I'm upgrading to an internet connection capable of up to 10 Gbps, but my MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI only has 2.5GbE built in. I'm considering the TP-Link TX401 10Gbps Ethernet adapter, but I'm unsure which PCIe slot I can use.
My Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti GAMING OC is a large triple-slot card and appears to come very close to the second full-length PCIe slot. The motherboard also has a smaller bottom PCIe slot, but I'm not sure whether the TX401's connector will physically fit there or whether that slot has enough bandwidth for a 10Gbps network card.
Would the TX401 work in the bottom full-length PCIe slot, which is electrically only x4? If that slot is blocked by the GPU, can the card be used in one of the short x1 slots, and would PCIe bandwidth prevent me from reaching the full network speed?
3 Answers
The TX401 uses a physically x4 PCIe connector, so it needs a slot that is physically at least x4 long. The bottom full-length slot on your motherboard is electrically x4, but that is completely sufficient for a 10GbE adapter. PCIe 3.0 x4 provides much more bandwidth than the network card needs.
The short x1 slots won’t accept the card because their connectors are physically too short and closed at the back. Your 4070 Ti is a triple-slot card, so check the slot layout carefully—the lower full-length slot may still be available, although it could have reduced airflow around the graphics card.
A PCIe 3.0 x1 slot is not ideal for full 10GbE performance. It offers roughly 8Gbps of usable bandwidth after overhead, so even a network adapter that could physically be adapted to x1 would be somewhat limited. More importantly, the TX401 is physically x4, so it won’t simply plug into a normal x1 slot.
A riser or modified slot could theoretically work, but it would be awkward and not worth doing in most systems. The proper solution is the motherboard’s lower physical x16 slot, which is wired for x4 and has enough bandwidth for the adapter.
Before buying an RJ45 10GbE card, check whether your router or switch has 10G SFP+ ports instead. If it does, an SFP+ adapter and compatible cable may be a better fit, but you’d still need an available PCIe slot. Also, if you do buy a NIC, cards based on Intel or Marvell controllers often have better long-term driver support than some inexpensive alternatives.
So the practical options are using the lower full-length x4 slot if it has enough clearance, or finding another solution if the graphics card blocks it? I was hoping one of the small slots might work.