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Hi, I have a TS-453D, largely based on the Reviews of NasCompares, love your work. Love the unit also. I have purchased and installed a QNAP QM2 CARD, DUAL M.2 PCIe SSD, 10GBASE-T(1) EXPANSION CARD, Low Profile Bracket, fully aware of the limitations of the card, with respect to PCie limits on device with that card. I have 4 HDD installed and 2 nvme on the QM2 card. I have now finally got a 10GBASE-T home network. Is there anyway I can use the now unused dua 2.5 ports to boost throughput to network. From what I’ve read, it seems link aggregation only works with Nic’s of the same speed. Would I get better speeds dumping the QM2 10gbe, and getting dual 2.5 for the PCIE slot, then link aggregation the resulting 4 2.5gbe ports? I know this isn’t earth shattering, but I’m a tinkerer, and don’t want to have to fork out for a new NAS (wife won’t let me). Thanks in advance.
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ou’re correct that link aggregation typically requires NICs of the same speed to be effective. Mixing different speeds (10GbE and 2.5GbE) doesn’t usually work for link aggregation as it can create bottlenecks.
Configuration Options:
Current Setup with 10GBASE-T:
Your current setup with the 10GBASE-T card should provide the highest single-link speed available. Since you already have a 10GBASE-T network, this is the fastest option for network throughput.
Utilizing the 10GBASE-T port from the QM2 card ensures you get the full speed capability for devices connected via 10GbE.
Switching to Dual 2.5GbE for Link Aggregation:
If you replace the 10GBASE-T card with a dual 2.5GbE PCIe card, you could theoretically use link aggregation across four 2.5GbE ports.
However, the combined throughput (2.5GbE x 4 = 10GbE) might still face limitations due to how link aggregation handles traffic, as it doesn’t perfectly sum up the speeds and depends on the traffic distribution.
Recommendation:
Stick with the current 10GBASE-T setup from your QM2 card. This configuration leverages your 10GBASE-T network’s full potential. While link aggregation with multiple 2.5GbE ports might seem like a fun project for a tinkerer, it won’t necessarily provide a noticeable improvement over the 10GbE single link, and it’s more complex to configure and maintain.
