I provide pro bono IT work for a small non-profit; they get free help and I get to have some fun learning new skills. Recently, I ditched their Internet provider's modem/router and replaced it with a pfSense router I built from one of their old desktop machines. In addition to providing Internet service for their needs, they also share their Internet service with a couple of other small non-profits who occupy the building with them. The pfSense router allowed me to separate the traffic between the non-profits with VLAN's, providing network protection that they did not have.
The pfSense router has a 1Gb Ethernet port that connects to an 8-port managed switch that services all of the client offices. The managed switch has a 10Gb trunk port but it is only operating at 1Gb due to the router's 1Gb port. I am contemplating purchasing a 10Gb Ethernet card for the router to take advantage of the switch's 10Gb trunk. The pfSense router has PCIe v1.0 slots; there is a x16 slot available to be used. I cannot find a v1.0 x16 10Gb Ethernet card; I have found a v2.0 x8 card on eBay (doing this cheaply!) that will fit in the slot.
I know that PCIe v2.0 is twice as fast as v1.0, but I believe that the v2.0 card will revert to v1.0 speed when inserted into a v1.0 slot. If this is the case, does that mean that the 10Gb card will operate at 5Gb? If I am doing my math correctly (based on some information I got from the Web), v1.0 speed is 250MBps per lane or 1Gbps (1 Byte = 8 bits). Multiplying this by 8 (the number of lanes on the x8 card), this would give a theoretical speed of 8Gbps.
Am I thinking about this correctly? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
The pfSense router has a 1Gb Ethernet port that connects to an 8-port managed switch that services all of the client offices. The managed switch has a 10Gb trunk port but it is only operating at 1Gb due to the router's 1Gb port. I am contemplating purchasing a 10Gb Ethernet card for the router to take advantage of the switch's 10Gb trunk. The pfSense router has PCIe v1.0 slots; there is a x16 slot available to be used. I cannot find a v1.0 x16 10Gb Ethernet card; I have found a v2.0 x8 card on eBay (doing this cheaply!) that will fit in the slot.
I know that PCIe v2.0 is twice as fast as v1.0, but I believe that the v2.0 card will revert to v1.0 speed when inserted into a v1.0 slot. If this is the case, does that mean that the 10Gb card will operate at 5Gb? If I am doing my math correctly (based on some information I got from the Web), v1.0 speed is 250MBps per lane or 1Gbps (1 Byte = 8 bits). Multiplying this by 8 (the number of lanes on the x8 card), this would give a theoretical speed of 8Gbps.
Am I thinking about this correctly? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!