H!Fiber Mini PCIe 2.5G Ethernet Network Card, Realtek RTL8125 Controller, 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps Single RJ45 Port, 2.5Gb NIC with LED Light and 0.98ft Cable, Mini Pice Interface, not for M.2

Ultra highend quality

Works great in my ESX 8.0.3 server

This is a review of four related products purchased here on Amazon. 1. Klein Tools VDV826-703 Pass-Thru™ Modular Data Plug, CAT6, 50-Pack (ASIN B076PRM7W8) 2. Klein Tools VDV226-005 Compact Pass-Thru™ Modular Crimper (ASIN B07R3GK9FQ) 3. Soft Plastic Ethernet RJ45 Cable Connector Boots by Copapa (ASIN B07219KGC4) 4. H!Fiber 1Gbe Ethernet Network Adapter (ASIN B074PPRQQK) I’m using CAT 6 UTP (23 AWG) that I bought from a local home center. 1. I found the Klein Tools VDV826-703 Pass-Thru™ Modular Data Plug, (CAT6, 50-Pack) to be easy to use. This is my first-time using pass-thru connectors, and I have mixed feelings, but that’s not what this is about. The 23 AWG wires fit in snuggly but did require a bit of convincing to pass thru. They are more expensive than some others that are available, but I know these will work perfectly, especially with a same brand crimper. 2. The Klein Tools VDV226-005 Compact Pass-Thru™ Modular Crimper did its job flawlessly. The insulation is held tightly in place, the crimp felt secure, and the pass-thru wires were cut perfectly flush. I still need to try this with cheap plugs, to see if they are cut just as flush, but these work great with their own. 3. While I don’t usually use boots, I decided to give them a shot as they make the wires look more “finished”. I purchased the blue Soft Plastic Ethernet RJ45 Cable Connector Boots by Copapa. While they didn’t cost much, they were very soft and fit okay. I wish they were a little tighter around the wire, but that can vary from brand to brand. Overall, I’m happy with them. 4. Once the cables were completed, I plugged them into a H!Fiber NIC (Intel I350-T4 chipset). They all fit nicely together, even with the boots. That network card is not the V2, and that was expected. The V2s are harder to find and there are no performance differences. The revision was made to fix a slight power surge during power-on. The network card performed flawlessly with pfSense and I was able to configure two LAGGs with LACP support. One to a Cisco managed switch, and the other to my cable modem (SB8200) but I’ll save those for a different review. This card is working perfectly.

This NIC has been running rock solid 24/7 in our pfSense CE router for over a month now.

I've had no issues; works great. The low-profile bracket attaches easily, and fits low-profile cases, and i do get close to the full 1 Gbps speed during a large file copy. Not bad for $60. The last one got fried in a lightning strike that happened nearby; even behind a UPS. I guess the EMP on the network cables was too much for it.

1 Gbe is pretty slow these days but being an intel NIC it has wide compatibility so you don't run into some of the issues you can run into with other brands like realtek on FreeBSD. Great replacement for a SuperMicro server whose NIC died on me recently.