XikeStor 2.5Gb PCIe Network Card with Intel I226-V Chip, 2.5GBase-T Network Adapter NIC, PCIe 3.1 X1, PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Card for Windows 10/11, Linux Kernel 5.16.18/RHEL8.6, VMware ESXi8.0

I have an older PC that has been repurposed to be my NAS using Unraid. I purchased this to replace an intel based 2x1Gbps card that was running as an aggregated LACP bond. It took a little bit to learn how to get Unraid to make this the primary NIC, but that's not the card's fault (it wasn't really that hard, I am just not familiar with Unraid just yet). After installing the card and getting it connected to my Ubiquiti Unifi Cloud Gateway Max, I ran In iperf3 test to another Unraid system on the network. I am no network engineer, but I'm getting "close enough" to the advertised maximum bandwidth to make me very happy. My iperf3 results are below: iperf3 -c 10.0.20.21 Connecting to host <targetIP>, port 5201 [ 5] local <sourceIP> port 58840 connected to <targetIP> port 5201 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd [ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.36 Gbits/sec 0 311 KBytes [ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 278 MBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec 0 308 KBytes [ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 279 MBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec 0 311 KBytes [ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 278 MBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec 0 305 KBytes [ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 280 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 308 KBytes [ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 278 MBytes 2.33 Gbits/sec 0 305 KBytes [ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 280 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 308 KBytes [ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 278 MBytes 2.33 Gbits/sec 0 311 KBytes [ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 279 MBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec 0 308 KBytes [ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 278 MBytes 2.33 Gbits/sec 0 5.66 KBytes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.72 GBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec 0 sender [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.72 GBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec receiver I may try to set up jumbo frames (I don't know if that' still a good way to increase throughput, but I seem to remember 'back in tha day' it being one way to improve performance) but I'm not sure. For now, it gave me what I wanted: a very affordable and fast speed boost on my small home network.

Noticeable improvement in throughput even with the rest of the network on 1GB infrastructure (e.g. 1GB hubs and 1GB ethernet on client systems). Installed without issue. Immediately recognized by BSD Linux installation it's running under.

This card reports the connection speed as 2.5Gbps, but it performs close to 100 Mbps. See the iperf3 results: [ 5] 0.00-1.01 sec 7.50 MBytes 62.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 1.01-2.01 sec 11.5 MBytes 96.5 Mbits/sec [ 5] 2.01-3.00 sec 11.2 MBytes 94.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 11.4 MBytes 95.3 Mbits/sec [ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 11.4 MBytes 95.2 Mbits/sec [ 5] 5.00-6.01 sec 11.2 MBytes 94.3 Mbits/sec [ 5] 6.01-7.00 sec 11.1 MBytes 93.4 Mbits/sec [ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 11.1 MBytes 93.5 Mbits/sec [ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 11.2 MBytes 94.5 Mbits/sec [ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 11.2 MBytes 94.3 Mbits/sec - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 109 MBytes 91.4 Mbits/sec sender [ 5] 0.00-10.05 sec 109 MBytes 90.6 Mbits/sec receiver A different card on the same computer and the same switch perform as expected. [ 7] 0.00-1.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.36 Gbits/sec [ 7] 1.00-2.01 sec 281 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 2.01-3.01 sec 280 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 3.01-4.01 sec 281 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 4.01-5.01 sec 281 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 5.01-6.00 sec 280 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 6.00-7.01 sec 281 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 7.01-8.00 sec 279 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 8.00-9.01 sec 282 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 7] 9.01-10.01 sec 280 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate [ 7] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec sender [ 7] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec receiver

Detected fine in an Asus AMD x570 motherboard. No windows 10 drivers automatically found. Unfortunately Intel's website makes it a bit harder than it should be to find drivers. Search for "Intel Network Adapter Driver for Windows 10". Version 29.1 installed without issue. I ordered a second one and will update review if there are any problems. Edit: Also working fine on another ASUS AMD x570 motherboard on windows 11, a Gigabyte A520 board on windows 10, and an ASUS Intel H770 board running Debian Linux. 2.5 GB link throughput: [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate [ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 284 MBytes 2.38 Gbits/sec [ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec [ 5] 2.00-3.01 sec 284 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec [ 5] 3.01-4.01 sec 281 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 5] 4.01-5.01 sec 284 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec [ 5] 5.01-6.00 sec 279 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec [ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec [ 5] 7.00-8.01 sec 284 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec [ 5] 8.01-9.01 sec 281 MBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec [ 5] 9.01-10.01 sec 284 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate [ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.76 GBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec sender [ 5] 0.00-10.02 sec 2.76 GBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec receiver 1GB link throughput: [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate [ 5] 0.00-1.01 sec 115 MBytes 962 Mbits/sec [ 5] 1.01-2.01 sec 107 MBytes 893 Mbits/sec [ 5] 2.01-3.01 sec 113 MBytes 943 Mbits/sec [ 5] 3.01-4.01 sec 113 MBytes 942 Mbits/sec [ 5] 4.01-5.00 sec 111 MBytes 944 Mbits/sec [ 5] 5.00-6.01 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec [ 5] 6.01-7.01 sec 111 MBytes 929 Mbits/sec [ 5] 7.01-8.01 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec [ 5] 8.01-9.01 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec [ 5] 9.01-10.00 sec 111 MBytes 944 Mbits/sec - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.09 GBytes 938 Mbits/sec sender [ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.09 GBytes 936 Mbits/sec receiver

Aprés 2 mois d'utilisation la carte est hs. les 2 premières semaines, aucun problème, débit très correct. Du jour au lendemain la carte se désactive. Puis plus rien. Je ne sais pas si il y a un SAV, mais je ne le recommande pas pour l'instant.

Ottima scheda e funzionante con VMWARE ESXI in modalità plug & play senza fare altro.

Działa od pierwszego uruchomienia - trzeba pamieęać o pobraniu i instalacji właściwych sterowników. Szukałem karty z możliwością agregacji portów pod katem przełacznika ubiquiti - działa :)

I recently upgraded my server with the XikeStor 2.5Gb PCIe Network Card, and I couldn't be happier with the results! This network adapter, featuring the reliable Intel I226-V Chip, has been an absolute game-changer for my home network. Installation was incredibly straightforward – simply slot it into a PCIe 3.1 X1 or greater slot, and it was ready to go. What truly stands out is its exceptional compatibility. It worked perfectly right out of the box, delivering the promised 2.5GBase-T speeds without any fuss. Even more impressively, I tested it with both VMware ESXi 8.0U3 and Proxmox 8.4.1, and the card was picked up by both hypervisors without requiring any additional drivers installed – a huge time-saver! The performance uplift is immediately noticeable. File transfers are significantly faster and the system feels a lot more responsive than previously. The speeds have also been consistently excellent, running at full 2.5Gbps line speed, which is a true upgrade from standard gigabit Ethernet, providing that extra bandwidth for demanding tasks. If you're looking to future-proof your network connection and experience genuinely faster speeds, the XikeStor 2.5Gb PCIe Network Card is an outstanding choice. It's reliable, easy to install, and delivers on its promise of high-speed, stable connectivity across various operating systems and virtualisation platforms. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a significant network performance boost!

Works perfectly. You just have to download the drivers from Intel.