PCIe x1 Gen 4 10Gb NIC recommendations

Hi

The only slot I have free in my PC is a PCIe x1 Gen 4 slot. I would like to upgrade to 10Gb networking.

What cards can you recommend which will

  • Physically fit
  • Work in Linux

and ideally have an Intel based chipset.

RJ45 would be preferred but is not a deal breaking if it needs an SFP module.

Thanks

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I have the SFP+ version of this, but works fine in all of the Debian based OS I have tried. I have an ASUS Mobo so it seemed right to get an ASUS NIC card.

I’m pretty sure that your only option is

It’s an Aquantia chipset, I don’t know of any Intel chips that have a Gen4x1 lane configuration at 10GbE. This card does claim to have Linux support, though with little detail.

Note the physical PCIe fingers are actually x2, so I think you’d need to have an open-ended x1 slot or be wiling to take some snips to it or such to fit the card.

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M.2 to pcie adatper?
If not 2.5g is the only stuff thats really 1x that is common enough to find

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No idea if this work, but it uses the Aquantia AQtion AQC-107 chipset, and it has some chips that might suggest that it supports both x1 and x4 pcie. Search for Aquantia AQtion AQC-107 on ebay.

Has anyone confirmed whether they have an AQC-107 NIC that runs at gen 4 lane speeds? I find it strange that many people who sell a NIC with that chip claim gen 4 x1 capability, yet Marvel’s own product brocure says it is a gen2/3 only chipset

I think some of the confusion might have stemmed from many vendors silently upgrading their 10G NICs from AQC-107 to AQC-113.

Like that ASUS XG-C100C mentioned earlier, the AQC-107 version comes in a blue box but later ASUS released a version of the card with a AQC-113 in a black box without calling it something different. The AQC-113 is good for PCIe 4.0 connectivity while the AQC-107 isn’t.

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I got a AQ107 NIC. It’s a PCIe x4 card with a red/pink heatsink…consumer branding. No Win11 support. But runs fine in any Linux.

lspci -vv

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Aquantia Corp. AQC107 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3bz Ethernet Controller [AQtion] (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Aquantia Corp. Device 0001
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 161
	Region 0: Memory at fb800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Region 2: Memory at fb810000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Region 4: Memory at fb400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
	Capabilities: [40] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 00
		DevCap:	MaxPayload 512 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <64ns, L1 <1us
			ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset+ SlotPowerLimit 75W
		DevCtl:	CorrErr+ NonFatalErr+ FatalErr+ UnsupReq+
			RlxdOrd- ExtTag+ PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+ FLReset-
			MaxPayload 512 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes
		DevSta:	CorrErr+ NonFatalErr- FatalErr- UnsupReq+ AuxPwr+ TransPend-
		LnkCap:	Port #0, Speed 8GT/s, Width x4, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s unlimited, L1 unlimited
			ClockPM- Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp+
		LnkCtl:	ASPM Disabled; RCB 64 bytes, Disabled- CommClk+
			ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
		LnkSta:	Speed 8GT/s, Width x4
			TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
		DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Not Supported, TimeoutDis+ NROPrPrP- LTR-
			 10BitTagComp- 10BitTagReq- OBFF Not Supported, ExtFmt- EETLPPrefix-
			 EmergencyPowerReduction Not Supported, EmergencyPowerReductionInit-
			 FRS- TPHComp- ExtTPHComp-
			 AtomicOpsCap: 32bit- 64bit- 128bitCAS-
		DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 50us to 50ms, TimeoutDis- LTR- 10BitTagReq- OBFF Disabled,
			 AtomicOpsCtl: ReqEn-
		LnkCap2: Supported Link Speeds: 2.5-8GT/s, Crosslink+ Retimer- 2Retimers- DRS-
		LnkCtl2: Target Link Speed: 8GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis-
			 Transmit Margin: Normal Operating Range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS-
			 Compliance Preset/De-emphasis: -6dB de-emphasis, 0dB preshoot
		LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -6dB, EqualizationComplete+ EqualizationPhase1+
			 EqualizationPhase2+ EqualizationPhase3+ LinkEqualizationRequest-
			 Retimer- 2Retimers- CrosslinkRes: unsupported
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
		Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
	Capabilities: [90] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=32 Masked-
		Vector table: BAR=2 offset=00000000
		PBA: BAR=2 offset=00000200
	Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
		Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000
	Capabilities: [c0] Vital Product Data
		Product Name: Atlantic
		Read-only fields:
			[PN] Part number: 3290495095
			[EC] Engineering changes: 0
			[FG] Unknown: 61 62 63
			[LC] Unknown: 64 65 66
			[MN] Manufacture ID: AFDSWEWEBSFD
			[PG] Unknown: 49 49 49
			[SN] Serial number: CPL5938TLKMY
			[V0] Vendor specific: wfewfe
			[V1] Vendor specific: fwewfe
			[V2] Vendor specific: SDFWI
			[RV] Reserved: checksum good, 0 byte(s) reserved
		Read/write fields:
			[YA] Asset tag: 9495829
			[V0] Vendor specific: f34ge4rsg
			[V1] Vendor specific: ger35g5rthghgsa3
			[Y0] System specific: bsdfvbxcz
			[Y1] System specific: fwefewwfe
			[RW] Read-write area: 11 byte(s) free
		End
	Capabilities: [100 v2] Advanced Error Reporting
		UESta:	DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		UEMsk:	DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		UESvrt:	DLP+ SDES+ TLP- FCP+ CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF+ MalfTLP+ ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		CESta:	RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- AdvNonFatalErr-
		CEMsk:	RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- AdvNonFatalErr+
		AERCap:	First Error Pointer: 00, ECRCGenCap+ ECRCGenEn- ECRCChkCap+ ECRCChkEn-
			MultHdrRecCap- MultHdrRecEn- TLPPfxPres- HdrLogCap-
		HeaderLog: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
	Capabilities: [150 v1] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=024 <?>
	Capabilities: [180 v1] Secondary PCI Express
		LnkCtl3: LnkEquIntrruptEn- PerformEqu-
		LaneErrStat: 0
	Kernel driver in use: atlantic
	Kernel modules: atlantic

That’s PCIe gen2?. But those 8GT/s confuse me…because that looks like PCIe 3.0 lane bandwidth. Certainly nothing that refers to PCIe 4.0. It’s a PCIe 3.0 x4 CPU lane slot.

I get sequential speeds from my ZFS via iSCSI at 1.07GiB/s, I tested with iperf3, but that was a year ago and I can’t remember.

cheap card for a x4 slot. Nothing to write home about.

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That’s a PCIe Gen 3 x4 card…

… in a PCIe Gen 3 x4 slot (or higher), or at least that’s been negotiated.

Chipset supports Gen 1, 2 and 3.

Maybe the card has only been vetted for Gen 2, and the signal quality is good enough for Gen 3, idk. Anyway, the chipset clearly supports up to Gen 3.

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The AC-113 cards I found on ebay also have those chips so it might be a x1 or x4 card.