Are Realtek NICs really that bad?

[Snapshot]

I know it's a slightly leading title but the reason for asking is that I have an N3060-based device with dual Realtek RTL8111HS on-board which I'd like to use for OPNsense. Usage is just myself and my wife; we don't stream anything so it's mainly internet browsing and email with the occasional W10 or driver download the only things of any size. The line is 35Mbs down and 10Mbs up. Is this going to be adequate for my needs or would I be wasting my time with it and I should go for something with dual Intel NICs?

[monstermania]

Hi,
i use an old Atom D525 with Realtek NIC at home. I have a 100/20 Mbit wan line and the HW is far from reaching the limit.
OK, Intel NIC are better and use lower ressources, but for home use it works perfect.

best regards
Dirk

[Snapshot]

Dirk, thanks for the reassurance. I'll find a space to connect it to my KVM and get OPNsense installed.

[nbfedafdf]

+1 same here. Using multiple Realtek 811X PCIe cards and they work fine Light-to-medium load.
The recent I219V Intel cards (and the driver), on the other hand, have been troublesome

[opnfwb]

Realtek NICs tend to get a bad reputation due to the native FreeBSD driver support being poor. OPNsense does have a better driver for Realtek based NICs which can help them be more viable. Also, in situations where you are using an all-in-one device with little or no expansion options, a Realtek NIC may be the only connectivity option available.

However, in systems that are expandable with a PCIe slot, it's a minimal cost to buy a used server NIC with 2 or 4 ports and an Intel chipset. This is not strictly necessary but it's nearly a guarantee that the NIC won't be an issue down the road. Is it a necessity, definitely not. But if you have expansion options it's a minimal cost that will result in better utilization.

That's my 2c on the matter anyway. For the record, I used Realtek NICs for years on *BSD based firewalls. I always switched to Intel when possible (and when cost effective).

[Snapshot]

Thanks, both.

[Videopac]

I have an Odroid H2 and 250/50Mb/s internet connection. CPU load is <0.1%. I've read somewhere that Realtek 8111x max out at approx. 966Mb/s and might be less energy efficient than Intel NICs. The drivers are very stable: whatever you read on poor / unstable drivers is years old and not applicable anymore. For most users Realtek NICs are more than sufficient.

[franco]

Ever since we switched to the vendor re(4) driver in 17.1 (I think!) it hasn't been so bad with these NICs.


Cheers,
Franco

[Videopac]

I have an Odroid H2 and 250/50Mb/s internet connection. CPU load is <0.1%. I've read somewhere that Realtek 8111x max out at approx. 966Mb/s and might be less energy efficient than Intel NICs. The drivers are very stable: whatever you read on poor / unstable drivers is years old and not applicable anymore. For most users Realtek NICs are more than sufficient.

Half a year later the Odroid H2 is still very reliable, no issues at all. IMHO this is a very cost effective 2-NIC solution. Also: low power consumption.

[franco]

Thanks for the follow up, nice to hear :)


Cheers,
Franco

[chemlud]

I have an Odroid H2 and 250/50Mb/s internet connection. CPU load is <0.1%. I've read somewhere that Realtek 8111x max out at approx. 966Mb/s and might be less energy efficient than Intel NICs. The drivers are very stable: whatever you read on poor / unstable drivers is years old and not applicable anymore. For most users Realtek NICs are more than sufficient.

Half a year later the Odroid H2 is still very reliable, no issues at all. IMHO this is a very cost effective 2-NIC solution. Also: low power consumption.

Mildly OT: Does OPNsense run ooth or tweaks needed? Which storage do you use? SATA SSD?

[Videopac]

I have an Odroid H2 and 250/50Mb/s internet connection. CPU load is <0.1%. I've read somewhere that Realtek 8111x max out at approx. 966Mb/s and might be less energy efficient than Intel NICs. The drivers are very stable: whatever you read on poor / unstable drivers is years old and not applicable anymore. For most users Realtek NICs are more than sufficient.

Half a year later the Odroid H2 is still very reliable, no issues at all. IMHO this is a very cost effective 2-NIC solution. Also: low power consumption.

Out of the box and I have a PNY CS3030 SSD installed.
Mildly OT: Does OPNsense run ooth or tweaks needed? Which storage do you use? SATA SSD?

[NetGobbler]

Thank you all for this thread.  I've just ordered an RTL 8111F card (very cheap) to make a very very SFF desktop PC have 2xNIC.

Fingers crossed it works well, I'm hoping over time, driver improvements bring them up to scratch.
It's only a 100Mbit link but I kind of have plans to install a lot of plugins.

[errored out]

Why not purchase an Intel NIC with 2 or 4 ports that are refurbished.  They run around $30-100 and from I have seen typically have lifetime warranties from the seller. 

I have avoid realtek NIC due to having so many issues when running pf or opn.  Once you start using IPS, proxy, and other advance capabilities did realtek start causing dropped packets, malformed, and other headaches.

[franco]

FWIW, someone mentioned the vendor driver gave them problems but the FreeBSD port worked so for 22.1 we will use the FreeBSD port as a reference for the vendor driver which seems to have at least one additional fix for the driver.

https://github.com/opnsense/src/commit/7d0b4ff2134 (preliminary commit as stable/22.1 is not there yet)


Cheers,
Franco