Question 1

Is this a low profile card? I have a OptiPlex 9020 small form factor and I don't see in the description that it's a low profile card.

Accepted Answer

This controller is NOT low profile.  It ships with a standard height back plate. I cannot immediately recall if the packaging included a low profile back plate, but I know that it ships with the standard back plate.

Question 2

Could I use this on my desk-top PC or is this strictly for a server?

Accepted Answer

As long as you have a PCI-e port, which most boards have, then it should work barring drivers issues. It works just fine with ubuntu and most likely all linux variants, and should with windows also, I just have not tried it.

Question 3

I'm wanting to be able to connect two other PCs to mine for LAN connectivity.

ie. LAN parties (Small). Buying a switch may be easier/cost effective but I'm simply wanting to pop it into my rig, and let it go with me. No extra baggage/cords.

Would this card work well for what I've described above?

Accepted Answer

I would just buy an inexpensive switch. Then all of the traffic between I the two other hosts ( not going to you) will be processed by the switch.

I have this card and it works flawlessly, but if you use it in the way you describe your computer becomes a soft switch.  Worse yet it will definitely effect your in game experience as your processor is busy processing extra packets.

Question 4

Does anyone know if this works with Windows Server 2008?  Thanks.

Accepted Answer

It is not VMWare capable and doesn't include drivers for Server 2008.

Software included supports Server 2003,  Windows 7, Vista, XP and Mac.  It supports ESXi upto 5 but not 5.5.  Ubuntu 13.10  recognizes it without any other drivers.

It Does not support Teaming, Bonding, Failover, or any other dual port technology.  This is a basic network card with two separate ports--not a server card.  
 
Use this Two port card when your board doesn't have enough PCIe slots for two separate one port network cards.

Question 5

I'm looking to replace my NetGear 8-port switch with a PCIe card(for some arcane reasons). I have an OEM HP Elite desktop with W7 64-bit. My question is this: can I continue using my on-board ethernet, and just use the ports on this card to supply internet to other computers via my computer? I imagine this would be done by bridging the adapters? Thanks.

Accepted Answer

That would be very dependent on your operating system. Linux supports bridging NIC ports and I think you can do that with versions of Windows that support internet connection sharing.

That being said, you must have a really good reason not to use a switch to want to go down this path, I guess, since switches are cheaper than this card.

Question 6

Will this card support LACP?  I don't see the IEEE standards listed in the specifications.  I am going to be using this in a freenas box and  plan on using LACP.

Accepted Answer

I doubt it. I used it in VM to support 2 separate connection.  To have LACP function, you need one of those $200 NIC card.

Question 7

Has anyone tried this under Ubuntu, and if so, does it support teaming / bonding of its two network interfaces ? (As in, the two interfaces would share an IP, and work in a load-balancing round-robin or fail-over fashion; useful to increase a server's throughput).

Accepted Answer

To answer the specific question about interface bonding (both NICs on the same IP address), yes, Linux will bond both interfaces (as well as others on other cards) together without extra work.  I've used this under Ubuntu Server (14 LTS, 16 LTS) in balance-rr (default), balance-tlb and active-backup without issue. If you're having problems with the default, balance-rr, note that it typically needs all ports on the same logical switch.

Question 8

Looking for a 100/1000 PCI-express card to replace on an older hp workstation xw8200 running windows xp pro?

Accepted Answer

this needs a pci-e x1 slot you need to check that you have one of those on your machine.

Question 9

I was wondering if this product is compatible with an HP Compaq Presario 5210NX pc and also if you can bridge the two interfaces? I am wanting to make a inline IDS/IPS device on my network using the computer mentioned running Ubuntu Linux and I am wondering if this will work.

Accepted Answer

I didn't do this with a Presario, but this was my exact application for this card.  Linux bridging worked great in Linux Mint, but beware you may have to recompile Snort to get native Snort inline.

Question 10

Does this have suport for Turbo QAM?

Accepted Answer

As far as I know Turbo QAM is a wireless standard for higher wireless throughput. This is a wired, not wireless device.

Questions & Answers