Need help finding vendor that sells real Intel network cards

Hardware Hub Networking
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Hey everybody,

I am in the market for some Intel x550t-2’s. I want the real ones, not Chinese knockoffs. I am worried about Ebay because of all the fake yottamarks out there. I also tried looking at vendors like B&H Camera, CDW, Newegg, and Streakwave. They all carry what they claim are Intel x550t-2’s, but their listings include only one fuzzy picture with no sign of a yottamark. These pictures also make it hard to spot any of the other things that people used to distinguish genuine from fake (high resolution Intel logo, higher-quality heat sink and mounting screws, etc.). The only place that I see listings with yottamarks is eBay, like this card, but the low prices scare me. Can anyone recommend a vendor that sells real Intel x550t-2’s?

Thank you for your help I am including the resources that I found about how to spot counterfeit NICs below.

Where the f*$k do I buy genuine X550-T2 cards?

Comparison: Intel X550-T1 Genuine vs Fake

Trying to find a ‘genuine’ 10G Intel X550-T2 NIC on Amazon… only fakes available? (provantage.com, which this post recommends, only has one low resolution picture for the product)

Intel X540-T2 Fake/Chinese/Counterfeit

1 Like
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Despite Intel being Intel I would likely consider Chelsio and Broadcom instead especially since at least Chelsio seem to be better overall.

T520-BT Chelsio High Performance Dual-Port 10GbE Unified Wire Adapter (no idea if seller is any good)
https://www.serversupply.com/NETWORKING/NETWORK%20ADAPTER/2%20PORT/BROADCOM/P210TP_315651.htm

You could I guess also go for 3rd party partnumbers such as Lenovo

Dell: HWWN0

Afaik Provantage.com have good repo in general

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What does a yottamark look like there were many marks on that link you provided?

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The Truesnas FAQ reccomends INTEL and Chelsio. I have heard we should be carefull about getting OEM version from IBM, HP, DELL etc. because they can mess with the firmware and make things difficult. Can anyone else validate this?

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The only “firmware” updates you have are to the UEFI boot and PXE boot unless that changed recently, that should be universal.