Unfortunately the blog didn't link to the SFP+ module they're using, but everyone should know there's effectively 2 different generations of 10gbit sfp+ to ethernet^H10BASE-T modules. The old gen, labeled as 30 meters, draws ~3 W, and gets extremely hot (to the point it'll usually cause link flaps), and the newer gen, usually labeled as 100m or 80m, draws ~1.5 W, and runs much, much cooler.
This is the most important thing to know for anyone trying to do SFP+ to 10GBASE-T. It's too bad it wasn't covered in the article.
The thermal performance of the new modules is so much better that they'll make you want to throw away all of your old modules as soon as you try one. The old ones consumed a lot of power and put out a lot of heat. You can find examples of people adding active cooling to blow on them because they're so bad.
The new ones are great. They get warm but it's completely manageable. And the power draw is also closer to what the SFP+ ports on your device were probably designed to handle, so compatibility is better too.
I used to support a company that refused to run fibre, and had just run ethernet everywhere with the old 10GBE modules. Half their links were constantly flapping as the hardware powered off to cool down.
Even with the new modules, their ethernet cable runs were always in excess of what 10GBE could handle. I remember one at ~140 meters that was constantly renegotiating.
The worst part is, they had not a single element in their network that didnt support fibre. The fibre sfp modules for their radios was the same cost as the copper.
I love that these 10GBE modules exist but please (please please) just run fibre if you can.
I had this issue with old gen Unifi SFP+ to RJ45 10Gbe, 3 failed. Needed gloves to remove them. Bought newer gen and they are warm but i dont need gloves.
The difference between fiber module and RJ45 is massive. I found it funny that Ubiquity own switches (at least my Enterprise 8 PoE - the one they call "vintage" - I kid you not) will set the fan default to 35 (whatever that value means) if you use SFP+ RJ45 module (regardless of temps), and have fans at 0 without the module, when the switch is below 75 celsius.
Ironically, one of my switches with the RJ45 module runs cooler than the one without because Ubiquity does not let you do any fan control on Unifi Enterprise 8 PoE.
If you want to buy the cheaper old ones and are concerned about heat just add a usb fan. I have the same mikrotik switch in the post and 2 sfp to rj45 + this fan https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G059G86?th=1 sitting on top and it makes a dramatic difference in temp.
I appreciate the craftiness of this but with the years I stopped being a fan of Frankenstein setups. The vendor should be honest; if the piece of tech is expected to heat up, just add a fan to it and manual toggle and a knob to control it or have it work auto.
> Build in Marvell chip, Low Power Consumption (2.0W MAX @ 30m)
I have had 0 problems. One I use for my Sonic.net Ont and the other for my a 10G switch. Maybe I don't have issues because the cable lengths are so short (1-2')?
I just checked and both are VERY hot to the touch. Now I'm worried.
I forget how I went about it, but I was able to get which chipsets their modules used. But honestly, unless they've sold out- 10GTek has been good for home use for me- at least for AOC and DAC. all my bidi stuff is second hand ciso off ebay
the AQC chips at least work with 1/10 only ports on older switches. And, it's not that hot, a single 1x1x0.5cm heatsink takes care of it. One large issue is that mikrotik's thermal design for SFP+ is a joke.
I don't agree that it is insane. It is less efficient than ideal, but 10gbit over copper is not necessarily dangerously hot or difficult to power.
I have a MikroTik CRS304-4XG-IN on my office desk with three out of four ports at 10gbit and it is perhaps 20 degrees above ambient on the outside. Warm but not hot. Passively cooled design.
A normal Windows laptop runs hotter than that when idle.
I have several 48 port 10G copper switches in my computer room with 40G uplinks. Dell OS9 jobbies. They are a bit noisy, but they don't actually run that hot. I also have some HPE 1G 48 porters and they run roughly the same temperature.
I used to daily drive Gentoo on my laptop. Lovely in the winter!
The cost, power, and length issues meant that it wasn't exactly well-received by the datacenter market back in 2006(!) when it was first released: DAC was the far more attractive option for a link from server to top-of-rack, and fiber was obviously superior (if not plain required) for anything beyond a hop to the next aisle over.
This left an incredibly tiny market, so obviously beyond the initial investment very little effort was put into developing new products for it. So now the prosumer market is hitting the limit of 1Gbps, 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T (both based on the techniques of 10GBASE-T, by the way) are becoming the norm, and suddenly network vendors remember that box of ancient 10GBASE-T transceiver chips that has been collecting dust in their warehouse.
Aaand suddenly you've got people buying what they think is a brand-new technology, but which is actually designed and manufactured using technology from a decade and a half earlier, and 10GBASE-T gets a bad name for being "hot" and "power-hungry". Turns out it is actually reasonably well-behaved if you actually make use of modern technology!
I expect we'll be using it for quite a while. 25GBASE-T and 40GBASE-T are even deader: A standard from 2016, which a decade later doesn't have a single available product? Mandatory switching to Cat8 cabling - and only a 30 meter range??? And no forwards-looking compatibility? Yeeaah, no thanks.
Right, but for example my fiber ONT only has an rj45 port so I'm stuck using one of these for the link to my UDM Pro. The router and my core switch use cheap DACs.
They're out there. Search engines are just ubiquitously poisoned to the point of uselessness for common terms[1].
But searching for specific gen4 x1 10-gig chips (like RTL8127) does produce some reasonably-inexpensive options for cards with sfp+. Give it a whirl. :)
[1]: I wrote this like it's a new problem, but looking back it may be an issue as old as the hills. I distinctly remember searching for any-brand 10-meg cards with DEC Tulip chips ~30 years ago, because that was the inexpensive PCI chip that actually worked. :)
In your searching did you find any "mainstream" pcie gen4x1 SFP+ cards? I only found the H!Fiber model - which looks perfect, except that our work won't buy from that supplier.
Example of the new gen: https://www.amazon.com/Wiitek-Transceiver-Compatible-UF-RJ45...
Old gen: https://www.amazon.com/10Gtek-SFP-10G-T-S-Compatible-10GBase...
Typically the old gen uses a Marvell AQR113C, and the new gen uses a Broadcom chip that I forget the number of off hand.