Ethernet Products
Determine ramifications of Intel® Ethernet products and technologies
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Suitable card for a particular machine and intended usage.

idata
Employee
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Hi folks,

I recently purchased a Dell Optiplex 9010MT (shown http://www.dell.com/au/business/p/optiplex-9010/pd here, in particular the tech specs tab) which is acting as a Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V host and I'm looking for some clarification and/or advice on a suitable multi-port NIC. Essentially, it's a cheap virtualisation platform I use at home in conjunction with my Technet subscription as a means for keeping abreast of new releases, so requirements are fairly minimal.

I'm currently looking at the Intel Gigabit ET or ET2 variants (shown http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/network-adapters/gigabit-network-adapters/ethernet-ef-et.html here), but I'm looking for confirmation this is going to work, or a suitable alternative if it won't. I'm more interested in the dual port variant (ET), but I'm assuming the answer will be the same for both.

I've found the card being sold on the Australian Dell site (shown http://www.dell.com/au/business/p/intel-1gb-et-4/pd here) where it mentions the card will operate in PCIe x16 slots, but I'm just paranoid that might not actually be the case - hence asking here for clarification.

Cheers,

Lain

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Mark_H_Intel
Employee
347 Views

Hi Lain,

Any of the Intel ET or ET2 variants should work in either the x16 PCIe slot or the x16 (wired x4) slot. However, I don't have one of these desktops that I can use to confirm compatibility. The connector on the adapters is PCIe, x4, which will definitely plug into your x16 slots. I have an Intel desktop where I regularly plug in server adapters into the desktop's second x16 slot. (The first x16 slot has my graphics adapter.) I would be surprised if you had any trouble using these network adapters in your Dell system.

You can compare Intel gigabit server adapters in the product catalog at http://ark.intel.com/products/family/46829 http://ark.intel.com/products/family/46829. You might want to consider the most recent dual port adapter, the http://ark.intel.com/products/59062/Intel-Ethernet-Server-Adapter-I350-T2 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T2. Released in 2011,this dual port gigabit server adapter hasall the latest design improvements including improved power management. Both adapters have great virtualization support, so either adapter will be a good choice.

Mark H

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Mark_H_Intel
Employee
348 Views

Hi Lain,

Any of the Intel ET or ET2 variants should work in either the x16 PCIe slot or the x16 (wired x4) slot. However, I don't have one of these desktops that I can use to confirm compatibility. The connector on the adapters is PCIe, x4, which will definitely plug into your x16 slots. I have an Intel desktop where I regularly plug in server adapters into the desktop's second x16 slot. (The first x16 slot has my graphics adapter.) I would be surprised if you had any trouble using these network adapters in your Dell system.

You can compare Intel gigabit server adapters in the product catalog at http://ark.intel.com/products/family/46829 http://ark.intel.com/products/family/46829. You might want to consider the most recent dual port adapter, the http://ark.intel.com/products/59062/Intel-Ethernet-Server-Adapter-I350-T2 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T2. Released in 2011,this dual port gigabit server adapter hasall the latest design improvements including improved power management. Both adapters have great virtualization support, so either adapter will be a good choice.

Mark H

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idata
Employee
347 Views

Hi Mark,

Thanks a lot for the clarification - it's very much appreciated. Also, thanks for the guidance on the I350-T2. I will definitely look into this option as well.

Cheers,

Lain

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