Recommended Ethernet Network Card

Help Desk Hardware Help
1

Hello first i hope you are all doing well :slight_smile: I want to thank you for taking the time reading my post and helping me it’s very appreciated

I am currently shopping for a Ethernet Network Card PCIe that goes up to 2500mbps or 2.5gbps for a desktop computer i have been going left and right through different review websites and forums (Including reddit) but unfortunately if i look for the same product the information from users differs on every sites so i was wondering if anybody could recommend a good not super expensive Network card that is compatible with linux they had a good experience with i’m just trying to use my full 1.5gbps network and be future proof if it helps i will list my hardware and distros i’m using also i am from canada but dont mind ordering international

Again i thank you so much for the time and help you are giving me
i wish you all a nice day :slight_smile:

The distros i use
Arch Linux (with either KDE Plasma or XFCE sometime gnome
Fedora
Pop OS
Kali Linux
Endeavour OS
well i guess i distros hop :wink:

my Motherboard is

MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk (MS-7B18)

PS: I did not add my topic to Hardware Help as the description says if we are having problems or errors with hardware but since i do not own the hardware yet i was not sure

2

To paraphrase the classic advice— Nobody has ever been fired for choosing an Intel NIC.

2 Likes
3

From what i’ve gathered you go by the chipset the card is using to help find out how well it’s support. Sadly I don’t have any experience to speak from for models.

Big +1 for Pat’s advice. Both for quality and their general orientation toward Linux support.

Thanks for giving it a best guess, i’ll take a look at the description.

1 Like
4

Thank you very much for your time and advice i will look into it :slight_smile:

1 Like
5

Thank you very much for your help and comprehension :slight_smile:

6

By curiosity would you have a specific one you would recommend ?

7

Well the 2.5/5/NBASE-T stuff is pretty “new(er)” and price point isn’t even helpful what determines the capabilities.

For the following I recommend the genuine Intel brand cards but the chipset should work across card brands (Dell and other third parties) if they’re trustworthy.

  • The Intel X550-T1 (uses the Intel X550 Ethernet Controller there are also three versions of this controller chip) will do all the NBASE-T (up to 10GBASE-T) but the others in the X5xx series don’t.

  • The Intel i225-T1 (uses the Intel I225 Ethernet Controller there are three versions of this controller chip) will do up to 2.5BASE-T but the others in the i2xx or i3xx series don’t.

The other controllers in these lineups don’t (at least per intel ARK) support any of the NBASE-T standards.

There are others which are obviously designed for a completely different market but these aren’t “out of range” for a consumer.

I have an older intel X520-t2 (intel 82599EB) which doesn’t support the “new” NBASE-T modes.

An edit for frugality:

I got my X520 in the literal garbage and use it on a gigabit network. I feel I unintentionally misrepresented that info. I do not use it in it’s full 10G capacity.

1 Like
8

Thank you very much for all your help so kind very appreciated :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

Would love to hear how it goes for myself if not others finding this thread, best of luck!