack sub 10G speeds. Airflow with them anyways, is a must.

After all, its built for a server that has 6 or so 80mm thick delta's blasting at the hardware inside I'm glad I have them, they work rather well, just a shame the ones with a fan are noisy really

 

[Athlonite]

are those your only choices I see nothing from Marvel in that list I'd look for AQR107 or the newer AQR113~113c 10Gbps cards as they're capable of 10/100/1000/2.5G/5G/10G connections

 

[KLiKzg]

The cheapest ones according to skinflint.co.uk are currently:

• £26 Syba SD-PEX24065 (Realtek RTL8125)
• £28 Icy Box IB-LAN300-PCI (Realtek RTL8125B)
• £28 Akasa AK-PCCE25-01 (Realtek RTL8125)
• £30 Trendnet TEG-25GECTX (Realtek RTL8125)
• £35 QNAP QXG-2G1T-I225 (Intel I225-LM)
• £35 DeLOCK 89564 (Realtek RTL8125)
• £49 StarTech ST2GPEX (Realtek RTL8125)

For example, I presume all the RTL8125 cards will be the same, so would go for the cheapest? - or is there more to look for than just the chipset?

Lets talk about BOTTLENECK & that is PCIe. In order to have 2,5Gbs, you have to have PCIe v2 (500MBs) or greater on your motherboard. Do you have that?

If you do, then only 4 cards from the list have stated that they do support v2 or greater:
1. Akasa, v2 or v3: https://www.akasa.co.uk/search.php?seed=AK-PCCE25-01
2. Trendnet, v2: https://www.trendnet.com/products/wired/2.5GBASE-T-PCIe-Network-Adapter-TEG-25GECTX
3. QNAP, v2: https://www.qnap.com/en/product/qxg-2g1t-i225/specs/hardware
4. DeLOCK, v2.1: https://www.delock.com/produkt/89564/merkmale.html
I am not saying that they do not support those standards. Only that is NOT WRITTEN on web, what they support.

& it would be stupid to get v1 card with 2,5Gbs throughput of 312,5MBs, only to have a limit of 250MBs on v1 PCIe.

Hope this helps.

 

[Calenhad]

Lets talk about BOTTLENECK & that is PCIe. In order to have 2,5Gbs, you have to have PCIe v2 (500MBs) or greater on your motherboard. Do you have that?

If you do, then only 4 cards from the list have stated that they do support v2 or greater:
1. Akasa, v2 or v3: https://www.akasa.co.uk/search.php?seed=AK-PCCE25-01
2. Trendnet, v2: https://www.trendnet.com/products/wired/2.5GBASE-T-PCIe-Network-Adapter-TEG-25GECTX
3. QNAP, v2: https://www.qnap.com/en/product/qxg-2g1t-i225/specs/hardware
4. DeLOCK, v2.1: https://www.delock.com/produkt/89564/merkmale.html
I am not saying that they do not support those standards. Only that is NOT WRITTEN on web, what they support.

& it would be stupid to get v1 card with 2,5Gbs throughput of 312,5MBs, only to have a limit of 250MBs on v1 PCIe.

Hope this helps.

Luckily you need to look long and hard to find a pcie 1.x spec motherboard today.

Regarding pcie spec support on the nics. Looks like the chipsets are directly connected to pcie, so the supported speed is determined by the chipset, not the "adapter" card.

 

[Mussels]

If you have choices with the same chipset, i'd get the ones with better cooling
I wouldnt use the heatsink/cooling to judge different chipsets to each other, as one may simply be colder running in general

QNAP run a lot of NAS hardware, so you could assume theres would be designed for that sort of 24/7 always running environment


I did a simple google search with both model names aaaand we had a thread on this exact same thing in 2020
Realtek 8125B 2.5G vs. Intel Gigabit? | TechPowerUp Forums

which had links to someones testing in 2019
Quick comparison, 1Gbps, 2.5Gbps, 5Gbps, 10Gbps Ethernet | TechPowerUp Forums


They seem to be pretty equal competitors. I can't find any definitive issues on one or the other, just assumptions about prior versions and driver stability - but looking at how intel flopped their GPU drivers at launch, any assumptions on driver superiority from the past need to be reassessed

 

[R-T-B]

but looking at how intel flopped their GPU drivers at launch, any assumptions on driver superiority from the past need to be reassessed

NIC drivers and gpu drivers are quite different animals. Intels NIC drivers are amongst the best in the industy, cpu overhead wise. Not sure how relevant that is today though, given a potato PC could probably run a gigabit NIC without breaking a sweat, and 2.5gbps isnt that huge of a leap from there.

 

[Mussels]

NIC drivers and gpu drivers are quite different animals. Intels NIC drivers are amongst the best in the industy, cpu overhead wise. Not sure how relevant that is today though, given a potato PC could probably run a gigabit NIC without breaking a sweat, and 2.5gbps isnt that huge of a leap from there.

I'm saying you cant blindly choose a brand as a whole as a method to judge a single product, judge it on its own merits

In this case, no ones talking about them which means they're probably boring and reliable for the intel and the realtek

 

[R-T-B]

In this case, no ones talking about them

I was attempting to. The intel Foxville chips tend to run cooler, as I said. At least if you grab a non flawed one (the early revisions had issues with it's acceleration components).

 

[Ware]

• 35 QNAP QXG-2G1T-I225 (Intel I225-LM)

Regarding the Intel I225, be aware that V1 and V2 revisions contain a defect that can limit them 1Gbps.
TPU covered it, and Intel's specification update says it is fixed in V3. I225-LM V3 chips will have the SPEC Code SLNNJ, or SLNNH.
I've got no idea if V1's and V2's are still circulating.
Beyond the defect affect V1 and V2, is the fact that my I225-V V2 cannot even reach 1Gbps. There are also some reports of this with I219-V.
Intel NIC's have always been good to me, but all this has me looking at 8125 NIC's for myself.

 

[R-T-B]

Regarding the Intel I225, be aware that V1 and V2 revisions contain a defect that can limit them 1Gbps.

Yes and the QNAP we've been advising is V3. It's the reason I called it out in particular.

 

[chrcoluk]

Pretty pricey, still in two minds on replacing my onboard realtek, downloaded a steam game on it and it proceeded to almost max out my entire 13700k on all cores, crazy utilisation. Doing the same thing on an old pcie intel is under 5% kernel usage (almost 15x less). As I understand it the LM part doesnt have the defect?

 

[Dr. Dro]

I imagine you are talking old enterprise cards ala the Intel X540-T2. Great cards, use one in my server. Definitely on the hotter side though. And some lack sub 10G speeds. Airflow with them anyways, is a must.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I looked it up, these X540-T2 cards are unbelievably cheap on AliExpress. $20 for an HP spare! There's even one listing for $75 on a brand new package, unused with free express worldwide shipping... that's amazing. I gotta budget this into my next upgrade

Pretty pricey, still in two minds on replacing my onboard realtek, downloaded a steam game on it and it proceeded to almost max out my entire 13700k on all cores, crazy utilisation. Doing the same thing on an old pcie intel is under 5% kernel usage (almost 15x less). As I understand it the LM part doesnt have the defect?

All of the i225 series have some problems, even the i226 (which is essentially an i225 v4) is a bit buggy. The -V and -LM are the same hardware, the -V is consumer-grade and the -LM is commercial-grade. I think there's a slight difference in driver functionality but they should otherwise be relatively identical.

PSA: Intel I226-V 2.5GbE on Raptor Lake Motherboards Has a Connection Drop Issue: No Fix Available

The Intel Ethernet i226-V onboard 2.5 GbE controller appears to have a design flaw that causes the Ethernet connection to drop at random times for a few seconds. The I226-V is the latest version of Intel's cost-effective 2.5 Gbps Ethernet networking chips meant for PC motherboards with chipsets...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Assimilator]

I really, really hope that you meant "PCIe" in the title.

 

[TheLostSwede]

NIC drivers and gpu drivers are quite different animals. Intels NIC drivers are amongst the best in the industy, cpu overhead wise. Not sure how relevant that is today though, given a potato PC could probably run a gigabit NIC without breaking a sweat, and 2.5gbps isnt that huge of a leap from there.

If only their 2.5 Gbps NICs were as good as their drivers, as they are still having disconnect issues. Had to stick my 10 Gbps card into my new build, as the i225-V controller hates my router and keeps dropping the connection at random.

 

[King Mustard]

I really, really hope that you meant "PCie" in the title.

No

But really, yes. Oops.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Cheapest RTL8125 is ok.

Steer away from Intel 225v. Even if V3 silicon, rarely who updates fw for those and bugs still prevail.

 

[R-T-B]

If only their 2.5 Gbps NICs were as good as their drivers, as they are still having disconnect issues. Had to stick my 10 Gbps card into my new build, as the i225-V controller hates my router and keeps dropping the connection at random.

When I wrote that post, I'm not sure the foxville snafu had even happened yet (or at least wasn't widespread knowledge). That said, true.

Even if V3 silicon, rarely who updates fw for those and bugs still prevail.

I dunno, I've been using a v3 as my routers WAN port on a multigig internet connection. No issues? But it's certainly a crapshoot yeah. But as far as I'm aware the v3 225v is actually ok.