The Intel X710 is a SFP+ 10GbE adapter from Intel, on PCIe 3.0 x8, using the i40e driver that ships in the mainline Linux kernel. It is not marked end-of-life by its maker. 5 listings in stock, from $87.99.
Prices updated · live figures update every 4-5 hours
Both kinds of listing are in stock for this card right now. The cheapest Intel card is $115.00; the cheapest third-party board asserting the same silicon is $87.99, a 23% differencechipset attribution is the seller's. Which is right for you is a judgement about how much the maker's own board is worth to you, not a question we can answer from a listing.
Passive direct-attach copper, by length. A DAC is a fixed-length cable with the transceivers moulded on - you buy the whole run at once rather than a cable plus two modules.
Every "compatible with" phrase below is the seller's own wording, recorded as a claim and badged. We have not tested any module against any switch.
| Module | Type | Brand | Seller compatibility claims | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFP+ 10GBASE-SR module | 10GBASE-SR | QSFPTEK | none stated | $9.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-SR module | 10GBASE-SR | 10Gtek | none stated | $11.89 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-LR module | 10GBASE-LR | 10Gtek | none stated | $12.59 | Buy |
| SFP+ AOC 1m | AOC | 10Gtek | none stated | $13.29 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-SR module | 10GBASE-SR | 10Gtek | none stated | $16.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-LR module | 10GBASE-LR | 10Gtek | none stated | $17.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ AOC 1m | AOC | 10Gtek | none stated | $18.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ AOC 10m | AOC | 10Gtek | none stated | $19.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ AOC 5m | AOC | 10Gtek | none stated | $21.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | H!Fiber | Cisco SFP-10G-T-S, D-Link, Merakiseller claim | $22.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ AOC 10m | AOC | 10Gtek | none stated | $23.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ AOC 20m | AOC | 10Gtek | none stated | $27.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | H!Fiber | Cisco SFP-10G-T-S, D-Link, Merakiseller claim | $29.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | 10Gtek | none stated | $31.49 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | 10Gtek | none stated | $31.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | 10Gtek | none stated | $39.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | 10Gtek | Intelseller claim | $42.39 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | 10Gtek | none stated | $44.99 | Buy |
| SFP+ 10GBASE-T module | 10GBASE-T | 10Gtek | none stated | $49.99 | Buy |
The X710 is the newer Intel SFP+ card and the one to pick if you want current Intel silicon rather than the 82599 generation. It sits on PCIe 3.0 and uses the i40e driver, a different module from the ixgbe one that covers the rest of Intel's 10GbE range.
That driver difference is worth flagging because it catches people out. Guides written about the X520 do not necessarily apply, driver-level troubleshooting advice does not transfer, and a system that recognises one Intel 10GbE card will not automatically recognise the other if its kernel is old enough to predate i40e.
In our current tables the X710 is one of the clearest illustrations of the tier split in this category: first-party Intel listings sit substantially above third-party boards asserting the same silicon. Both are legitimate purchases and plenty of people run the cheaper boards without incident, but the gap is large enough that it should be a conscious decision rather than an accident of which listing you clicked.
For a home two-machine link, the X710 is more card than the job needs and the older generation does the same work for less. It earns its place in a machine you want on current, actively developed silicon.
The X710 uses the i40e driver rather than ixgbe, which is a genuine difference from the older Intel cards and occasionally surprises people who assume all Intel 10GbE is the same driver. That matters more than any marketing claim, because a card whose driver is in the mainline kernel is a card your Linux-based NAS or hypervisor recognises without you doing anything.
We state in-kernel driver names as documented facts because they are - they come from the kernel's own driver documentation, not from a forum thread reporting that something worked. Where community experience is the only evidence available for something, we say so rather than dressing it up.
This card is not marked end-of-life by its maker, which is the main practical argument for it over the older generation in the same interface family.
Windows support is a separate question from Linux support and varies by card age. Check the maker's current driver page for your specific part number before buying if Windows is the target, because an in-kernel Linux driver tells you nothing about it.
OEM-branded X710 cards are common in retired servers, and the same transceiver-policy considerations apply as with the X520.
The general shape of the crossflash question is the same across every card in this category: an OEM board carries the server maker's firmware, that firmware sometimes behaves differently from the silicon vendor's, and there is a community practice of replacing it. We link the maintained community documentation rather than reproducing the procedure here. A stale copy of a flashing guide is actively dangerous, and the people who maintain the canonical versions do so because the details change.
If you are buying an OEM-branded card specifically because it is cheaper, factor in the possibility that you will need to do this. If that prospect does not appeal, the vendor-branded card at a higher price is buying you the absence of that job.
This is an SFP+ card, so the port is a cage rather than a socket and you choose what goes in it. For two machines near each other, a passive direct-attach copper cable is the cheapest, coolest and simplest answer, and it is what most builds using this card should use.
For longer runs you need optics - a module at each end plus a fibre between them - or an active optical cable, which packages the same thing as a single sealed object. Both cost more than direct-attach copper and both go much further.
The compatibility question belongs here rather than being buried. Third-party module sellers list the equipment they claim compatibility with, and those are claims we record and badge rather than verify. Vendor coding is a documented phenomenon: cards and switches can and do refuse modules that do not identify as approved parts. A direct-attach cable avoids the entire question, which is another reason it is the default recommendation for a two-machine build.
The 10GbE hub compares every card we track and covers the SFP+ versus 10GBASE-T decision · the two-machine build prices two of these plus a cable, with no switch · used servers almost always have a spare PCIe slot for one · NAS devices is usually what sits at the other end.
It is newer silicon on a newer driver, and for a plain 10GbE link between two machines that difference will not be visible. The X520 does the same job for less. The X710 makes sense when you want current, actively developed hardware in a machine you do not intend to revisit.
i40e, not the ixgbe driver that covers the X520, X540 and X550. It ships in the mainline Linux kernel. The distinction matters because troubleshooting advice written for ixgbe cards does not transfer, and a sufficiently old kernel may know ixgbe but not i40e.
Third-party board makers build cards around Intel controllers and sell them well below the first-party price. Whether a specific board carries the silicon its title names is the seller's assertion, which is why we badge it. It is one of the widest first-party to third-party gaps in our current tables.
Intel-branded cards have historically applied transceiver policies in firmware, and the safest assumption is that a first-party card may be particular about third-party optics. A direct-attach copper cable sidesteps the question entirely, which is what most two-machine builds should use anyway.
Only if you will use the second port. A point-to-point link between two machines needs one port per machine. Dual-port cards are useful for connecting to two separate networks or for link aggregation to a switch that supports it.
Both are Linux-based and i40e is in the mainline kernel, so the card is recognised without additional drivers on any reasonably current release. As always, check your specific version's release notes if you are running something several years old.
Specification claims on this page were checked against the pages below on 4 August 2026. Where a widely-repeated figure did not survive that check, we report what the source says now and say so in the text rather than repeating the familiar number.