10Gtek 10Gb Dual RJ45 Port Network Card with X540 Controller, PCIe Ethernet LAN Adapter for Windows/Linux/ESX Servers, Compare to Intel X540-T2

As a solutions architect who has recently started working from home, I needed a reliable and high-speed network card to handle my upgraded home internet connection, which is now a fiber connection at 5Gbps+. I also required higher throughput to my work's datacenter. The 10Gtek 10Gb Dual RJ45 Port Network Card with X540 Controller has proven to be an excellent choice. First and foremost, this network card delivers outstanding performance. With dual RJ45 ports and the X540 controller, it supports 10Gbps speeds, ensuring that my connection remains fast and stable. This has been crucial for my workflow, as I often need to transfer large files and access remote servers without any lag. Upgrading my home internet to a fiber connection at 5Gbps+ meant I needed a network card that could handle such speeds efficiently. The 10Gtek network card has met these demands perfectly, providing the necessary throughput to my work's datacenter. This has significantly improved my productivity, allowing me to access and manage data quickly and efficiently. The installation process was straightforward, and the card works seamlessly with my Windows systems and Hyper-V servers. The packaging was fantastic, and the install was as simple as expected. However, the only negative experience I had was finding compatible drivers. Windows Update didn’t recognize the hardware, and the manufacturer’s website didn’t have any readily available drivers. I ended up going to the chip manufacturer’s website and found the appropriate driver, which I successfully installed. No driver disks or instructions were provided. The build quality of this network card is on par with what I expected, providing a solid and functional product. It feels robust enough for long-term use without being overly impressive. Additionally, the card's design ensures efficient heat dissipation, preventing overheating even during prolonged use. One feature I particularly appreciate is the network activity lights, which, while almost standard, provide clear indicators of network status and activity. The device is also void of any additional noise, making it ideal for a quiet home office environment. Additionally, the value for the money is exceptional. This network card offers high-end performance and features at a reasonable price point, making it a great investment for anyone needing reliable network connectivity. In summary, the 10Gtek 10Gb Dual RJ45 Port Network Card with X540 Controller is an excellent investment for anyone needing high-speed and reliable network connectivity. It has significantly enhanced my home office setup, providing seamless and efficient access to my work's datacenter. If you're looking for a network card that offers great value for the money, exceptional performance, and broad compatibility, I highly recommend this product. Despite the minor inconvenience with the drivers, it has been a game-changer for my workflow and connectivity needs.

Added to an older Dell 7050 for connections to a 10Gbe NAS interface and a backup network. Working great after a year and monitored speeds are right in line with specs.

I originally purchased this to upgrade my opnsense nic to 10Gb. I decided to try it on my Synology DS1821+ just to see if it will work. I was surprise it worked without any issues or special installation steps/drivers needed. Synology detected the two interfaces and after doing some iperf testing, Im getting faster that speeds vs the build in 1Gb nic in the NAS. Opnsense detects these as "Shenzhen 10Gtek Transceivers Co., Limited". If you have static IP set on the build in nic, you will need to transfer those to the new nic. I now have two 10Gb nic on my nas. i dont think I need two, Im not sure if the single nic will work as well, I assume it will if its the same chipset. But this saved me $50 at least had I purchased the Synology branded nic.

This adapter is not automatically recognized by Windows 11. However, you can get the adapter to work perfectly by manually installing Intel's Windows 10 drivers for the chipset (Search for: x540 Intel Drivers Windows 10). You will need to install 7-Zip or WinZip so that you can unzip Intel's X540 driver installer executable. You can contact 10Gtek Customer Support (Amazon's Contact Manufacturer link) for the detailed procedure to install the Windows 10 drivers. 10Gtek customer support has been great, and very informative. Note that you might see a Unknown Manufacturer warning during the manual installation, but it is fine since you downloaded the driver from Intel. After manually installing the X540 Windows 10 drivers, the 10Gtek network card has worked perfectly. I was able to verify with iperf3 that I am seeing 10 Gbps transfer rates between my PC and the connected devices.

I have been using this card for about a month in a Ubuntu 24.0.4.4 LTS desktop that performs some light duty server functions. The card is good when it works. Lately I have had a lot of issues with unstable firmware from this card while using it for server workloads through a VPN. I'm not sure if the VPN is relative however it is how I know. The VPN software will clamp off all communication saying the network connection is not available. The kernel displays errors about firmware error detected FWSM: 0xFFFFFFFF. The only way to recover from this so far is a full power off, pause, and power on. Not a reboot. For it being marketed as a server card, I wish it did not have this issue. I has happened at least 3 times in the last 4 days. I will say, it normally happens under load. So light duty use may not cause this issue. EDIT: I did update the card to use thermal paste and a noctua cooling fan and I have not seen much difference.

Requires manual driver installation for Windows 11, it's not plug n' play. Download "Intel® Ethernet Adapter Complete Driver Pack" Extract somewhere you can find it. Open Device Manager Right click the Ethernet adapter with a question mark Update drivers from folder and select the folder Install.

No automatic driver installation for Windows 10/11. Download the intel network adapter for Windows 10 driver package from intel's website. Go to Device Manager and find the unrecognized device (listed as Ethernet Controller), and manually install the drivers in this path: Wired_driver_x64\PROXGB\Winx64\NDIS65 Otherwise it seems to work well so far.

This card was recognized by TrueNAS (Debian based) and once connected to my UniFi switch auto-negotiated to 10Gbps. I don’t need the dual port and wish a single port card was available for the same price. Single port was almost double the price. It has only been running a week or so. I have not conducted any performance tests.

Works perfectly on Linux. Been using it with my 10g netgear switch to share the network connections with multiple VM's on KVM/libvirt. Expensive, but worth it if you need to keep at the bleeding edge of technology, otherwise an overkill. Great to play with sriov, vm's, vf's.

after a decent wait finally gotten this 10gbe nic card. however I purchased this because there's a fan but the product sent was w/o a fan and purely heatsink. felt cheated or rather disappointed because we all know the heatsink w/o the fan, may not be as efficient.

Funciona en w11 sin instalar nada más. Funciona a 1gbps o 10gbps, no funciona a 2.5gbps. Recomiendo ponerle ventilación para evitar sobrecalentamiento.