WAVLINK 5G Base-T PCIe Network Card, 5000/2500/1000Mbps PCI Express Ethernet Adapter with RTL8126, 5G NIC for Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7 & Linux with Low Profile Bracket

Perfect 5 Gig network card, works well and its nice that it comes with a half height bracket for smaller form factor applications.Drivers were automatically found on my Linux based NAS and this has resulted in a nice speed upgrade for my home networking.

Easy plug and play.Stable and giving constant connection.Smooth and useful heat sink to keep it cool.Handy to have the low profile bracket.Compact and reasonable at £37 from reputable brand.

Ideal to get those higher ethernet network speeds, most computers have a 1Gbps network card - this is a nice upgrade to achieve 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps speeds if your network supports it.

The WAVLINK 5G Base-T PCIe Network Card arrived packed in a printed cardboard box.In the box you get the network card itself (with a full height case bracket), a smaller low profile bracket (suitable for use in NAS cases etc) and a short instruction manual.Installation is a simple matter of plugging the card into a spare PCIe slot and securing the bracket.No drivers are necessary with Windows 11 and the card is immediately recognised on reboot.Card performs well although unless connecting directly to another similarly equipped PC or a NAS with 5Gbe ethernet, you will need a network switch with at least a 5Gbe port before you'll notice any difference in network transfer speeds.The card is however, backward compatible with 2.5Gbe or 1Gbe systems so, if installed will offer a degree of network future proofing.A well featured network card at a bargain price.

I have two seperate fibre broadband connections coming into the house...One for work and one for the family. I decided to setup a home network and needed a second nic into the PC to utilise both connections and this Wavlink 5Gbps PCIe Network Card was just the ticket especially to allow for growth as broadband speeds increase.Installation was a doddle (easy) and the drivers were automatically installed by Windows 11. They do provide a USB stick with all the drivers including different versions for Windows, MAC and Linux! This card also includes a low profile bracket and works with all versions of Windows. Interface wise, it will work on any PCIe slot so x1/x2/x4/x8/x16....The card is very well made with a nice heatsink. No issues in terms of connecting the ethernet cable and it all just worked. Both my internet connection, one from Virgin and one from Sky are 1Gbps so both fibre and fast with max download rates of just under 1Gbps.....I decided to team the connections and managed just under 2Gbps as seen in the screen captures.Overall, very happy and I will update this review as I setup a home server network to really use the 5Gbps speeds via a proper LAN network....Still a lot to learn to extract the max out of this card, but I have taken some time before posting this review to make sure it worked not just for the short term but for the long term and it has not failed at all.

The WAVLINK 5G Base-T PCIe Network Card is a top choice for upgrading your network performance. With support for speeds up to 5000Mbps, this card is ideal for high-speed internet connections and ensures smooth and stable network performance. The inclusion of the RTL8126 chipset provides reliable and high-quality networking capabilities.The installation is straightforward, thanks to the low profile bracket included, which is great for smaller cases or tight spaces. It's compatible with a wide range of operating systems, including Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7 and Linux, making it versatile for different setups.However, the actual performance you experience may depend on your router's capabilities and the quality of your internet connection. While the card promises high speeds, real-world performance can vary based on various factors.Overall, the WAVLINK 5G Base-T PCIe Network Card is a strong performer, offering excellent speed and compatibility, making it a valuable addition to any high-speed network setup.

Pros:The adapter really improved the game experience and streaming for me. Faster and smoother performances.It works with Win 11, which is crucial for my new PC build. No compatibility issues at all, just seamless performance.The low-profile bracket fits nicely in my compact case. That really cleaned and organised the build for me.Provides secure and continuous connectivity without any lag, and all the more so during high-intensive work.Verdict:This WAVLINK 5G Network Card made all the difference in my new setup for Windows 11. Its improvement in speed and stability is remarkable, and this card worked right out of the box for my system. It also came with a low-profile bracket that fit perfectly within my compact case. If you're looking for an Ethernet adapter to improve your network performance with high-speed and reliable connectivity, this is the one.

Decent 2.5GbE PCIe NIC. Comes with a half height adapter for servers. Works perfectly in my Windows 11 PC.5Gb is not a commonly used speed yet. You need to make sure your network switch/router supports 5Gb, or you won't get the full speed.Not bad price considering the fast speed. You can get cheaper cards if you only need 2.5Gb or 1Gb.

Upgraded my home network to 10G and Wifi 7, but my media center PC, due to the smaller system board size, was limited for the slots and speed it would support, so this one needed a 5 GB card.Card worked fine, speeds are great now, and no issues with Windows 11 on this home-built system of mine.

Diese 5 GBit/sec Netzerkkarte konnte ich mir kostenlos bestellen. Wie immer versuche ich, dass diese Tatsache meine Bewertung nicht beeinflusst.Im Lieferumfang des schmalen kleinen Kartons befinden sich:- Die Netwerkkarte (mit passivem Kühlkörper)- Ein alternatives Slotblech für "Low Profile"- Ein Kärtchen mit einem Downloadlink für Treiber (wurde noch wichtig, s.u.)- Ein USB-Stick (!) mit den Treibern für eine Vielfalt von Betriebssystemen, allein Windows von 98 über ME, XP, Win7 .. bis zu Win11. Ebenso diverse Linux Varianten, BSD, MacOS, usw.Schön an dem USB-Stick ist auch, dass dort nicht, wie auf den meisten CDs, die Treiber für 10 verschiedene Karten enthalten sind, die man ohne Ziffernklauberei nicht auseinanderhalten kann, sondern tatsächlich nur die Treiber für genau diese Karte. Sehr gut.Die Erstinstallation der Karte ging auch einfach:Einstecken, Rechner starten, Windows installierte einen eigenen Treiber für diesen Realtek-Chip und die Verbindung funktionierte sofort mit meinem aktuell nur lediglich 1 GBit/sec Switch. Schaute man im Gerätemanager, so sah man den dort installierten Windows-Treiber - und in den Eigenschaften, dass dieser neben der automatischen Aushandlung der Geschwindigkeit nur auf maximal 2,5 GBit/sec fest eingestellt werden kann, nicht auf 5.Also installierte ich mir vom USB-Stick den Realtek-Treiber für Windows 11. Auch das klappte einwandfrei. Allerdings funktionierte anschließend mein Netzwerk nicht mehr. Auch nicht ein manuelles Einstellen auf 1 GBit/sec half. Ich schaffte es nicht, das Netzwerk zum Laufen zu bringen.Als nächstes schaute ich dann auf der Webseite des Herstellers, die auf dem blauen Kärtchen angegeben war. Und hier schon einmal ein Lob: Die genaue Produktbezeichnung steht tatsächlich eindeutig auf der Verpackung der Karte, und genau damit ließ sich auch der Treiber über die Suche der Webseite finden. Sehr löblich. Zudem war die Treibersammlung sehr aktuell (August 2024, also nur wenige Wochen alt).Nach der Installation des neuesten Treibers funktionierte dann auch meine Netzwerkkarte sofort. Ich konnte sie auf "automatisch aushandeln" stehen lassen.Insofern ist also mein einziger Kritikpunkt, dass ausgerechnet der Treiber auf dem sonst vorbildlichen USB-Stick leider nicht funktionierte, jedenfalls nicht "out of the Box". Dank der gepflegten Webseite war das aber auch leicht behebbar.Alles in allem kann ich ansonsten nichts an der Karte aussetzen. Zumal ich Realtek ohnehin mehr mag als Intel, weil es bei Realtek weniger künstliche Funktionshindernisse gibt.. Ich denke da nur an den Einsatz in einem Server...

I bought this because it does 5G and fits into a x2 pci e slot. Finding the drivers on the realtek website is a bit of a pain but doable. I've ran this in linux and windows. I have 5G google fiber, with this card I get about 3000 mbit down and 5000 mbit up, but I'm assuming google fiber just isn't giving me the full down speed.One time when I reboot my computer from windows> linux the card just stopped working. I'm not sure what happened, but I took the card out and put it back in and it works again. Overall everything is great. My ping time to the google server on speedtest.net is 1 ms. That's fast, folks!

Ich habe den Artikel kostenlos im Rahmen des Vine Programms zur Verfügung gestellt bekommen, was meine Bewertung aber nicht beeinflusst.Der Netzwerkadapter wird mit zwei Slotblenden geliefert, um sie auch in kleineren Gehäusen mit reduzierter Höhe nutzen zu können.Eine Treiber USB Stick und kurze Anleitung wird mitgeliefert.Der Karte reicht ein PCIe 1x Slot. Mehr lanes helfen nicht, aber schaden auch nicht, da die Karte auch in breitere Slots passt.Als Chipsatz ist der Realtek RTL8126B verbaut der vom aktuellen Windows 10 oder 11 erst nach Treiberinstallation erkannt wird.Die Geschwindigkeit wird wie bei meinen anderen getesteten Netzwerkkarten eher durch zu geringe Prozessorleistung als durch die Netzwerkgeschwindigkeit beschränkt.Für die mit dem Glasfaseranschluss möglichen höheren Geschwindigkeiten oder für ein schnelleres NAS ist man damit vorbereitet, wenn der onboard Chipsatz nur 1 Gbit unterstützt.Nun muss man sich die Frage stellen, reicht 2,5Gb oder gibt man in etwa das doppelte für 5 Gb aus.Die gängigen switche unterstützten entweder 1 Gb, 2,5Gb oder 10 Gb.Für direkte Verbindung zweier PCs reichen aber 2 5Gb Adapter und ein mindestens CAT 7 Kabel.Wer nicht gleich auf wesentlich teureren 10 Gb Karten wechseln will, für den sind die 5 Gb Karten schon zukunftssicheren. Zu bedenken wäre, das die Rechner die Daten auch schnell genug verarbeiten müssen, so dass es dann schon ein Recht aktueller PC sein muß.Bei ca. 37 Euro ist der Preis angemessen und er bekommt 4 Sterne.

The card seems alright. You get a high and low profile bracket with screws. Black PCB. Standard orange/green activity LEDs mounted on either side of the network port (not integrated). I pulled the heatsink, and was a bit surprised there is no thermal pad or compound. In practice this chip doesn't produce a ton of heat (it can even be run without a heatsink at all), but I added a thermal pad anyway.The driver situation for this chipset seems not great. Both on Windows and Linux I had to download and install Realtek's driver manually. Wavlink does include a flash drive (64MB, where did they even find this thing?!) with the drivers so at least they tried to mitigate the issue.== Realtek Windows Driver ==Windows 10 wouldn't get a driver automatically. I downloaded the Win 10/11 driver pack from Realtek, and the install was uneventful. I used iperf2 to run a test server and tried saturating it with two 2.5GbE clients. Performance was already limited by my PCIe gen2 slot, but the card was still a bit worse than I expected at 3.14 Gbps. I was expecting to see closer to 3.4 Gbps. I also tried it with the card connected at 2.5GbE, and here I achieved a tad low 2.37 Gbps.== Mainline Linux Driver (not usable) ==On Linux I was at least able to get a link up with the kernel's r8125 driver, but it had issues. First I tried it connected to a 5GbE SFP adapted switch port, and it could bring the link up, but performance was abyssmal, 5-20 Mbps. To rule out some other things I switch to a 2.5GbE port, but here it would only negotiate 1000BaseT link speed. Then I noticed the driver had configured the device not to even advertise 2500BaseT.== Realtek Linux Driver ==The driver installer doesn't handle secure boot signed drivers. It just spits out a dumb error and continues on like nothing happened. More realtek rubbish. After dealing with manually signing the key I had to blacklist the r8125 driver, update initramfs, and reboot to ensure the driver loaded properly. Then it wouldn't link up. Finally when I reset my PCIe enclosure it came up... at 100 Mb/s. After reseating the cable I finally had a 5Gb link.I'm still limited by the PCIe gen2 slot, but this time I got closer to expected results with 3.31 Gbps which is still a bit short of the 3.44 Gbps I expect. With a 2.5GbE connection I was able to saturate the link properly, achieving 2.47 Gbps.