Reddit reviews ASUS XG-C100C 10G Network Adapter Pci-E X4 Card with Single RJ-45 Port

Oddly specific of a post I know. But I recall some talk about the lack of heatsinks on the Aquantia NICs from the Black Friday deal. I just received mine and wanted to show, it does have one.

Info on them: https://www.anandtech.com/show/11368/aquantia-launch-aqtion-5g25g1g-nics

EDIT I think this is the current cheapest variant of the Aquantia 10G ($99): https://www.amazon.com/XG-C100C-Network-Adapter-PCI-E-Single/dp/B072N84DG6


BTW, noob question, but what exactly is Direct Access Cache on a NIC? What should it be set to? Any benefit to the other options? Mine is set to "Legacy Descriptor" by default. The other options are: DCA 1.0 Descriptor, DCA 1.0 Packet Header, DCA 1.0 Packet Payload, Disabled, Legacy Packet Header, Legacy Packet Payload.

There is, like this network card for example https://www.amazon.com/XG-C100C-Network-Adapter-Single-RJ-45/dp/B072N84DG6
and https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-infinity/

Stuff is pretty expensive but the fact that there is now a market for it will help lower the prices etc

10Gb has become easy to deploy, still not cheap, but not crazy. 10Gb core switch and 10Gb NIC(s) and call it a day. Yes, if you’re running new cable it should be cat 6a, but cat 5e is perfectly capable of 10Gb up to 45 meters.

Core switch example
TRENDnet 8-Port 10G EdgeSmart Switch, 8 x 10GBASE-T Ports, Lifetime Protection, TEG-7080ES https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BV2VYVF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GQRrDbDQSDJ1G

NIC example
ASUS XG-C100C 10G Network Adapter Pci-E X4 Card with Single RJ-45 Port https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N84DG6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9YRrDb9YRP2GD

Well, you don't really need to get Cat6 cables especially considering that cheap 10Gb solutions (like Mellanox NICs) use fiber cables so Cat6 would be useless anyway.

That being said prices of 5Gbase-T and 10GBase-T are steadily dropping - brand new 10Gb NIC is nowadays $116. So it's not a bad idea to futureproof your house a bit (although, as said - fiber is cheaper, consumes less power and gives you more freedom of choice).

I am in the process of upgrading some of my network to 10 Gb. Here is what I have found out so far.

1. There are many deals on Ebay. Just because something is listed on Ebay doesn't mean it's not available cheaper somewhere else. Don't assume, practice due diligence.
   
2. You're going to need a 8X pcie slot for each network card in many cases, I don't think I have seen less than 4.
   
3. Watch for SFP vs SFP+ The SFP is only 1 Gb. It's the + that's 10.
   
4. On each end of the cable you need a transponder. It's an interface between the SFP+ and the cable.
   
5. You can get optical (fibre) or Copper (10GbaseT). The Copper ones seem very expensive.
   
6. There are many different transponders and cables. Here is a wiki on the cable types https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_form-factor_pluggable_transceiver
   
7. Asus makes a 10 Gb card that uses Cat6 cable. https://www.amazon.com/XG-C100C-Network-Adapter-Single-RJ-45/dp/B072N84DG6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542208120&sr=8-3&keywords=10gb+ethernet+cardThey have the transponder "included" so all you need is the Cat6 cable. They are about 150 bucks Canadian. This is ideal for just wiring 2 computers together. I'm a bit concerned about how the routing will go on windows machines but I'm sure I can figure it out.
   
8. I have been looking for routers. There is a trendnet switch https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-28-Port-Lifetime-Protection-TEG-30284/dp/B01EOPSRP6/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1542207851&sr=8-18&keywords=10gb+router which has 4 SFP+ ports and 24 regular ports. I ended up buying a force10 router off ebay (for about 150 USD) but man is there a learning curve. I wish now I had bought this one instead but there you go it's an opportunity to learn. This router would not really be compatible with the Asus cards mentioned above without buying some 10GBaseT transponders. The cheapest I could find for those was on ebay for $150.00.
   
9. I'm waiting for parts to come in, I haven't got anything working yet. Today is screw with the new router day.

> A typical home setup will be plenty fast with 300MBs usb limitation (you'd ultimately be limited to gigabit speed anyway, which tops at 110MB/s).

Or you can top out at 1,000MB/s with 10Gbit SFP+.

> 10Gbit shouldn't even be in the cards if we're talking home NAS setup. Not many people have that at their homes and if they do, they won't be building their NAS around a rpi4.

I disagree. 10Gbit SFP+ is surprisingly cheap these days, roughly $50 per PCIe card, $20 for some short DAC-connectors. No, you wouldn't run them across your house, but it'd be sufficient to wire up all the computers in your office (NAS + Desktop + Server) with them.

But if SFP+ / Fiber isn't your cup of tea, note that 10Gbps Ethernet cables exist. I just ran the math and it seems like SFP+ Fiber is cheaper. 10Gbps ethernet switches are much more expensive, and 10Gbps ethernet is $100 / card instead of ~$50/card (SFP+).

2Gbps and 5Gbps Copper Ethernet is around the corner too. That's where PCIe would come in handy, because you'll have an upgrade path.

SFP+ has the modules cost if you need a longer-distance fiber, but DAC connectors are cheap (albeit limited to short distances).

For anything over 1Gb/s, you'd need a 10Gb/s capable device (afaik, there's no in-between). There are two main ways you could do this, either get a 10 Gigabit network card like this ASUS one , or a motherboard with a LAN chip capable of 10Gb/s throughput (something you'll generally only find in workstation /server grade boards (like Asus' WS line-up), and in some cases realy high-end consumer board.

However, I feel that the investment of either a 10Gb network cards or a 10Gb equipped board is just not worth it for such a small improvement.

World has moved on, mate... 10gbit adapters have been on sale for a few years now. They're not even that expensive any more these days. Plenty of motherboards that come with 10gbit ethernet ports.

As for internet connection, it's not unlikely that OP has 1 gbit internet connection. I have a 2gbit internet connection myself, but unfortunately, I can't use it on a single PC because it only has a gigabit NIC.

The ASUS 10g stuff is pretty cheap
https://www.amazon.com/XG-C100C-Network-Adapter-PCI-E-Single/dp/B072N84DG6/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1502305356&sr=1-2&keywords=asus+10g
https://www.amazon.com/XG-U2008-Unmanaged-2-Port-8-Port-Gigabit/dp/B01LZMM7ZO/ref=pd_sbs_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01LZMM7ZO&pd_rd_r=5VJPJKBW07E44H2J7SK3&pd_rd_w=kISbQ&pd_rd_wg=eOqL4&psc=1&refRID=5VJPJKBW07E44H2J7SK3

Both of my servers also already have 10g nics and everything else is wireless.

Put it this way: No consumer gear handles that kind of speed. 10GbE chips and cards are pretty pricey on their own, and that one's at the lower end of the price spectrum. That's just for your PC; imagine having to have 5 of those in a router, plus a CPU fast enough to actually handle the routing involved. You're talking enterprise gear at that point.

Also, a lot of CAT6 is not proper CAT6, often with shielding issues and other such that can even perform worse than CAT5e will. You're always best off getting CAT5e. Seriously, gigabit internet on its own is so fast and rare that you're unlikely to find or need faster for probably a decade, and within your own house, sneakernet will always be faster.

https://www.amazon.com/XG-C100C-Network-Adapter-Single-RJ-45/dp/B072N84DG6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518772030&sr=8-1

So this may be a stupid question, but I'm looking at getting the ASUS XG-C100C but I can't seem to find any z270 motherboards that have a pcie x4 slot. Does this mean it has to be put in an x16 slot? All the motherboards I've found have pcie x1 slots that run in x4 mode. Am I just dumb or what?

In terms of performance, the built-in SATA m.2's will give you in the neighborhood or around 4-500Mb/s depending on model (I get about 420 on mine). If you are using PCie QM2 card M.2's, you will still get that same rough throughput.

Other option would be the new Qnap QXG-10G1T single port card (see here: http://files.qnap.com/news/pressresource/datasheet/qxg-10g1t-en-20180201.pdf

Going for about $140 US, or you can buy the equivalent ASUS card for $99 https://www.amazon.com/XG-C100C-Network-Adapter-Single-RJ-45/dp/B072N84DG6/

So far one gentleman has successfully tested the ASUS card with the latest QTS 4.3.4 build (386) in his QNAP.

ASUS XG-C100C 10G Network Adapter PCI-E x4 Card with Single RJ-45 Port (XG-C100C) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N84DG6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_3abPAbEH7P4PH

I got these cards: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N84DG6/

And this switch: https://store.ui.com/collections/routing-switching/products/usw-pro-48-poe

(24 port version available here: https://store.ui.com/collections/routing-switching/products/usw-pro-24-poe)

Those switches get even cheaper if you don't need the PoE versions linked above.

It comes down to how you plan to utilize the 10Gb connection to determine whether or not it's worth it. For me, it was. I routinely make extremely large transfers over my network from a PC to unRAID pool, and equipped both with a 10Gb network card.

Since my unRAID pool is set not to use the cache drive, network transfers cache into unRAID's RAM and get written to the array from RAM. I upped "vm.dirty_ratio" to allow more RAM to be utilized in this way during transfers (my box has a shit-ton of RAM). Using this method I now see sustained transfer speeds of ~800MB/s.

ASUS XG-C100C 10G Network Adapter Pci-E X4 Card with Single RJ-45 Port https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N84DG6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JZ4LDbV7Q1F1V

Sacrifice a pcie slot for 10gbe vs 2.5gbe. buy it now if you already have the equipment for 10gbe in other places. Otherwise it's not worth the cost and can be done for less using sfp+ and fiber, especially when only a few things need to be connected at a higher rate than 10gbe in most situations. Most of which would be a file/media server and main PC, maybe to a custom router if you have 10gb service. I would however not buy anything past gb right now as a future proofing. Your ROI will be terrible as widespread adoption of 10gbe isn't likely to happen until prices come down.

I won't say not to go with your original PSU, it's starting to sound like you will be running multiple high end GPU's and a fair number of 3.5in drives. I spec'd out 2*2080S, the 3900x, PCI card, (6) 7.2k drives and (6)120mm fans and it was coming back just shy of 900w so if you would prefer a 1300w PSU and have plans for that much or more then I don't blame you. It's also your money.

If you are a data hoarder you might want to check out that sub and look into shucking. You should be able to get a decent WD 10tb drive for less than either of those sixes.

You would need to upgrade your wired network to multi-gig (2.5/5/10 gigabit). This would involve a new adapter in your PC along with a network switch with 10 gigabit ports. Cat6 cables connected between the modem/switch 10gbe port and switch other 10gbe port/pc are recommended to avoid potential issues.

Realistically you aren't going to get the full 1.5 gigabit experience from any service except a few speed tests and running multiple downloads at once on a single machine. The bigger point of gigabit connections and above right now is allowing multiple users to hit the connection without affecting others on it.

I would just use gigabit for now and avoid the extra adapter and expensive/limited consumer 10gbe switch selection for now, you won't notice the difference between 1 and 1.5 gb internet right now anyway.

I can't find any examples online where this has been accomplished already. I'd be very interested in finding the cheapest TB3 caddy possible, and shoving one of those cheaper Aquantia 10GB copper cards like this one in it.

I'd have to buy 3... and I'm still without a 10GB switch. *shakes fist*

The Z390 Aorus Master has an excellent VRM and Excellent VRM cooling. (Actual finned heatsinks) it is arguably the best Z390 motherboard (aside from the MSI Godlike or Aorus Extreme, Wich are both $500+)

Most people don't really have a need for 10gbit internet. But some people do, and it sounds like you do.

The built in 10G port is definitely nice to have, however 10G internet can be added to the Aorus Master (or any other motherboard) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N84DG6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_J.GoDb1G4X9D6