Question Anyone moving from AM4 platform to Z490 (Intel)? For the 2.5Gbit LAN?

[VirtualLarry]

I know I'm tempted. Even the $200 ASRock Extreme-whatever budget board has 2.5Gbit LAN onboard. Most Z490 boards do.

Whereas, what about the X570 boards? Still very few.

I don't know about B550 boards, maybe the mobo makers will have a change of heart, and add 2.5Gbit LAN to most of those, too.

Yeah, I know, I know, you can buy PCI-E x1 8125 RealTek LAN cards for $20-30 to drop into a PCI-E x1 slot (if you have one left, after all of your GPUs and NVMe SSDs on AM4), or a USB3.0 dongle with a RealTek 2.5Gbit LAN from Cable Matters for $30 off of Amazon. (I have some of each, already.)

But there's both something powerful, and utilitarian, about 2.5Gbit LAN being built-in, to me.

 

[mxnerd]

I will jump to 10G directly personally if I need extra bandwidth. Just passing along info about 2.5G if somone really think the middle ground worth it.

 

[piokos]

I will jump to 10G directly personally if I need extra bandwidth. Just passing along info about 2.5G if somone really think the middle ground worth it.

I don't understand why 2.5/5GbE are seen as "middle ground". Just because something faster is available?
10GbE brings a lot of extra problems (especially in the fibre approach).
And when 40GbE comes along - you'll go for it as well?

For many 1Gbps or 2.5Gbps is likely the fastest ethernet they'll ever use outside of work.

 

[aigomorla]

Now people are linking enterprise-grade massive switches that cost as much as an average PC.

This is as much as a average PC?

Amazon.com: MikroTik 9-Port Desktop Switch, 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port, 8 SFP+ 10Gbps Ports (CRS309-1G-8S+IN): Computers & Accessories

Buy MikroTik 9-Port Desktop Switch, 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port, 8 SFP+ 10Gbps Ports (CRS309-1G-8S+IN): Switches - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Price:

$238.52

Well its definitely more then your RPi
But well below average, as i think you need to at least double that.
Even my Tablet costed 3x that.

That is the 10g switch i linked, and its PASSIVE on top!
And yeah its enterprise grade, but its cheaper by half then Qnap's 10g switch.

Also 10g SFP+ network cards can be had for less then 50 dollars.
The only issue is how you intend to run the wiring.
Short distances you can go DAC's.
Mid distance of less then 30M you can use 10g RJ-45 Transceivers.
Long distances greater then 30M you go fiber with Fiber Transceivers.
You can get Fiber Transceivers again on Ebay for around 10 dollars.

10GBe is not that expensive if you know where to look and what to buy.
This is why the people who know networking in this thread look at 2.5 and 5 as a joke, as you can probably get a nice 10Gbe backbone setup for less then what you think.

 

[mxnerd]

Well, I do most of my things virtually.

When I need to upgrade, I can even plug in 2 cheap 40Gbe Mellanox Infiniband NICs and connect to each other without a switch.

And basically evevy VM gets 40Gbe bandwidth to spare.

 

[aigomorla]

Well, I do most of my things virtaully.

I can plug in 2 cheap 40Gbe Mellanox NIC and connect to each other without a switch.

And basically evevy VM got 40Gbe bandwidth to spare.

lol reminds me of the 10Base-T coax days when you daisy chained one pc to another and the last PC had a terminator.
That's how i played my first multiplayer diablo 1 in college at the dorms.
The RA however did not like how there would be a cable going from one room to another tack'd along the hallway.

 

[mxnerd]

lol reminds me of the 10Base-T coax days when you daisy chained one pc to another and the last PC had a terminator.
That's how i played my first multiplayer diablo 1 in college at the dorms.
The RA however did not like how there would be a cable going from one room to another tack'd along the hallway.

Yeah. I remebered the days when you tripped on one of the coaxial cables to a PC, then the whole network broke down.

 

[Shmee]

How is the 2.5Gb LAN on the X570 Meg ace?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Why would you bother with a $200-250 8 port 2.5 when you can buy this for $500-600?

Why would anyone buy a Ryzen 3 3300X for Fortnite, when they could spend $3000 on a 64-core ThreadRipper!?!?!? STUPID CONSUMERS WITH THEIR BUDGETS... DON'T THEY KNOW THAT MORE IS ALWAYS BETTER!?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Its quiet as hell as its is passive.
Show me another 10g switch that is PASSIVE.

Hot as hell too... just the 4-port Microtik SFP+ 10G switch, with 4x copper transcievers. Had to stick an external Rosewill 120mm fan pointed downward at it, now I'm not afraid that it's going to set the paperwork on my desk on fire...

 

[chrisjames61]

But most of those are $300-$500 boards, MSRP, some are higher.

My point is, with Z490 from Intel platform, you can "buy in" to 2.5Gbit/sec LAN, for a lot cheaper than with AM4. (I don't know about the new crop of B550 boards, maybe this will change, and B550 will equal Intel in terms of less expensive options for faster-than-1Gbit/sec LAN connections onboard.)

The previewed X570 Tomahawk board, supposedly with premium VRMs, AND 2.5Gbit/sec LAN, all for $200, sounded really good to me. I hope that it comes out soon, and does hit that price-point... if stores can even keep it in stock, the B450 Tomahawk and Tomahawk MAX are hard enough to keep in stock at MSRP right now.

But don't you have to buy an expensive cpu to put in the board? Wouldn't that negate any potential savings with the board?

 

[aigomorla]

Hot as hell too... just the 4-port Microtik SFP+ 10G switch, with 4x copper transcievers. Had to stick an external Rosewill 120mm fan pointed downward at it, now I'm not afraid that it's going to set the paperwork on my desk on fire...

Did you even see the link i gave you?
I highly push getting the 309 over the 305.
Its not even a contest, you get the 305 if you really cant afford that extra 100, but are willing to slap a fan.

But is the 309 worth it?
Yes its 100 dollars more expensive, but it has a MASSIVE heat sink in the rear connected via heat pipes and it also gives you a double the ports.

MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S+IN Review Inexpensive 8x 10GbE Switch

In our MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S+IN review, we show what this low-cost, low-power, and silent 8x 10GbE SFP+ switch offers and when it can be used

www.servethehome.com

 

[Magic Carpet]

Amazing thread, feel greatly entertained. Good points, everyone. Personally, I can barely use my 100mbit link, but oh well, I have little needs.

Larry, your use-case is surely very exotic, there is only one way to find out. Get the Z-series board next, that way you would be able to compare it head-to-head