We recently were looking for a certain type of 25GbE NIC, and found our answer in the QNAP QXG-25G2SF-CX6. This is a compact dual-port 25GbE NIC from QNAP, primarily designed for its NAS units. It is also very flexible in deployments if you want to be a bit more creative.
If you want to check prices or purchase a unit, you can find one here with our Amazon Affiliate link.
QNAP QXG-25G2SF-CX6 Hardware Overview
The card itself is a low-profile card, which is common in dual port NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx cards so that they are easy to fit in servers.
On the faceplate, we get two SFP28 cages. You can run 25GbE DACs and optics, but if you wanted to run at 10Gbps, that is possible as well.
You may have noticed those indicator lights around the ports. QNAP routes these over the SFP28 cages. That makes swapping brackets very slightly more challenging because there is more to line up. The card comes with full-height, low profile, and a custom low-profile bracket for some QNAP NAS units. We are just taking photos with the low-profile bracket.
The card can run at PCIe Gen4 or Gen3 speeds which can be useful in lower-end NAS units that may only have a Gen3 x8 slot available.
On the airflow side, something to note is that this card has a fan. Using a fan like this is custom for QNAP and not a standard NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx card feature. That fan is ideal for systems with tight spaces and questionable airflow, whether they are NAS units or other systems.
The back of the card has important labels with information like the MAC addresses.
Next, let us get to the performance and power consumption.
Does it accept standard NVIDIA firmware or is it a special snowflake like Supermicro NICs? If the latter is the case then knowing QNAP chances of them keeping up with up-to-date firmware are slim…
At least Supermicro recently started to publish firmware for their cards.
I can’t wait for those new charts to be mainstream
I like the fan as an option. Most newer ConnectX cards *need* cooling or they’ll overheat and fail within minutes. Servers generally have enough airflow for them, but desktops don’t. I added CX6 to my desktop with a 100G DAC, and it hit 115C and shut down within 10 minutes. I added a cheap slot fan to the system, and that was enough to drop the NIC down to ~50C.
Using a NIC with a built-in fan would have been less work.
QNAP card doesn’t use standard NVIDIA firmware. Their updates are shipped as part of their “AdvancedNetDriver” qpkg, but last time they’ve updated the firmware was in 2021:
FW Version: 26.30.1004
FW Release Date: 29.3.2021
@Civiloid
Thanks for clarifying.
So it’s 32, yes, thirty-two, versions behind and installable only through their own OS? As expected of “stellar” QNAP support then.
@Kyle
There are ways to extract the firmware from their qpkg and then you can update the card with it using standard mellanox/nvidia tools, but overall yeah…
@Civiloid
Will that work for this NIC? Supermicro ConnectX NICs refuse to be updated by standard firmware and require Supermicro-signed firmware.
Older mellanox cards can be flashed with generic firmware, but every attempt I’ve seen or tried even with multiple threads and command workaround have failed for the 6+, barring physical alterations with pins.
What model specifically is this based off of? I would hope for an AC with crypto and secure boot, otherwise for the price you can get 2-3 of the same kind of cards from ebay with much more recent firmware and drivers that work. Just get a cheap fan to put some airflow on it, I don’t see the benefit of this with those limitations.