"
I registered just to respond to the comment above saying hardware isn't the solution: yes, you're right. It's software. But the drivers between the two cards do differ.
I once had an issue like this with an Intel X550-T2 on pfSense 2.7.0, using the ixgbe driver. I had a constant CPU usage or about 10% and some general slowdown and I couldn't understand why. I went back to my previous i225-LM and everything went back to normal. I tried yet another X550-T2 and had the same issue. I updated the X550-T2's firmware and same issue. I ultimately went back to the two onboard Intel Gigabit NICs my computer's motherboard has.
So, just chiming in, it's not their imagination. The ixgbe drivers are weird.
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EDIT: my original report on the pfSense subreddit
DHCPv6 server "high" CPU usage on Intel X550-T2, but not on Intel i225-LM
I'm running pfSense 2.7.0 CE and I noticed that, after replacing my 2 port QNAP i225-LM with an X550-T2, not only the CPU usage is generally slightly higher, but the DHCPv6 server process seems to constantly use 3%+ CPU, whereas is used almost 0% with the i225-LM. Disabling DHCPv6 server gets rid of that, but general CPU usage is still a little higher.
All settings are the same. TCP offloading is ON, all other offloading settings are disabled.
Just wondering if anyone here knows of anything (be it in the ixgbe / igb drivers or whatnot) that could cause that?
I also tried updating the NVM on the X550-T2 to version 3.60 (the card came with version 1.00 installed) and, other than losing ASPM for some reason, nothing changed.
EDIT: I switched back to the i225-LM and everything is back to normal. I switched to a second X550-T2 and it displayed the same behavior again.
I once had an issue like this with an Intel X550-T2 on pfSense 2.7.0, using the ixgbe driver. I had a constant CPU usage or about 10% and some general slowdown and I couldn't understand why. I went back to my previous i225-LM and everything went back to normal. I tried yet another X550-T2 and had the same issue. I updated the X550-T2's firmware and same issue. I ultimately went back to the two onboard Intel Gigabit NICs my computer's motherboard has.
So, just chiming in, it's not their imagination. The ixgbe drivers are weird.
###################
EDIT: my original report on the pfSense subreddit
DHCPv6 server "high" CPU usage on Intel X550-T2, but not on Intel i225-LM
I'm running pfSense 2.7.0 CE and I noticed that, after replacing my 2 port QNAP i225-LM with an X550-T2, not only the CPU usage is generally slightly higher, but the DHCPv6 server process seems to constantly use 3%+ CPU, whereas is used almost 0% with the i225-LM. Disabling DHCPv6 server gets rid of that, but general CPU usage is still a little higher.
All settings are the same. TCP offloading is ON, all other offloading settings are disabled.
Just wondering if anyone here knows of anything (be it in the ixgbe / igb drivers or whatnot) that could cause that?
I also tried updating the NVM on the X550-T2 to version 3.60 (the card came with version 1.00 installed) and, other than losing ASPM for some reason, nothing changed.
EDIT: I switched back to the i225-LM and everything is back to normal. I switched to a second X550-T2 and it displayed the same behavior again.
