Quad-Port Server Network Adapters

Quad-port cards by speed

Four ports on one card save slots, and the host interface sets how much traffic the card can carry. The chipmakers specify their quad-port controllers as follows:

Intel's adapter guidance says a full-height card needs a full-height slot to stay PCIe compliant, so read the bracket on each listing before ordering. OCP 3.0 cards suit servers with an OCP slot, such as the PowerEdge R750 and other 15th-generation models.

Quad-port cards in router and firewall builds

Quad-port cards are a common base for pfSense and OPNsense firewalls, and driver support comes from FreeBSD. Netgate says pfSense software is compatible with most hardware FreeBSD supports and recommends Intel NICs for their FreeBSD drivers; OPNsense states that all FreeBSD drivers are in its kernel. FreeBSD's manual pages cover the main quad-port controllers: the I350 under em(4) as igb interfaces, the Broadcom BCM5719 under bge(4), and Intel's 700 Series, X710 included, under ixl(4).

Slots and lanes

The link width grows with the port speed. A quad gigabit card is a four-lane device: Intel's I350 uses PCIe 2.1 x4 and runs in x4, x8 and x16 slots, and Broadcom's BCM5719 card is PCIe Gen2 x4. Four 10GbE ports need PCIe 3.0 x8, and four 25GbE ports PCIe Gen4 x16. Check the electrical width in your server's slot table, since a long slot can be wired with fewer lanes.

Related adapters

Quad-port rNDCs for PowerEdge servers are on network daughter cards. For two ports per card see dual-port adapters; for one speed across every port count, gigabit adapters and 10GbE adapters; and every NIC type is under server network adapters. Every card is warrantied by Enterasource for the period its listing gives.

4-port NIC questions

Will a quad-port NIC work in pfSense or OPNsense?

If FreeBSD has a driver for its controller, yes. Both are built on FreeBSD: Netgate ties pfSense hardware support to FreeBSD and recommends Intel NICs, and OPNsense includes every FreeBSD driver. Quad-port cards on the Intel I350, Intel X710 and Broadcom BCM5719 controllers are covered by FreeBSD's em, ixl and bge drivers, so check the controller named on the listing.

Does a 4-port NIC need an x4 slot?

A quad gigabit card does: Intel's I350 card uses four PCIe 2.1 lanes and also runs in x8 and x16 slots, and Broadcom's BCM5719 card is PCIe Gen2 x4. Faster quad cards need more, x8 at PCIe 3.0 for four 10GbE ports and x16 at Gen4 for four 25GbE ports. Broadcom adds that its gigabit controllers need PCIe Gen2 for full throughput with every port busy.