network card compatable with Gentoo research ?

cwc

Please throw me a bone an a good Gentoo compatible Ethernet card that you use.

I have a ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. RAMPAGE IV EXTREME with an i7.

with the following slots:

4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x16 or x16/x8/x16 or x16/x8/x8/x8, red) *1
1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x8 mode, gray) *1
1 x PCIe 2.0 x1
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zen_desu · Apprentice Joined: 25 Oct 2024 Posts: 156

I've never found a network card that doesn't work well on gentoo systems, especially dist-kernel. Some cards require out of tree modules, but common "server" cards will basically be plug and play.

I'm currently using a CCR2004-1G-2XS-PCIe in my desktop and 2 intel x520's in my server.

If you don't need more than a gbps, usb adapters will often be just fine with USB3, I keep some in my work bag because my laptop doesn't have ethernet ports. I have a $15 2.5g one that seems to do as advertised, some generic realtek chip is in it, but it works.

If you can find a used "server" card that has the right bracket size and doesn't expect "server airflow", that will probably be fine. If you care much about networking, i'd invest in a card with SFP+ cages. You can get 1g copper transceivers for pretty cheap and 10g optical modules for not much more. Some intel cards will be vendor locked to intel modules and will get angery if you put another type of module in them.
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cwc · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 5:39 pm Post subject:

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20590

I've had no issues with Realtek and Intel. If I were to buy something today, I'd pick Intel unless there was a compelling reason not to. Things can change, but I haven't heard of them making any poor decisions with their NICs.
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cwc · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 5:55 pm Post subject:

gentoo_ram · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 6:27 pm Post subject:

Intel cards are generally well-supported by the Linux kernel. Are you looking for a driver for the gigabit adapter already on that motherboard or are you looking for a special kind of external adapter with multiple ports?

Unfortunately, the documentation for that motherboard is not specific which exact chipset is installed. But I'm guessing the 'igb' for 'e1000e' driver would probably work for it. You'd have to load those modules and see which one detects the network port.

What does 'lspci' say? That might give you a clue.

cwc · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 6:32 pm Post subject:

zen_desu · Apprentice Joined: 25 Oct 2024 Posts: 156

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3561

That MAC looks really weird, it's not "random" enough to my liking. It might be acting up because there's something wrong with the particular device you have.

Honestly it's been a very long time since I last heard of ethernet adapters which _don't_ work, and even then it was stuff like very niche laptops which required out of tree modules or so. I'd say pick whatever looks good to you first, and then search for issues with the particular model you chose, just to confirm you can use it. You probably can, so there's no benefit to using compatibility as the first filter.
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dE_logics · Advocate Joined: 02 Jan 2009 Posts: 2313 Location: $TERM

RTL8125 based cards work (and is cheap). However I believe it's performance is not very good (as per iperf).
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eccerr0r · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 7:27 am Post subject:

I used a pair of X540s between Gentoo machines, works fine. Need to get a 10G switch however. I've only tested between my X58 and X79 motherboards and do not have disk bandwidth to feed the X540s.

Pretty much a matter of selecting the right driver in the kernel.

Vast majority of my GbE are Intel e1000s (or their relatives, which use different drivers) or Realtek 8169s and I can't complain of either of them really, my disk bandwidth can saturate 1GbE however. I do have some Broadcom and Marvell onboard Ethernets. The Marvells are okay but had trouble with one of my Broadcoms but it may be a defective computer as it keeps corrupting data sent over it.
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cwc · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 3:27 pm Post subject:

sdauth · l33t Joined: 19 Sep 2018 Posts: 688 Location: Ásgarðr

I recently added an Intel i350-t4 (4x GbE) to a custom router. No complaints.
It runs a bit hot though even idling.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 4:44 pm Post subject:

There has been another recent topic about MAC ADDR 88:88:88:88:87:88 ... ah by cwc too.
Its cased by a BIOS update bug.

As long as all the MAC ADDR on your LAN are unique, its not a problem.
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zen_desu · Apprentice Joined: 25 Oct 2024 Posts: 156

If you're concerned with price/modularity, a device with a SFP+ cage could use several different transceiver types. I bought both of my intel x520 cards used for around $50 each locally and they came with 2 10g optical transceivers (intel brand) included.

A new (off brand) 10GBase-T (10g copper) SFP+ transceiver is about $30 while a brand name one may be $75-150. I've had good luck with the cheap ones. These modules use as much as 5w per port depending on the cable length. That can be too much for some cards/devices to properly power or cool.
A 1000Base-T (1gbps copper) SFP transceiver costs about $10-20. These tend to use about a watt and don't cause issues, unless boards specifically only want 10g SFP+ modules.
A 10GBase-SR (10g fiber) SFP+ transceiver costs about $15. Unless things are vendor locked, I've had very good luck mixing and matching these modules.
DAC cables cost $10-20 depending on the length and directly attach SFP ports on 2 devices, they generally have exceptional latency and low power usage, but the cables can be damaged if bent too much.

If you're connecting high speed devices within a few meters of each other, DACs tend to be great, for longer distances, 10GBase-T can be more trouble than using fiber. OM2/3 fiber is not that expensive, and if you're mindful that it's fiber and handle with some care, and avoid touching/scratching the ends (keep caps on before plugging in) things will be fine. Fiber connections will tend to use less lower than Ethernet and you will never have ground issues with them.
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eccerr0r · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 7:25 pm Post subject:

The X540s I have are original Intel cards, not sure about other OEMs but I suspect they should work just fine.

What I need to find cheaply is a 10G copper SFP+ to put in my X520. Haven't tried this card since I got it since I don't have any SFP+ modules.

(yeah I got all of these second hand...)
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zen_desu · Apprentice Joined: 25 Oct 2024 Posts: 156

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3561

Actually, if you need a _fast_ and _local_ network, infiniband is a good alternative; it's fast and you can get second-hand HBAs and switches at reasonable prices, and you get an extra RDMA capability for all your supercomputing at home. Even though cables cost about as much as HBA... And try to get optic fiber cables; copper ones are as thick as a finger.

If you somehow can't live with IPoIB, you can always downgrade operation mode to ethernet at runtime (though I'm not sure if it's possible to connect an IB adapter running in Eth mode directly to an ethernet switch; you might need another a linux router in between those network segments).
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