Any current (chipset) suggestions for a 10G SFP+ card that works great with Scale?
Not sure whether I correctly get it. Do you mean that the NIC should be the latest gen? For lower power consumption?
Chelsio has always worked well with TrueNAS. I’ve used the T520 for at least 10 years across multiple systems and it’s never missed a beat.
I’ve used many Intel 5xx cards and Mellanox/NVidia ConnectX3 cards in the past. ConnectX-3 cards are very cheap on ebay, and the single port versions are only PCIe x4 instead of the x8 of the Intel 520 cards.
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Broadcom, Intel, Connectx cards here all work well. Be mindful 10 Gbe cards that have fans can turn off if the fan goes bad as a safety mechanism & the fans are not easily found for replacement.
Current in a way that you can easily order it from a normal online retailer for hardware. Lower power consumption is a nice side effect.
IMO, new SFP+ NICs are not worth it (for home use): the price is way higher, power consumption is only marginally better (in idle scenarios at least), and you probably won’t need new advanced features.
Suggested used intel x520 or mellanox cards would sure do the job. I wouldn’t go for mellanox 3rd gen, as 4th gen has only a bit higher price and seems to have better driver support and also 25G (it has the same connector and can work in a 10G environment as well).
Regarding normal online retailers… I think it depends on your location. Perhaps you have a reputable retailer with used gear in your country. Anyway, used nics are sooo much cheaper that you can order like 4-5 for the same price.
P.s. Intel x520 can be OEM or intel-branded. AFAIK intel-branded are kinda picky for SFP modules. I saw statements that they can be flashed/fixed. Mine are huawei-flavoured, so I didn’t have such issues.
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If Intel, some REQUIRE Intel transceivers. It depends on the model.
This is a bit old as it doesn’t cover the newer released models. Check the slot types required as newer NICs may be able to be used in lower rated, modern PCIe slots. PCIe 3,4,5 and x1, x4, x8, ie.
Anything Intel should work just fine. I’ve personally used X520 and X710 10Gbe cards without a problem.
This, Chelsio works, always get max performance, and you can even get the 10/25Gb 6000 series models used for like $40 US on ebay lately
Ebay Canada
Have a few mellanox connectx 3’s here. Truly plug and play even under Linux, windows, bsd, you name it. Mine are both sfp+ with those generic Amazon 10g fc fiber modules in them. But sustained speeds usually hover around 2.5g/s and when the arc is engaged, better.
Anyone has any experience with Solarflare cards? I’m interested in their compatibility with FreeBSD.
From 10G networking primer linked above
SolarFlare. Some users recommend the SFN5162F/SFN6122F. I would note that I just got four SolarFlare SFN6122F on eBay for $28/each, with SR optics (3/2019). This is awesome for ESXi as the SolarFlare burn half the watts of the Intel X520’s. We’ve had several confirmations that the SFN6122F works fine with FreeNAS/TrueNAS, and is currently the cheapest option on eBay (9/2021).
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AFAIK it’s not PnP in macOS. And connectx-4 is. </pedant-mode-off>
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I don’t consider MacOS for anything, so I wouldn’t have known the 4’s work. Figured it would be closer to bsd but maybe the Mach kernel was 25 years ago. 
Edit : noticed my earlier comment read like the connectx3’s are slow. Nah you can max them out at 10g under the right circumstances. Just saying on my network, Truenas usually pegs the pool at 2.5gb sustained, it’s all hd’s. But the arc being ram, full speed ahead. I chased hardware limitations one step at a time, from gigabit to 2.5 then 10, trying to find the ceiling. I did.
Intel 520 & 540 10G, I’ve hit 700 MB/s sustained 100+ ft over CAT6a.
Connectx3 40G DAC I’ve hit 900 MB/s sustained non-ARC and 2.5-3 GB/s ARC.
TrueNAS Scale 26.04.
I vote for the Intel 710 era NICs simply because they use less power and have great driver support. Cost difference vs 520 era is negligible given my power costs.
I’ve been very happy with Solarflare cards. Specifically the SFN7122F has a much lower power consumption, 7-11W range under load vs 35-49W for the Chelsio T520-CR. To boot, they are also super cheap.
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The main reason I prefer Chelsio or Mellanox, is knowing the Intel has its fair share of fake cards out there, so pending where you get it from…
As the owner of a “fake” Intel x520, I wonder what the exact difference between fake and genuine ones is…
AIUI, there are plenty of OEM-branded versions (Oracle, Lenovo, Dell, Fujitsu and so on). Which has a different appearance from the Intel-branded (and are not so picky about modules), thus considered as fake by some reviewers. I can be totally wrong, so I want to know.