CHELSIO COMMUNICATIONS T520-SO-CR 2-Port Low Profile 1/10GbE Server Offload Adapter with PCI-E x8 Gen 3, SFP+ Connector

I used this with a DAC cable to connect my FreeNAS server to the network. Install, boot, it just works. Perfect!

Good: Has a good reputation for performance, working well with FreeBSD right out of the box. Bad: In my case, at least, that reputation is unfounded. Docs state specifically that this card works with FreeBSD 10.3-STABLE, which is what my FreeNAS installation is running on. Installed the card, booted up, system recognized the card but driver refused to load. Several hours of research and tweaking were fruitless. Contacted Chelsio tech support. They responded promply. After e-mail exchange, they told me that recent firmware mods no longer support FreeBSD 10, the minimum is now ver. 12.0. Upgrading is not an option for me; FreeNAS will not support 12.0 until later this year. Chelsio supplied a set of patches they claimed would allow use on 10.3. I was and am dubious about rebuilding a critical driver with a set of patches which cannot have been thoroughly tested, but after considerable effort I managed to compile from source with patches applied. Patched driver still refused to load. Gave up, returned the card, and bought an older model Chelsio card on eBay known to work with my version of FreeBSD/FreeNAS. Bottom line: It's possible that I could have made this card work, eventually. The bottom line, however, is that I shouldn't have to. Chelsio made changes to their card that broke an allegedly supported release, and didn't backport their 10.3 driver to match. I need this 10Gb segment online, and I'm uncomfortable with tinkering with a critical driver that is claimed to, and should, work right out of the box. I have just enough faith left in Chelsio to try their S320E card, even if I take a bit of a performance hit. If that doesn't work out, I guess I'll buy an Intel card like I probably should have done in the first place. Two stars, mainly because Chelsio support was fast and professional.

Would buy it again , package came in a very good condition this time .