Someone purchased an HP 561FLR-T model with dual 10GB Ethernet connectivity using the Intel X540 chipset.
Someone purchased an HP 561FLR-T model with dual 10GB Ethernet connectivity using the Intel X540 chipset.
Hi, I’m considering upgrading my unRAID server with a dual 10GB NIC HP adapter. I need some guidance on the network card from HPE Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 561FLR-T Adapter. According to the spec page, it uses the Intel X540 chipset and comes with a custom PIC-E adapter for desktop use. Here are my notes from the photos shared by the Chinese seller:
1) Has anyone used this card before? I’m concerned it might overheat despite having a passive heat sink. I’m thinking about attaching a small profile fan via the 2-pin male connector.
2) Does the card appear fake? To me, it looks like an original HP product.
3) Does it support Wake ON LAN? The spec didn’t mention it, but Newegg lists it as supported: https://www.newegg.com/hpe-561flr-t/p/N82E16833316891
4) Is there a genuine Intel X540-T2 available on Amazon? Yes, and it looks authentic.
5) Does this card work with pfSense? A forum discussion suggests compatibility: https://forum.netgate.com/topic/113542/c...intel-x540
Any advice would be appreciated.
Looking for American brands means checking eBay for dual X540 RJ45 10GbE Cisco HPE and Dell cards in standard PCIe cases starting near $30, some even featuring fans. I purchased $15 AliExpress ones (likely remanufactured with a modified connector) and tested them in my lab this weekend—they worked fine. Buying two for $25 was more manageable given the holiday budget. The 92mm fans I used fit the motherboard, though that might be too much power. I aimed for quiet operation but found extra adapters cumbersome since regular cards are plentiful. The Amazon Intel card appears genuine, probably just a surplus or used unit.
However, the main concern remains the fact that the drivers were poorly implemented on FreeBSD and might still be problematic.
the driver posted is six years old... my PFSense unit uses only 2.5GbE and lacks a PCIe slot because it's an appliance, so I can't assess its performance on FreeBSD. the main problem with the X540 is that it doesn't support 2.5GbE, which means I'd need to replace my switch for more 10G ports if I want extra computing power. if PFSense really struggles with X540 models, OpenWrt might be my first choice.
The Forum Admin of pfsense confirms compatibility between the card and pfSense. Slow performance was observed because the device only handles three speeds: 100Mbps, 1Gbps, or 10Gbps. If your PC's network card supports 2.5Gbps and connects to it, transfer rates will drop. The X540-T2 struggles to identify the 2.5Gbps NIC on the PC, making the Intel X550-T2 a better choice for multi-gigabit support. Refer to the suggested guide for more details.