ethernet over pcie

PCIe Ethernet cards cover a wide speed range. Common gigabit adapters list 10/100/1000 Mbps; some adapters support multi-gig speeds such as 2.5 Gbps; others provide high-speed links via QSFP ports (e.g., 40 Gbps); and some server-grade cards advertise maximum throughput up to 100 Gbps.

PCIe Ethernet cards are designed for a range of slot widths and PCIe revisions. Many cards will fit various lane widths (x1, x2, x4, x8, x16), and product listings often specify support for PCIe generations such as PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 — for example, some cards use a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.

Port counts vary by card type: single-port and dual-port gigabit adapters are common, multiport server cards (for example, 4-port designs) are available, and some cards provide two high-speed ports (e.g., QSFP28). There are also PCIe cards that add two Power-over-Ethernet gigabit ports.

Many PCIe Ethernet cards ship with both full-height (standard) and low-profile brackets so they can be installed in full-size desktops, servers, or small form-factor systems.

Many PCIe Ethernet adapters advertise plug-and-play driver behavior, with drivers that auto-install or are readily available for major operating systems such as Windows, Windows Server, and Linux. Some product listings explicitly call out Windows driver support.

Common features include support for jumbo frames (typically up to 9K) to reduce packet overhead, Wake-on-LAN (WoL) for remote booting, and VLAN tagging for network segmentation and management.

Some PCIe network adapters are described as Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) and support IEEE 802.3at PoE standards (Type 1 and Type 2). Those products can add Power-over-Ethernet gigabit ports — for example, configurations that provide two PoE gigabit ports.

Server-focused PCIe Ethernet adapters commonly advertise virtualization and storage features such as iSCSI support, hardware assists and offloads to lower I/O overhead, and power-management technologies like Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) and DMA Coalescing (DMAC).