PCIe Network Card Recommendations?

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Snowy

Slightly less n00b
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Hi all,
Upgrading my Internet to 5Gb/s tomorrow :D However, I realized my Ethernet port on my B550 motherboard tops out at 2.5Gb/s. Anyone have any recommendations for a PCIe network card? I'm not sure what the current state is on network cards... Last time I remember reading a review of one it was for the Bigfoot Killer NIC card :D

thanks


edit
thinking about maybe ordering something from Server Supply: https://www.serversupply.com/NETWORKING/NETWORK ADAPTER/10 GIGABIT/

I have this Asus B550 with a few pcie 3 x1 lanes and an open pcie 4 x16.
 
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I don't have any recommendations... kind of need an SFP that supports 5 gig before I consider upgrading my service to 5 gig. They are offering it to me for JUST 20 bucks more a month over my 2.5 gig I have now...
 
If you want to go datacenter-grade, I wouldn't use anything lower than an X550 - the X540 and below need cooling:

For something new, Realtek's cards seem to be reliable with the usual caveats of slightly higher CPU utilization than say an Intel or Aquantia solution:

Aquantia's current AQC-113 does multi-gig up to 10Gbit, might find a more reputable OEM and vendor, link for example:
 
LazyGamer said:
If you want to go datacenter-grade, I wouldn't use anything lower than an X550 - the X540 and below need cooling:

For something new, Realtek's cards seem to be reliable with the usual caveats of slightly higher CPU utilization than say an Intel or Aquantia solution:

Aquantia's current AQC-113 does multi-gig up to 10Gbit, might find a more reputable OEM and vendor, link for example:
Click to expand...
Very helpful post, thank you. I've decided to purchase the Intel X550. It seems like the card has been around the block a time or two and generally seems to have favorable reviews. I'm purchasing new from Mouser: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Intel/X550T2?qs=gt1LBUVyoHn5EuxqxsnoEw== since I found they're local to the DFW area, so I should be able to get it relatively quick.

It's kind of interesting going through this upgrade. You quickly realize that most of your electronics that have hardwire connections top out at 1Gb/s, if that. I can totally see why people don't think faster Internet is worth it -- You can't use it! E.g. my brand new Thinkpad P14s which has an Ryzen AI Pro 7 does have RJ45 port (increasingly rare on laptops), but it can only support 10/100/1000 speeds.
 
Snowy said:
Very helpful post, thank you. I've decided to purchase the Intel X550. It seems like the card has been around the block a time or two and generally seems to have favorable reviews. I'm purchasing new from Mouser: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Intel/X550T2?qs=gt1LBUVyoHn5EuxqxsnoEw== since I found they're local to the DFW area, so I should be able to get it relatively quick.

It's kind of interesting going through this upgrade. You quickly realize that most of your electronics that have hardwire connections top out at 1Gb/s, if that. I can totally see why people don't think faster Internet is worth it -- You can't use it! E.g. my brand new Thinkpad P14s which has an Ryzen AI Pro 7 does have RJ45 port (increasingly rare on laptops), but it can only support 10/100/1000 speeds.
Click to expand...
Honestly short of enthusiests like us, very few people make use of a gigabit connection let alone multi gig.

Multi gig is great for small businesses or equivalent traffic. Going big business you need a beefier device to support multiple network ports running at the same time at full throttle. Many Nat'd IP's and even VIP's and such as well as a more robust security solution than can be offered.

What bothers me is that Doctors offices still use commercial grade internet that is just crap from vendors like Comcast. Guys get yourself a 5 gig fiber connection and a IT pro to set up a good enterprise router and you'll be set. Most of your connections to transport HIPPA compliant data are using VPN anyway, and largely bypassing the security features of the commercial router in the first place. Sigh...
 
Snowy said:
It's kind of interesting going through this upgrade. You quickly realize that most of your electronics that have hardwire connections top out at 1Gb/s, if that. I can totally see why people don't think faster Internet is worth it -- You can't use it! E.g. my brand new Thinkpad P14s which has an Ryzen AI Pro 7 does have RJ45 port (increasingly rare on laptops), but it can only support 10/100/1000 speeds.
Click to expand...
It's not because 1 device can't do more then 1Gb/s that faster connections are useless, if you have a lot of heavy users in you household everyone get's decent speeds on their device.

I had a 300 Mb/s connection until recently, my provider upgraded all their 250/300 Mb/s customers to 500 Mb/s for no extra cost nut they did stop the use of digicorders and TV via cable, all TV is now internet based. and is recorded on their servers iso locally.

Max I can get is 1Gb/s unless someone decides to put fiber in my area iso cable.
 
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