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by seanherron
1344 days ago
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For about $50 US, you can get a 10Gbase-T SFP+ module that gives you a copper port at 10gig within a SFP+ form factor. That, coupled with a cheap Mikrotik switch, is plenty to get started. Second hand Brocade ICX switches are also plentiful and not too power hungry (but they can be loud). |
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They run absurdly hot, and they eat a lot of power.
If you don't have very good ventilation then you may find these modules running at well north of 80C. I ended up having to mount a 120MM PC fan and attach some mini-headsinks to them to keep them under 50C. Just sitting on a desk they were too hot to touch.
You may find that the power budget for your small 8-12 port SFP+ Switch isn't enough to run more than a few of these at once. I have an 8 Port Mikrotik SFP+ switch that can only run about 4 of them. The Quad-Port SFP+ NIC I bought from fs.com (Intel XL710-BM1) can only do two.
Expect to also run into issues if you use old, poor quality or mistreated cables. If you bend them too far (trying to get around a sharp corner) - they will work fine at 1Gbit, but just not work at all at 10Gb.
You may find it's a whole lot cheaper (and more reliable) to just get some optical cable and transceivers if you want to go more than a few meters.
For distances less than a few meters DAC cables are often reasonable value.
From personal experience, I'm now leaving the 10G-BaseT transceivers for runs where I can't run optical (like existing in-wall wiring).