StarTech.com 2-Port PCIe 10Gb Ethernet Network Card, 10GbE Network Interface Card, Broadcom BCM57416 Chipset, Dual RJ45 10GBase-T/Gigabit, NIC Card, TAA

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

For £385 ex-VAT, this is the kind of NIC that makes sense only if you really need dual 10GbE on copper and you’re confident you’ll be using it in a server/workstation that’s happy with PCIe NICs and Broadcom-style drivers in your environment. The Broadcom BCM57416 is usually a safe bet for stability and compatibility in the enterprise world, and dual RJ45 is genuinely practical if your network is already running 10GbE over Cat6/6A—no messing about with optics, transceivers, or extra switching/cabling complexity. If you’ve got a virtualization host, a small lab, or a NAS box that would benefit from having two 10GbE links available (for throughput, segregation, or redundancy), it’s a solid “just plug it in and get on with it” option.

That said, I wouldn’t buy this purely out of curiosity. If you only need one 10GbE port, the pricing starts to feel like you’re paying for ports you won’t use. Also, if your target is a picky OS/driver situation (some setups can be fine, others can be a headache depending on kernel/version), you’ll want to sanity-check that before buying—NICs are usually painless once you know they’re supported, but that upfront diligence saves time. In short: buy it if you’re doing real work with 10GbE over copper and need two RJ45 ports; don’t buy it if you want “good networking at the lowest cost” or you only need single-port connectivity.