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10Gtek Intel X520-DA1 Review Score
generalize
The 10Gtek Intel X520-DA1 works fine on Windows 10, but requires some extra steps to work on Windows 11.Once installed, it’s an excellent affordable way to get 10GbE
advantage
- An affordable way to get 10GbE
shortcoming
- Windows 11 is not officially supported
- Additional steps are required to make it work in Windows 11
Years ago, I purchased and reviewed the excellent Mikrotik Cloud Smart Switch 326-24G-2S+RM, which gave me one of the cheapest ways to upgrade my network with a 10Gbps LAN connection. Like many hobbyists, I paired it with a cheap Mellanox Connectx card.
Unfortunately, after upgrading my PC, I couldn’t get Mellanox stuck running on Windows 10 for whatever reason. I think I tried the Mellanox ConnectX-2 and ConnectX-3, but neither card liked the various drivers I installed.
Most of the new SFP+ NICs are expensive, definitely more than I’d be willing to pay for my PC.However, I ended up finding a 10Gtek Intel X520-DA1 for less than £100 and thought it was worth the investment so I could get the most out of my new product EnGenius ECS2512F.
Everything worked fine after my initial install.It works out of the box, I connect at 10Gbps, and there are 10Gbps on my TerraMaster NAS and Ubuntu server. Network throughput is limited by the speed of my drive, which is capped at about 550MB/s writing to a SATA SSD.
However, I was recently forced to upgrade to Windows 11 so I could see more WiFi 6E devices. Everything went surprisingly well until I got the Intel X520 to work.
Windows didn’t recognize it automatically, and Windows Update didn’t install anything automatically.
Windows 11 does not support Intel X520
Unfortunately, the X520-DA1 is an old adapter and Intel will not officially support it under Windows 11.
Googling the question brought me to a Ars Technica Forum Thread Confirmed it’s not officially working, but Intel Wired Driver version 26.7 does work.This The current version is 27.0. You will need the normal driver instead of the PROset.
After I downloaded the driver and tried to install it the normal way, the software notified me that no products were supported on my computer. I have tried various versions and all tell me the same problem. I got to the point where I made a return request to Amazon.
I can’t install things manually because the downloaded file is just an executable file without proper drivers in it.
How to make it work on Windows 11
Trying to get things working again before returning the card, I realized that the executable was extracting the normal drivers via WinZip, and then the software installed the appropriate drivers.
I couldn’t figure out which directory the files were automatically extracted to, so I ended up installing WinZip and running the evaluation trial.
If you then unzip the original zip file normally, you can right-click Wired_driver_26.7_x64.exe (or whatever version you downloaded) from within WinZip and select Open as Zip File. This will bring up a dialog asking if you want to extract it to any folder you want.
This will then give you all the folders containing the various drivers. You can now search for Device Manager from the Windows menu and under Network Adapters and you should see the NIC that cannot be installed.
Right click on it and browse my computer for drivers and select the folder you just extracted the files to. Windows won’t install the driver and the Intel X520-DA1 should work out of the box.
I believe you can also find the temp folder where the files are automatically extracted and do it that way.
Price and Alternatives
The 10Gtek 10GbE PCIe network card is currently £90.99 on Amazon and I paid £96.
I’ve seen some cards priced below this price, but they either have no reviews or few. 10Gtek seems pretty good, so I recommend sticking with people like that.
You can buy a dual port X520-DA2 for around £102
comprehensive
In hindsight, I think I was a little stupid that I didn’t find a solution to the driver problem sooner. A busy schedule means I don’t think much about it.
I’m sure most people who install SFP+ cards will be computer literate enough to figure this out on their own, but hopefully I can help someone else.
As for the card itself, I’m happy with it. Granted, I bought it hoping it would be plug-and-play rather than messing around with drivers like Mellanox, but it wasn’t that hard to get things working in the end.
I don’t particularly want to spend over £90 on a network card, but it’s one of these cheapest options on the market, not an unreasonable amount to spend on a 10Gbps network.
Last updated on March 8, 2022 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API
