Best PCIe Ethernet NIC?

[Tazling]

I know this topic has come up before, but on searching for it I found most threads were quite old (2013, 2014...) and most of the discussion was about WiFi, AirDrop, etc. My question is more humble and basic: what's the best, most compatible Ethernet NIC for a Hackintosh running Mojave or Catalina? I don't need wifi or bluetooth or airdrop or other wireless features, just an RJ45 for 10/100 Mbit.

Both my ASUS mobos have lost their LAN function within the same week (still scratching my head over that!). I've done pretty much everything I can find online that might fix them. So now I'm giving up and looking to provide an ethernet port by other means. I've ordered a couple of different USB 3.0 to Ethernet adapter gizmos, hoping that one of them will work; but to hedge my bets I'd like to try a PCIe NIC.

However, the Buyer's Guide doesn't seem to list recommended NICs (did I miss it somehow?). Ideally I'd like plug-n-play (i.e. compatible with Apple drivers) but if that's unrealistic then another kext is no biggie. I was using IntelMausiEthernet and it was working fine, so if there's a NIC compatible with that, it would be a painless install.

So, anyone? what NICs have you succeeded with (esp if they work with Catalina!). And are the cheap ones safe to use?

 

[Stork]

IIRC, @pastrychef has/uses a PCIe NIC. Let's get him to provide you advice.

 

[pastrychef]

I have an AQC107 based Syba card in one system and an AQC107 based Gigabyte card in another.

In Mojave and Catalina, the Syba card is natively supported. No additional drivers or patches needed.
In Big Sur Public Beta, a KextsToPatch is required to make the card work. No additional drivers needed.

My Gigabyte card was one of the earliest models and was a bit trickier to get working. It needs KextsToPatches for every version of macOS that I tested.

Both perform great and I get ~800MB/s reading from my NAS.

 

[Tazling]

Many thanks both -- pastrychef and Stork!

Is this

SYBA SD-PEX24055 10GB 10GBase-T NBASE-T Ethernet PCI-e x4 Network Card - Aqtion AQC107 Chipset - Walmart.ca

Buy SYBA SD-PEX24055 10GB 10GBase-T NBASE-T Ethernet PCI-e x4 Network Card - Aqtion AQC107 Chipset from Walmart Canada. Shop for more Network Interface Cards available online at Walmart.ca

www.walmart.ca

the Syba card in question? Are all Syba models equally compatible, so long as AQC107 based?

This one

PCI Mounted Gigabit Mini PCI-e Ethernet Card - SD-MPE24031

SD-MPE24031, Syba, pcie, pci e, pci-express, pci express, mini pcie gigabit, mini gigabit, mini gigabit adapter, mini pci gigabit, mini gigabit port, mini pci gigabit card, mini pci express gigabit, mini pcie gigabit card, mini pci-e gigabit card, mini p

www.sybausa.com

is a bit mysterious, I have not yet been able to find out what chipset it uses.

Will I need to disable the mobo LAN in BIOS somehow, for OSX (and Win10) to see the Syba LAN card?

Why are some NIC cards expensive (like this one) whereas other go for $10 or $12? Brand name reputation? Or real differences of build quality and reliability etc? I will grit teeth and pay for the one that you assure me is compatible, of course, because my time is worth something

 

[pastrychef]

Many thanks both -- pastrychef and Stork!

Is this

SYBA SD-PEX24055 10GB 10GBase-T NBASE-T Ethernet PCI-e x4 Network Card - Aqtion AQC107 Chipset - Walmart.ca

Buy SYBA SD-PEX24055 10GB 10GBase-T NBASE-T Ethernet PCI-e x4 Network Card - Aqtion AQC107 Chipset from Walmart Canada. Shop for more Network Interface Cards available online at Walmart.ca

www.walmart.ca

the Syba card in question? Are all Syba models equally compatible, so long as AQC107 based?

This one

PCI Mounted Gigabit Mini PCI-e Ethernet Card - SD-MPE24031

SD-MPE24031, Syba, pcie, pci e, pci-express, pci express, mini pcie gigabit, mini gigabit, mini gigabit adapter, mini pci gigabit, mini gigabit port, mini pci gigabit card, mini pci express gigabit, mini pcie gigabit card, mini pci-e gigabit card, mini p

www.sybausa.com

is a bit mysterious, I have not yet been able to find out what chipset it uses.

Will I need to disable the mobo LAN in BIOS somehow, for OSX (and Win10) to see the Syba LAN card?

Why are some NIC cards expensive (like this one) whereas other go for $10 or $12? Brand name reputation? Or real differences of build quality and reliability etc? I will grit teeth and pay for the one that you assure me is compatible, of course, because my time is worth something

The Walmart one is the one I have. It's a bit expensive though... I think I paid $99.

The price reflects the fact that it's 10GBase-T aka 10 Gigabit or 10x faster than gigabit ethernet.

The second link you posted is for mini PCI. You don't have one of these slots in either of your builds.

If you want cheap, you can try a generic Realtek based card and use Mieze's driver. The following link shows all the chipsets supported by that driver:

GitHub - Mieze/RTL8111_driver_for_OS_X: OS X open source driver for the Realtek RTL8111/8168 family

OS X open source driver for the Realtek RTL8111/8168 family - Mieze/RTL8111_driver_for_OS_X

github.com

 

[smoothmove]

I have an Ebay card. Dell Intel Pro1000 dual. $20 shipped. there are a lot of them on there. Works perfect

 

[MAC_OS]

The Walmart one is the one I have. It's a bit expensive though... I think I paid $99.
The price reflects the fact that it's 10GBase-T aka 10 Gigabit or 10x faster than gigabit ethernet.

I need your advise, so will that work if connect 'AQC10710-10GBase-T' from PC (Catalina) to board Z-490-D with 2.5GbE LAN on board? I mean can we get at least 250mb/s speed and whether such a connection is generally compatible with each other.

 

[pastrychef]

I need your advise, so will that work if connect 'AQC10710-10GBase-T' from PC (Catalina) to board Z-490-D with 2.5GbE LAN on board?

I don't see why not.

I mean can we get at least 250mb/s speed and whether such a connection is generally compatible with each other.

That depends on the network you are connecting these NICs to. If the networks you are connecting to are all just regular 1GBase-T, you're only going to get 1GBase-T speeds.

 

[MAC_OS]

That depends on the network you are connecting these NICs to. If the networks you are connecting to are all just regular 1GBase-T, you're only going to get 1GBase-T speeds.

yeah, just direct connect PC to PC via Lan cable, I wanna order now the card you recommended above: AQC107 (10GBase-T) for my Slave Board: Z10PE-D16 WS (Catalina) and try to connect to Z490-D with 2.5GBase-T on board.

Therefor I'm wondering if the card will fits the board Z10PE-D16 and if yes, then will all provide together at least 250 MB/s speed or only 1GBase-T?

Honestly I'm not quite sure that the AQC107 'Syba' will fit the board Z10PE-D16 WS what you think?

 

[pastrychef]

yeah, just direct connect PC to PC via Lan cable, I wanna order now the card you recommended above: AQC107 (10GBase-T) for my Slave Board: Z10PE-D16 WS (Catalina) and try to connect to Z490-D with 2.5GBase-T on board.

Therefor I'm wondering if the card will fits the board Z10PE-D16 and if yes, then will all provide together at least 250 MB/s speed or only 1GBase-T?

Honestly I'm not quite sure that the AQC107 'Syba' will fit the board Z10PE-D16 WS what you think?

If you are connecting 10GBase-T to 2.5GBase-T, it should work at 2.5Gbps.

Whether or not it fits really depends on your case and whether or not you have an available PCI-e x4 slot.