Synology E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 10Gbe PCIe Base-T Upgrade cards

Synology NAS and the New 10GBe PCIe Upgrade Cards E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2

Good news for any Synology NAS owner with a PCIe slot and a need to upgrade to 10GBe. Today we want to discuss the new E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 upgrade cards from Synology that will allow you to add one or two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports (respectively) to your PCIe enabled NAS. This year is fast becoming the turning point when 10G networking and direct NAS access has broken into the home and SMB market. It is understandable, with the max abilities of standard 1Gbe RJ45 LAN becoming the bottleneck for most users, it can be very attractive indeed to upgrade your NAS to the 10x faster network connectivity. This is especially attractive to users that wish to edit files DIRECTLY On the NAS (photo and video editing for example) either by connecting their system via a 10Gbe switch to a 10G NAS, or just cutting out the middleman and directly connecting to the 10GBe NAS and removing any trace of that pesky bottleneck! But 10Gbe isn’t a new concept and has actually been around for many years, so why is this such a big deal now and why should you care about the E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2? Find out below.

Is Now the Time to Upgrade to 10Gbe?

Why should you care about the Synology E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2?

Synology has released numerous NAS devices over the last 5 years that arrive with an available PCIe slot. This (as it is with a desktop PC) is to allow the user to upgrade the connection of their NAS to one that is faster or better suited to the network environment it will live in. Although there are several official Synology PCIe cards that can be used in this slot (the M2D17 and M2D18 Cache cards for example), most commonly the upgrade to 10Gbe via this port is the most frequent choice. What makes the E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 10GBe cards appealing is three main reasons below:

The Synology E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 cards use 10GBASE-T

10 Gigabit Ethernet is most commonly available in two different formats, SFP (fiber optic cables) and 10GBASE-T (Copper cables). Both have their own advantages and disadvantages (see article below) but in short, SFP+ is used for much, much further distances, is much more expensive to install, requires transceivers at either end of cables and is generally used by enterprise or data centers. 10GBASE-T is the option for those that want 10Gbe, covering a smaller area (no cable should exceed 15-20m), want to mix 1Gbe and 10Gbe (as 10Gbe is backwards compatible and identical in design to bog standard RJ45) and want to spend much less (as its waaaay cheaper overall). Synology have dabbled with 10GBASE-T NAS and PCIe before with varying degrees of success and in fact have a desktop 10Gbe NAS in the form of the DS1817, however, it met with mixed results as they tend to leverage the internal hardware on these NAS towards mid power processors/memory. However, the E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 cards let you upgrade NAS with more powerful Celeron, Pentium and Xeon CPU to have an external speed that can match the internal throughput.

Should you Choose 10GBASE-T Copper Over SFP+ for 10G Ethernet

The Synology E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 arrive with the Aquantia controller

Both the single port E10G18-T1 is equipped with the Aquantia AQtion AQC107 NIC controller that supports 10/5/2.5/1Gbps and 100Mbps speeds. This leverages the industry-leading Aquantia NBASE-T solution (which is growing especially popular in NAS in 2018) and marrying that with the hardware on your Synology NAS very well indeed. Additionally, although this is yet to be confirmed officially, this controller should mean that this PCIe 10Gbe range of cards will be compatible with Windows and Linux PCs, as well as Synology NAS

EDITED:

E10G18-T1

  • IEEE 802.3x Flow Control
  • IEEE 802.3u Fast Ethernet
  • IEEE 802.3ab Gigabit Ethernet
  • IEEE 802.3bz 2.5Gbps / 5Gbps Ethernet
  • IEEE 802.3an 10Gbps Ethernet

E10G18-T2

  • IEEE 802.3x Flow Control
  • IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation
  • IEEE 802.3ab Gigabit Ethernet
  • IEEE 802.3an 10Gbps Ethernet

The Synology E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 are supported by pretty much any Synology NAS with PCIe, new or old

Both the E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 cards have a PCIe 3.0 x4 which is both common on Synology NAS and backwards compatible too. This means that even old NAS such as 2011 released DS3611xs or the incredible new DS1819+ will support this card. It will act as an inexpensive means to either remove the bottleneck on a modern NAS, or even arrange a 10x faster network backup onto your old NAS. Below are NAS that will are compatible with the E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 Synology 10Gbe cards:

  • DS3611xs
  • DS3612xs
  • DS3615xs
  • RS10613xs+
  • RS18016xs+
  • RS3411RPxs+
  • RS3412RPxs
  • RS3413xs+
  • RS3614RP+
  • RS3614xs+
  • DS1517+
  • DS1817+
  • FS2017
  • RS18017xs+
  • RS3617RPxs
  • RS3617xs
  • RS4017xs+
  • DS1618+
  • FS1018
  • RS2818RP+
  • RS818RP+
  • RS2418RP+
  • DS1819+
  • DS2419+
  • RS1219+

 

 

📧 SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER 🔔


    🔒 Join Inner Circle

    Get an alert every time something gets added to this specific article!


    Want to follow specific category? 📧 Subscribe

    This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

    Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

    Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.

      By clicking SEND you accept this Privacy Policy
      Question will be added on Q&A forum. You will receive an email from us when someone replies to it.
      🔒Private Fast Track Message (1-24Hours)

      TRY CHAT Terms and Conditions
      If you like this service, please consider supporting us. We use affiliate links on the blog allowing NAScompares information and advice service to be free of charge to you.Anything you purchase on the day you click on our links will generate a small commission which isused to run the website. Here is a link for Amazon and B&H.You can also get me a ☕ Ko-fi or old school Paypal. Thanks!To find out more about how to support this advice service check HEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check Fiver Have you thought about helping others with your knowledge? Find Instructions Here  
       
      Or support us by using our affiliate links on Amazon UK and Amazon US
          
       
      Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.

      ☕ WE LOVE COFFEE ☕

        This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today’s video. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases
      locked content ko-fi subscribe

      DISCUSS with others your opinion about this subject.
      ASK questions to NAS community
      SHARE more details what you have found on this subject
      CONTRIBUTE with your own article or review. Click HERE
      IMPROVE this niche ecosystem, let us know what to change/fix on this site
      EARN KO-FI Share your knowledge with others and get paid for it! Click HERE

      ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE!

      5 thoughts on “Synology E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 10Gbe PCIe Base-T Upgrade cards

      1. Your article suggested both cards have same controller and are capable of the same speeds

        However I have the E10G18-T2 and found that it can only do 1 or 10Gb not 2.5gb as suggested

        Which is also reflected by synology specs

        https://www.synology.com/en-uk/products/E10G18-T2#specs
        IEEE 802.3ab Gigabit Ethernet
        IEEE 802.3an 10Gbps Ethernet

        Whereas I can see that the specs on the T1 show:

        https://www.synology.com/en-uk/products/E10G18-T1#specs
        IEEE 802.3ab Gigabit Ethernet
        IEEE 802.3bz 2.5Gbps / 5Gbps Ethernet
        IEEE 802.3an 10Gbps Ethernet

        Any comment?

        1. Yes, you are correct. Our article made an error in suggesting that both the E10G18-T1 and E10G18-T2 have the same capabilities. As you pointed out, the E10G18-T2 does not support 2.5Gbps Ethernet, while the E10G18-T1 does. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we will make sure to correct the information in our article.

      2. Hmmm so why would you want a card with 2 ports? You need a switch for multiple users right? Or can one computer plug into one port, and another (local) computer connect to the other, and on the same network? I wouldn’t have to create a separate address or something for the second port would I?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE