Re: [List] Nic card recommendation

On 03/11/2025 20:42, Frederick D Ullman wrote:
>
> I own a Gigabyte X870 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 motherboard which was intended 
> when purchased to dual boot Windows 11 and FreeBSD 14.3. Th windows 
> side is already installed and fully functional. My understanding is 
> that there are two major compatibility issues between this motherboard 
> and FreeBSD: graphics and the included ethernet lan interface. 
> Graphics is not a current concern.  But access to the Internet is 
> vital. The workaround I’ve seen suggested is to add a PCIe network 
> card supported by FreeBSD. I’d prefer a 1GB card to match what my ISP 
> provides but even a lower speed card will do to give me Internet 
> access from FreeBSD. I freely admit my FreeBSD experience is quite old 
> and rusty.  I’ve just spent almost a full day going back and forth 
> between the FreeBSD 14.3 release notes, Nic cards available for retail 
> purchase online, and trying to determine the underlying chips  of what 
> I find available.   I have absolutely nothing to show for my efforts 
> other than the realization that many cards listed as compatible with 
> some release of FreeBSD are many years obsolete.   If memory serves, I 
> don’t recall having to even think about Nic drivers the last time I 
> installed FreeBSD. I’m recently retired and hoping someone will take 
> pity on a struggling senior citizen by recommending a specific pcie 
> Nic card or two that are known to be compatible with FreeBSD 14.3, 
> stable, reliable and currently available, for example, on Amazon..
>
Quick answer is Intel for 1Gb and Chelsio for 10Gb. They're very well 
supported 'cos the manufacturers make sure they are. I believe 10Gb 
Intel chips are well supported now but I've been doing this a while.

There are a lot of other perfectly good NICs that are supported, but as 
you get a more capable chip (and therefore more expensive) it's a bit of 
a waste if that particular feature isn't used. I'm talking about the CPU 
offloading work to the NIC. the higher the price, the more the NIC _can_ 
do. The better supported, the more the NIC _will_ do. Other perfectly 
good chips makers like Broadcom have some variants that are better 
supported than others and you want an straightforward answer.

But I guess you're not running a server here, because you can spend a 
lot of money. How about something with an Intel i226? 2.5Gbps, single 
port, not silly money. Older 1Gb chips like 82576 are also fine for what 
you need. Don't forget to make sure it comes with a low/high profile 
bracket as needed!

These are fine:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dual-Port-Gigabit-Network-Express-Ethernet/dp/B09D3JL14S/

Twin port 1Gbps, older chip. Never had a problem with the chip, and not 
a lot of money. They're all cheaper in the USA.

Regards, Frank.