IO CREST Single Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-e x1 Intel I210 Network Interface Card (SY-PEX24068)

No FreeBSD drivers. I wanted to use this to connect my NAS directly to my workstation on a dedicated link. Nope. It doesn’t see it at all. Vendors need to support all operating systems.

You'd think the manufacturer would devote a minute or so to check if the included low profile bracket actually fits the card it was shipped with, but sadly the state of quality control nowadays makes that a crapshoot. As you can see in the picture, the low profile bracket doesn't align properly with either the ethernet port, or the screw slots on the card itself, made even more glaring when you see the normal bracket beside it.Made it absolutely worthless to me as I can't install it in my HTPC.

[UPDATE 7-6-2020]This card does indeed work as advertised in Linux. I was able to easily get 290MB/s throughput between two Linux computers via the Zyxel XGS1210-12 managed switch that has two 2.5gb ports. One computer has this PCIe card and the other is a laptop with a USB3.0 to 2.5gb ethernet adapter (Cable Creation) based on the Realtek chips.[/UPDATE]I am waiting on a Zyxel XGS1210-12 switch to arrive which has 2.5 gigabit ports to test the max speed of this card, but until then I can confirm this card works at least up to a gigabit throughput in Linux. BUT, the trick is you have to install a driver and, while easy if you know the steps, it is not something that was easy for me to *find* a up to date tutorial on as someone who's never compiled a driver before.There are a lot of outdated driver tutorials. I found one that works and am sharing it here.Saying that, please note these steps are ONLY for Linux Mint 19.3 which is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS which is based on Debian. So these steps may not be required in future releases. Both Ubuntu and Linux Mint are now at version 20 with kernel 5.4. I have not had a chance yet to test this card with those. But I will. I'm evaluating Linux Mint 20 in a virtual machine and will upgrade at a later date. Linux Mint says they will have an updater from 19.3 soon.If you are NOT using a Debian based Linux these specific steps will NOT work, but should be adaptable to other distros such as RedHat, Fedora, CentOS, Manjaro, OpenSuse, etc. with a little tweaking. It is my experience that a recompile of the entire kernel from source is not necessary. Only compile the driver and then add it. The Realtek script download does this. But there are some things you have to install first. (see steps below)If you are using FreeBSD you're going to have a difficult time because there are no drivers provided by Realtek for that operating system (at least from what I can see.) BUT, you may want to look into using the Windows driver in FreeBSD by using ndisgen or ndiswrapper. I know NOTHING about using those, but have read this is a workaround when no drivers are provided for a Unix-like OS such as FreeBSD. At least now you have a starting point for Google search.Steps to compile and install the driver for this card and others based on the Realtek r8125 chip:1. Download the r8125 driver for PCIe cards (not USB) from Realtek's website and unzip it. Make note of where you unzip it. Most browsers save to the Downloads folder of your home path.2. From a command line prompt (aka terminal) do the following:2a. cd {path to unzipped driver download}2b. sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential2c. sudo ./autorun.shThe autorun.sh file is included with the Realtek driver, in case you're curious. It's not part of Linux.After the autorun.sh file finishes the driver will be installed. Be patient. After it's done installing then the card may take a few seconds or a minute to get an IP address. In my experience a reboot of the computer was not required. It just started working on its own.The DOWN side to this is that the driver is only installed for the current kernel, so when an update to a newer kernel happens you'll have to do these steps again. (Unless the driver is in the new kernel.)There is a way to automatically compile and install the driver whenever the kernel is updated and that is called DKMS. I'm not familiar enough with it to provide notes on its use. But if you want to investigate on your own I encourage it. Gotta try to learn, right?I also have found a way to test speed of Ethernet ports using two computers. It is preferred, but not required, to connect both computers to a switch for the test, but it is possible to direct connect between two computers, assign IP address to each card, and test that way.SPEED TESTSpeed test (both computers running Linux. Probably any version of Linux or even FreeBSD as nc and dd are usually already present)We will presume the first computer's IP address is 192.168.1.100.Step 1: If using a firewall open a port to test with. I use 12345 in these steps. Use what you prefer. Open a port on both computers (presuming firewall is on both) because you may want to test in both directions. This test only tests one way at a time. Sometimes I get different speeds (on other adapters, specifically USB Ethernet) so it is good to test both ways.Step 2: On first computer that will be the "server" type this at the command line nc -vvnlp 12345 >/dev/nullAfter pressing enter the computer will sit patiently waiting for something on that port.Step 3: On the second computer that will be the "client" type this at the command line dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=1K | nc -vvn 192.168.1.100 12345The test will begin but you will not see a status until the test is done and it will report the speed.Be patient.This tests throughput of a 1 gigabyte data stream. If you want more change the count to a higher number like 2K or 3K or less like 250, 500, 750. Doing a longer or shorter stream has not, in my experience, resulted in any better or worse speeds than a gigabyte of data.Once the test is done and the speed is shown (1 gigabit is usually about 118MB/s) you will need to press Ctrl-C to break out of the command and it will return the terminal prompt on both computers.To do the test the other direction, just run the server command on the other computer and vise versa. Note, you'll need to know the IP address of the other computer and use that instead of 192.168.1.100.After I get a 2.5Gb switch I'll test with that and show results here.

Unraid recognized the RealTek RTL8125 NIC without any driver updates. I have this NIC directly connected from my Unraid Server to my desktop with a USB 2.5GB using a separate subnet. Getting 2.5x the speeds as before.

I was skeptical, since this is the cheapest multi-gig card I could find, but I haven't had any issues at all. It's super easy to set up - just pop it in, install the drivers, and you're set. It's perfect if you have a multi-gig setup but are bottle-necked by HDDs, or only have PCI Express x1 slots available - I have no issues getting 2.5 gigs up/down between my PC and NAS, with a 10 gig QNAP switch in between.I'd love to get another for my HTPC, but I may have to fork over a few extra bucks for another brand. Hopefully it's just a supply issue due to COVID and they'll be back in stock soon...UPDATE: First NIC is still going strong after a few months of heavy use. I noticed that these were indeed re-stocked, so I grabbed another for my HTPC - I'm looking forward to replacing the 2.5 gig USB adapter that I'm currently using for that system, as it's a less than perfect solution.

Installed it in my PC and performed a couple of quick iperf3 tests and performance looks good. It also came with a heatsink installed which isn't shown in the picture. I actually bought a heat sink separately as these cards tend to get pretty hot, but didn't need it.Will update the review if something goes wrong.P.S I did not use the low-profile bracket so can't comment on that.

I got it quickly and immediately installed it. I'm a little scared of doing stuff on my computer but this was very easy to install.

This part was a great fit for replacing an out chipset that the motherboard presented. Very simple installation into a pci express slot and provides full bandwidth for ethernet connection. No more issues with low bandwidth connection. This was a perfect replacement part

Bought as the Ethernet port on my PC suddenly decided to die, had to switch to a wireless dongle that was not capable of HD video streaming.This was so easy to install into a spare PCI slot. Windows foouns it right away and was soon getting download speeds of 200mb.Worth getting.

Installed into a full size slot on my motherboard. The card comes with 2 size brackets, with the larger bracket being fitted and the smaller size bracket in the box.Windows 10 detected the card straight away and didn't need to use the supplied driver cd.I've been running this card for 1 month now without a single issue with excellent speeds.

Easy to install.Working dull speed on windows server 19Minimal setup.Getting great speeds

Multigigabit networking at a bargain price. Works with Windows 10; you do have to install the drivers which come on a mini CD but it checks for updates during the install. Faultless at this price.

Direct connection between 2 PC's, not connected to a Switch.Works great at 2.5G Speed, dead easy to install, no problems.