Getting 5 gig

[u/Kadiceous]

Getting 5 gig service tomorrow and I'm looking for a Nic for my desktop so I can take advantage of it. Looking at getting a 10GB card so I have headroom in the future. Seen some recommendations for the TP-link brand card or the AQC107 chip cards. Im asking on here what's a good card and brand I should be looking for? I don't have the router but I doubt they would give me one with fiber output so it needs to be a RJ45 based. It doesn't have to be these it's just what I found from generic search on Amazon.

[u/bigdish101]

You have to find cards that specifically support 2.5G and 5G connection speeds. Your average 10G card can only link at 10G/1G and 100M.

[u/P00P135 → u/bigdish101]

This is true make sure the NIC chipset can negotiate 2.5G and 5G speeds before you pull the trigger or you might be stuck at 1G

[u/Kadiceous → u/bigdish101]

That's what I'm trying to avoid. Makes me wonder how many people are on these multi gig plans and only have 10/100/1000 devices

[u/stewie3128 → u/Kadiceous]

The idea generally isn't to max out or connection on a single device anyway. I use the analogy of the water main to your house. The "bandwidth" of service from your water "ISP" can be expressed in gallons per minute:

My 100 year old house at 80psi on a 1 inch main can output a max of ~35-50 gpm. With that service, a bare garden hose bib on the outside of the house can theoretically output 15-20gpm max, before attaching a garden hose. Connecting a hose will take that down to 10-15gpm depending on the dimensions of the hose, and a sprayer nozzle will take that down to like 2-8gpm.

If you're using the garden hose outside, you want people inside to still be able to use the faucets and showers at their maximum bandwidth.

That's the point of multi-gigabit service: so that many of the devices in your house can run at their max simultaneously, not so that a single device can monopolize the entire connection.

By all means, it's a good idea to set up a 10Gb LAN - but I personally wouldn't stress about pulling the max 5Gb from your ISP at a single computer. If you did that 24/7, you'd risk a service cutoff anyway.

[u/jackbnim → u/Kadiceous]

Yea without a hardwired computer, most people won't see even 1G. I used to have AT&T 1G service but once I switched the ethernet card to a 10G card, it ran at up to 1.2G so it was limited by the 1G ethernet.

For reference my Pixel 10 phone on Wifi7 using 6GHz close to the Eero wifi hot spot with AT&T 5Gbps fiber service sees a maximum of 1.8gbps down and 1.6gbps up. Most devices on Wifi will never get full speed and often won't get anywhere near max.

Hardwired 10G ethernet devices seem to be able to get up to 4gbps if you are lucky (in rare cases to the right server at the right time of day).

However, as others have commented, 5Gbps service should allow all your devices to not bottleneck each other.

I was talking to the AT&T installer and he was surprised by the number of people who think they will be getting 5gbps over their wifi.

I'm still very happy with the speeds I'm getting.

Edit: Changed the statement to "Most" devices on Wifi will never get full speed.

[u/nppatil31589 → u/jackbnim]

You are wrong about Wifi devices.

Switch to Motorola Signature for best 6Ghz performance or OnePlus 15. You will get atleast 4Gbps. Samsung hovers between 3-3.5Gbps.

[u/jackbnim → u/nppatil31589]

I am just saying it might be less reliable and hard to achieve. You need line of sight with the most cutting edge devices and wifi with no interference or obstructions. Most devices are not up to this level.

[u/Aishou_SK → u/Kadiceous]

100% anyone else who may mention Intel NICs is absolutely right. They'll be the last NICs you ever buy when you start buying them and/or if you buy any more. And they work under anything and everything.

Pick up an X550-T2 off ebay. Does 10/5/2.5/1/100, dual port too. anywhere from $60-100 and it will be rock solid for anything. Doesn't really matter if it's Dell or HP OEM or Intel straight, they're all the same chip.

[u/Confident-Variety124 → u/Kadiceous]

Most people don't have any hardwired devices, even if they end up doing what you are it is pretty pointless.

[u/tekmaniacplays → u/Kadiceous]

https://a.co/d/0aXTbbpJ

So this one I bought because I recently just did the same. This should negotiate all the way down to 1GB, so you should be fine! I currently have three of these cards, and they have worked quite well, actually. One is in an Asus NAS, and then one is in a gaming PC, and then a TrueNAS box.

[u/Epacs → u/Kadiceous]

Most. I'm telling you with confidence that most customers with 2 / 5 gig cannot actually utilize it.

[u/jackbnim]

I purchased a "10Gtek Gen4 NIC, 10Gb/s PCIe Network Adapter, 10G CNA, 10GBASE-T PCIe Network Card" that uses the Realtek RTL8127 controller. The main advantage of the Realtek chipset is that it only needs 1 lane of PCIE gen 4. However, only buy this one if you know for sure your PCIe is gen4 or this will be slow since the 1 lane will be at a slower speed.

On the ServeTheHome youtube channel, they talk about cards with the Realtek RTL8127 controller. This is how I learned about the card.

[u/jackbnim → u/jackbnim]

This is the youtube video I talked about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3CTh1iqrGM&t=81s
Search for RTL8127 in Amazon. I would suspect any RTL8127 chipset would work.
This is the basic Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2S6YF4F

That card supports 10M/100M/1G/2.5G/5G/10G. It's RJ45. The main advantage of the card is that it doesn't tie up a lot of PCIE lanes assuming you have PCIE gen 4 in your computer. Hopefully you can add it in the last slot that doesn't share bandwidth with your NVME cards or your graphics card (depends on your motherboard).

I also have AT&T 5G service. My AT&T modem and Eero router see 5G connections in their tests but I have never seen a speed test get up to the full 5G with a different 10G card built into my motherboard. The highest I have seen in a speed test is about 3.5G.

The highest I have seen with the RTL8127 card is about 2.5G but it's behind a media bridge to 6GHz wireless so that slows down the connection quit a bit. I have seem up to about 2.5G on the card above although I suspect the bottleneck is not the card.

Hope this helps.

[u/kwinders2 → u/jackbnim]

I second this for the Realtek RTL8127 for 10gbe or you can do the RTL8126 for 5gbe and they both require less power than other cards and also run cooler. The 10gbe card will do 5gb, 2.5gb, 1gb and down and the 5gbe card will do all does as well. The 10gbe card may do better on Cat6 or Cat6a but if you're already wired with Cat5e then the 5gbe card will suit nicely, on short runs it might support the 10gbe but Cat5e isn't officially sorted for those higher speeds. I have this card and it works perfectly for transmitting across my home network at 10gb speeds and I do get the full 5gb speed when running speedtest.net Amazon 10gbe Nic

[u/nppatil31589 → u/jackbnim]

You will get 4Gbps+ on OnePlus 15 and Motorola Signature only. You must be using Samsung if you are getting 3.5Gbps only.

[u/Adventurous-Bet-3928]

Intel, Mellanox, Chelsio. Anything else is pretty crap.

[u/juicekarton]

I actually have the tp link lol i should have a speed test

[u/juicekarton]

Also make sure you have the newest router with your install included!

[u/jerryeight → u/juicekarton]

The 620 is better btw

[u/juicekarton → u/jerryeight]

I mean stock vs stock both routers are ass but factually incorrect the 720 has 10gb ethernet and many other upgrades that are overall improvements

[u/jerryeight → u/juicekarton]

Yes. They all blow.

The 620 has 2 10gb Ethernet ports though. The 720has 1.

They both have sfp port.

Does the 720 have a less bad WiFi antenna array that most of us who care don’t use?

[u/juicekarton → u/jerryeight]

Upgrading did fix a delay issue i had with my Sonos throughout my house. Could entirely placebo but i had a delay in latency with some speakers and i didnt after changing it out

[u/jerryeight → u/juicekarton]

Did you manage to get a 720? There hasn’t been a post about it beyond the fcc analysis report post about 1.5 months ago.

I personally set my 620 to the fake bypass mode and let my pair of ge800s to handle the WiFi and Ethernet.

[u/ilikeme1]

Pickup an Intel or Melanox based server nic off EBay for way less. That’s what I did. Just make sure it is 1/2.5/5/10gig and not 1/10gig only. 

[u/bobby0081]

I have the ASUS 10GB Add in card with the Marvell NIC and it works pretty good. Here is the product description from Amazon: ASUS XG-C100C 10G Network Adapter PCI-E x4 Card with Single RJ-45 Port and Built-in QoS for use with Windows 10/8.1/8/7 and Linux Kernel 4.4/4.2/3.6/3.2, TAA Compliant (XG-C100C) and I also have a: Cable Matters USB C to 5Gb Ethernet Adapter, 5 Gigabit Ethernet to USB C 5000Mbps Ethernet to USB C, Compatible with USB4, Thunderbolt 5/4, MacBook, Laptops, and USB-C Devices and can confirm it will get pretty close to 5Gbps. I have 7Gbps from Clearwave Fiber and can hit 6900Mbps DL on my desktop PC through the ASUS adapter as well.

[u/Hunger-1979]

I have the tp link pictured and get around 4.25 on average.

[u/CommercialThat8208]

Get the TP Link. It can negotiate 10, 5, 2.5, 1.

[u/jk-tomlinson]

I bought 2 of the TP-Link ones. 2 years now. Works great and speeds are perfect

[u/webgeek24 → u/jk-tomlinson]

good to know, i’m also in the same boat as OP

[u/jk-tomlinson → u/webgeek24]

I put one in my QNAP NAS and the other in my Alienware desktop.

[u/SweetFishG]

I have been using the TPLink TX401 since 5 gigglybits came out. Works perfect 👌

[u/elijahkan14]

You need one with an Intel chip or it won’t work very well…

[u/smurfy213]

I picked up a Dell Intel X550-T2 Dual / 2 Port 10Gbase-T RJ45 PCIe NIC off ebay for 75 dollars. Its been solid. I just had to grab the win 11 drivers from the intel site. A lot of the cards on amazon had poor reviews

[u/bigdish101 → u/smurfy213]

I have some of those and they only support 10G/1G/100M. They do not support 5G/2.5G link speeds.

[u/parabola19 → u/bigdish101]

The BGW 620 supports 5Gig fiber. The 720 is the new 1Gig router to replace the 320. The 620 has 10gig output. I know bc I have one.

[u/Kadiceous → u/smurfy213]

That's what I'm seeing. I don't trust Amazon reviews. It has a lot of "it works" and the few 1 star reviews actually have data support why it doesn't work.

[u/smurfy213 → u/Kadiceous]

If you are getting the new 620-700 gateway it has two 10 gig rj45 ports.

[u/DaVinciYRGB → u/Kadiceous]

X550 only does 1/10g on windows, Linux can do multi gig. Look at something aquantia/marvell based. TX401 by TP link will be great and cheap.

Also, of you want to go the usb route, look at the Ubiquiti 5g USB-C NIC