Hi, I have TrueNAS Scale 23.10.02 with a Mellanox 3g working without issues i would say. The Mellanox uses a DAC to a 10GBe switch (Mikrotik). The Mainboard i am using (Asrock Rack E3C246D4U-2L2T has two intel 550-T2 onboard.
I am quite happy with the thermals of the DAC (it’s probably half as warm as a SFP+ transceiver for RJ45), but i read here that the intel does better offloading. OTOH, it requires a SFP+ transceiver.
Both interfaces are running off the chipset ICH.
What would you do - stick with the setup or remove the Mellanox and work from the intel 550-T2, even though it means more energy waste on the SFP+?
Pick one or the other. It won’t make much difference unless you are adding up power for a datacenter. SFP+ setup will hit about 300m on multi mode and 2km and above on single mode. SFP+ with RJ45 is about 30m
Keep the fiber optic and you can play LTT with a big spool of fiber.
Hi, thanks, but i don’t have any optical fibers. DAC is copper as well internally with the difference that there is step in translation missing, hence the savings in power and timings.
But apart from that, you all would say it’s not worth changing the system?
You didn’t mention what switch you had but there are power limits to using the 10Gbs base-T SFP+ transceivers in them. You could only use two out for four SFP+ slots, as an example. It depends on the switch as to how many you can power.
very pragmatical
Thanks - only problem is that i haved to work on the system anyway (did not put in the CPU fan in the right orientation, want to add some more PWM fans) so i can as well take out the Mellanox PCI card (even improving air flow around the SAS/SATA HBA) and do the necessary work. However, i see your point.
currently, it’s a Mikrotik CRS305-1G-4S+IN. I am expecting it to power all SFP+ ports with a SFP+ transceiver in it, even though i don’t expect it to properly cool all these transceivers as it’s a passively cooled switch.
I have therefore ordered the 9 port version, where i can leave more room between the transceivers. And the DAC modules generate less heat, so they will probably be put in between.
Regular fiber or DAC transceivers are fine. Check documentation for the RJ45 types.
See the footnotes for the two models you are considering.
CRS305 is 2 x SFP+ RJ45 modules and CRS309 not recommended.
S+RJ10 is MikroTik SFP+ RJ45 transceiver.
Hi, thanks for the feedback. I instead opted for the CRS312 (with Noctua fan mod).
I also switched to the onboard intel X550-T2 (hoping to improve cooling as i could remove the PCIe Mellanox card right next to the SATA-HBA).
