ipolex 10Gb Network Card X520-DA2-Intel PCI-E Ethernet Card NIC Dual SFP+ Port E10G42BTDA, Intel 82599EN Controller, 10G PCI Express LAN Adapter Support Windows Server/Windows, Linux, Vmware

Worked great in my home TrueNAS server!

Very Satisfied

The NIC is a powerful asset for the low cost. But the installation process is a bit convoluted. You have to dive through Intel driver layers to directly install the 10GBe NIC driver through Device Manager. Not all that difficult, just a bit aggravating. Otherwise, solid. I used the Wired_driver_30.0_x64 and installed the driver for WIN10/11 from the:\\Wired_driver_30.0_x64\PROXGB\Winx64folders, don't go any deeper in the install search.

These things have been amazing in my home lab upgrade. They popped right into my VMware box and were detected without any need for manual driver updates. Each of my VM boxes are not getting 20gbs aggregated... It's been such a game changer for my lab.

Installed in my PC and booted up. The light on the NIC flashed and indicated it was connected to 10G but Windows showed "no internet connection". Moved to my onboard NIC (2.5Gb) and it was fine. Went back to the 10G and it worked for a while, and well. Rebooted my PC and now it refuses to detect the NIC. Tried installing generic Intel drivers, the ioplex drivers, and letting windows detect it, nothing is working. Reseated the card, rebooted, still nothing. It just doesn't get properly detected by Windows. I knew the price felt too good to be true.

Was a little worried if this card would work with Windows 11 or not, but it does. You just have to download the full driver package which as all the drivers for Windows, Linux, ect. and unzip it into a folder. Then go to the device manager and select the device and click on upgrade driver. Then just point to the folder and BAM it finds the driver for Windows 11. Don't know which driver it liked, but who cares, Windows 11 likes it and it now works and tested at almost 10g speeds.

This card is a good fit for my specific use case but it won't work for everyone. It has no 2.5Gb or 5Gb support. It's an 8x PCIe; that's good for speed but won't fit in a 1x or 4x slot.--This listing says the X540-AT2 "support 100Mb to 10Gb" but the X540 is an older controller.It does not support 2.5Gb or 5Gb.This card connects at 100Mb/1Gb/10Gb only.--The card is 8x PCIe. I needed this for my older PCIe v3 mainboard (my 1x can't do 10Gb/s).The Intel spec sheet for the X540 says it's PCI 2.1 (32Gb/s@8x).The X540 is discontinued. The chips or cards might be NOS, which is fine.--It was plug and play for my pfSense 2.7.2 (FreeBSD).--The X540 chipset runs hot. Reviews say it is stable under heavy use with passive cooling and good airflow.This card has a fan but reports are some fans died early. I have a 2nd fan blowing on mine.The X540-AT2 draws 12.5 watts at 10Gb. This is comparable to other Intel Ethernet controllers.--My use case: Old ASUS PCIe v3.0 mainboard, pfSense 2.7.2RJ45 connected to 10Gb ONT, 10Gb SPF+ module in my budget 2.5Gb switch.--This is the cheapest I could connect 2.5Gb internet to my LAN:This card ($44 used)Sodola 2.5Gb (x8) switch with a 10Gb SPF+ expansion port ($60)Fibergaga 10Gb SPF+ module ($40)

Got this for my Proxmox machine; It works fine with a Windows 2019 VM but TrueNAS Scale and Ubuntu VMs not so much – they get a valid IP via dhcp but no network connectivity so I think there are issues with Linux drivers or kernel. I just ordered a SolarFlare SFN6122F which TrueNAS reports works (see TrueNAS resources: 10 Gig Networking Primer), if it does, then I’ll be returning this.‘lspci -vvxnn’ below:Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection [8086:10fb] (rev 01)Subsystem: Beijing Sinead Technology Co., Ltd. 82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection [1dcf:030a]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 bytesInterrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16IOMMU group: 5Region 0: Memory at 84180000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]Region 2: I/O ports at 3020 [size=32]Region 3: Memory at 84204000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]Expansion ROM at 84100000 [disabled] [size=512K]Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold-)Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=1 PME-Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000Masking: 00000000 Pending: 00000000Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=64 Masked-Vector table: BAR=3 offset=00000000PBA: BAR=3 offset=00002000Capabilities: [a0] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 00DevCap: MaxPayload 512 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <512ns, L1 <64usExtTag- AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset+ SlotPowerLimit 0WDevCtl: CorrErr+ NonFatalErr+ FatalErr+ UnsupReq+RlxdOrd+ ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+ FLReset-MaxPayload 256 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytesDevSta: CorrErr+ NonFatalErr- FatalErr- UnsupReq+ AuxPwr- TransPend-LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 5GT/s, Width x8, ASPM L0s, Exit Latency L0s unlimitedClockPM- Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp-LnkCtl: ASPM Disabled; RCB 64 bytes, Disabled- CommClk+ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x4 (downgraded)TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Range ABCD, 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-LnkCtl2: Target Link Speed: 5GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis-Transmit Margin: Normal Operating Range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS-Compliance Preset/De-emphasis: -6dB de-emphasis, 0dB preshootLnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -6dB, EqualizationComplete- EqualizationPhase1-EqualizationPhase2- EqualizationPhase3- LinkEqualizationRequest-Retimer- 2Retimers- CrosslinkRes: unsupportedCapabilities: [e0] Vital Product DataUnknown small resource type 06, will not decode more.Capabilities: [100 v1] Advanced Error ReportingUESta: 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 00000000Capabilities: [140 v1] Device Serial Number xxxxxxxxxxxCapabilities: [150 v1] Alternative Routing-ID Interpretation (ARI)ARICap: MFVC- ACS-, Next Function: 1ARICtl: MFVC- ACS-, Function Group: 0Capabilities: [160 v1] Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)IOVCap: Migration- 10BitTagReq- Interrupt Message Number: 000IOVCtl: Enable- Migration- Interrupt- MSE- ARIHierarchy+ 10BitTagReq-IOVSta: Migration-Initial VFs: 64, Total VFs: 64, Number of VFs: 0, Function Dependency Link: 00VF offset: 128, stride: 2, Device ID: 10edSupported Page Size: 00000553, System Page Size: 00000001Region 0: Memory at 00000060e0300000 (64-bit, prefetchable)Region 3: Memory at 00000060e0200000 (64-bit, prefetchable)VF Migration: offset: 00000000, BIR: 0Kernel driver in use: ixgbeKernel modules: ixgbe