HardKernel's Latest NetCard 3 Brings Four 5-Gigabit-Ethernet Ports to the ODROID-H3, ODROID-H4
Ideal, the company says, for anyone looking to build their own compact NAS, router, gateway, or other network appliance.
Hobbyist and embedded electronics specialist HardKernel has launched an add-on for its ODROID-H3 and ODROID-H4 single-board computers, designed for those looking to build their own routers, network appliances, or clusters: the NetCard 3, which adds four 5-gigabit-Ethernet ports.
"The NetCard 3 add-on board is a 4× 5GbE network card designed to be exclusively used with the ODROID-H3 and H4 series," HardKernel explains of its latest launch. "The H4 with a Netcard 3 is powerful enough to drive the performance of the 5G Ethernet high speed. The 5GbE Netcard 3 brings a significant added value to a H4-based NAS [Network Attached Storage] solution or router/gateway where parallel clients can enjoy the full 5GbE speed independently from each other."
The NetCard 3, brought to our attention by CNX Software, builds on the company's existing NetCard and NetCard 2 add-ons — the original adding four 2.5-gigabit-Ethernet ports via a Realtek RTL8125B controller and the second model switching to the Intel I226-V controller. The NetCard 3 is a return to Realtek, using a quartet of RTL8126 Ethernet controllers to drive the four wired Ethernet ports.
Doubling the throughput of the card does mean an increase in heat, though. "Each controller/chipset maintains transmission and reception capability at high speed and in the process each controller significantly emits more heat than a 1GbE or 2.5GbE chipset," HardKernel explains. "For this reason, the NetCard 3 includes a rectangular heat sink with fins covering the four controllers, in order to prevent possible slow speed down or even link down due to overheating. Do NOT remove the heat sink while operating the NetCard 3."
Tested on an ODROID-H4, the NetCard 3 was able to sustain just under 18Gb/s total throughput — or 4.6Gb/s from a single 5-gigabit-Ethernet port. "The difference from the theoretical 1, 2.5 and 5GbE [peak throughput] is, as always, due to the various overheads," HardKernel says. "Bytes [being] copied through the IP stack, PCIe [PCI Express] overhead and SerDes [Serializer/Deserializer] overhead in the Ethernet chipset."
The NetCard 3 is available to order on the HardKernel site at $68 before volume discounts.