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TESTED: OWC Thunderbolt 3 10-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Dang! If you’re connecting machines together and you want fast connectivity, this is the real deal!

Get the about $150 OWC Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter at MacSales.com. You might also want some Cat 7 ethernet cables.

WOW—this is one of the most awesome upgrades ever with a huge value proposition. All you need is Thunderbolt 3 Macs (2019 Mac pro already has 10G ethernet built-in)*.

Well, sort of: it’s easy enough to connect two Macs directly together as done for testing here, but with 3 or more Macs you’ll need a 10G ethernet switch @AMAZON like the NETGEAR 10-Port Gigabit/10G Ethernet Unmanaged Switch GS110MX @AMAZON. The bummer is that it’s hard to get three or more 10G ports without high cost—you get into the $2000 range just to get four 10G ports, such as the NETGEAR 28-Port 10G Ethernet Smart Managed Pro Switch XS728T @AMAZON or the NETGEAR 8-Port Smart Managed Plus Switch 10G Ethernet XS708E @AMAZON or the Cisco SG250X-24 Smart Switch with 24 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) + 4 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ SG250X-24-K9-NA @AMAZON. Or the QNAP QSW-1208-8C-US 12-Port Unmanaged 10GbE Switch @AMAZON.

With this kind of speed, the network actually outperforms most HDD-based RAID systems, certainly any 4-drive RAID. So put those noisy spinners out in the garage connected to any Thunderbolt 3 Mac (think Mac mini set to never sleep), and run an ethernet cable up to 100 meters out there.

OWC Thunderbolt 3 10-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter vs Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi

Feature overview

  • Blazing-fast: over 900MB/s real-world tested transfer speed for large file transfers, video editing, and live streaming gaming sessions
  • Compatible: use with any Thunderbolt 3-equipped Mac or Windows computer
  • Capable: Up to 100-meter cable distance with Cat6a for 10G, Cat6 for 5G, and Cat5e for 2.5G
  • Smart: supports auto-negotiation for 10Gb/s, 5Gb/s, 2.5Gb/s, 1Gb/s and 100Mb/s Base-T Ethernet standards
  • Accessible: Wake-on-LAN ready for remote access of home or work computer
  • AVB ready: perfect for use in pro audio and video applications where synchronization of data streams is critical
  • Cost effective: 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T technology (formerly NBASE-T) provides up to 500% faster performance over existing cabling

The Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter adds up to 10Gb/s Ethernet connectivity to Thunderbolt 3-equipped computers that lack built-in capabilities. If you’re a video editor, creative pro, musician, or gamer, you can experience blazing-fast transfer speeds with signal reliability, stability, and security wherever you work or play.

Engage Warp Speed File Transfers

Connecting the OWC Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter to your Thunderbolt 3-equipped Mac or PC adds warp speed file transfers to your workflow. Now you can access 10GBASE-T 10Gb Ethernet networks and other devices, such as a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system, to transfer large multimedia files at over 900MB/s real-world speed. While improving project efficiency and workgroup collaboration with the quickest network connection available, the adapter is also backwards compatible with other Ethernet standards including 5GBASE-T, 2.5GBASE-T, 1000BASE-T, and 100BASE-T.

Bottleneck-Free Editing Collaboration

For post-production to work at maximum efficiency, multiple editors need to collaborate and work as a team. The Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter keeps projects on schedule and under budget by giving multiple editing workstations the bandwidth needed for sharing and editing data-intensive creative content like video, animation, and graphics. Now editing can take place directly from files on a shared RAID storage device or NAS, such as OWC Jupiter Callisto or OWC Jupiter mini, without the time waste of downloading files to individual workstations.

Ideal for Ethernet Limited Computers

The Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter opens up a world of high-performance network connectivity to Thunderbolt 3-equipped notebooks that lack built-in Ethernet connectivity and to desktop machines handcuffed by a built-in 1Gb/s Ethernet port like the iMac 2017, Mac mini 2018, and All-In-One PCs.

Maximizes SOHO Networks

Without having to incur the extra expense of a full 10Gb Ethernet network, it’s becoming common for budget-constrained, yet performance-oriented creative professionals in small or home offices to connect to a 2.5 – 5Gb/s equipped router or switch. Unfortunately, these pros are often limited to Gigabit Ethernet (1Gb/s) speed by their computer. By simply adding the Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter to their machine, photographers, videographers, musicians, and other creative pros can now enjoy greater signal reliability, stability, and security with up to 5x faster speed on 2.5 – 5Gb/s networks and up to 10x faster speed on 10Gb Ethernet networks.

Dramatically Increases Performance and ROI of Existing Network

With an ideal combination of affordability and performance, most wired local area networks installed over the past two decades utilize Cat 5e or Cat 6 copper cabling. Unfortunately, these setups are limited to a maximum 1Gb/s speed. Thanks to its built-in 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T technology (formerly NBASE-T), the Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter can deliver up to 5Gb/s speed over existing cabling for up to a 500% performance increase and maximum infrastructure ROI.

Built for Optimum Network and CPU Performance

The Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter achieves its blazing fast transfer speed and keeps your computer performing at peak because it was built with advanced features such as flow control and 64-bit address support; TCP, UDP, and IPv4 checksum offloading; and TSO, LRO, and RSS stateless offloads.

Runs Silently Cool with Rugged and Efficient Portability

Featuring a unique ventilated design that maximizes airflow, the Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter’s rugged aluminum housing works as a heat sink to operate silently cool without needing a fan. The adapter draws its power from the Thunderbolt 3 port with Energy-Efficient Ethernet support for low computer-power use and no AC adapter needed. Further complimenting its portable potential is a rubber sleeve to keep the adapter safe from bumps and bruises when thrown into a backpack or gear bag.

Existing Cable Compatible

When you need to access an older or even state-of-the-art network, the Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter’s RJ45 socket will connect you to a wide range of existing cabling infrastructures ranging from Cat 5 to Cat 7.
- Cat 5 - Up to 1Gb/s at lengths up to 100 meters
- Cat 5e- Up to 2.5Gb/s at lengths up to 100 meters
- Cat 6 - Up to 10Gb/s at lengths up to 55 meters (up to 5Gb/s up to 100 meters) Cat6a - Up to 10Gb/s at lengths up to 100 meters
- Cat 7 - Up to 10Gb/s at lengths up to 100 meter

Pro Audio Video AVB Ready

Time-sensitive data such as audio and video media streams require Audio Video Bridging (IEEE 802.1Qav, AVB) ready gear. No sweat…the Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter can stream vast volumes of high-quality data to multiple destinations in real-time with very low latency over existing network cable.

Access Your Work and Home Computers Anytime, Anywhere

Thanks to network Wake-on-LAN support, you can easily wake a hibernated Windows or sleeping Mac computer for remote system management, program use, and stored file access. Now instead of having an “always on” system wasting energy — and your hard-earned money — you can keep a work or home computer in a low-power state that’s accessible anytime from any location.

CPU usage of 1.8 CPU cores is impressively low for a transfer rate of 1GB/sec.

Impressively low CPU usage for 1GB/sec transfers over 10G ethernet

Reader comments

Don C writes:

Note that Ubiquity sells a 16-port SFP+ 10-gigabit managed switch for $669. https://www.ui.com/edgemax/edgeswitch-16-xg

Four of the ports are 10GBase-T, 12 of the ports are 10Gigabit SFP+.

Amazon lists copper 10-gigabit (up to 30 meters on Cat 6A/7) SFPs for $38.99 each, so add $40 per port for copper. Optical looks to be around $21 per port for multi-mode fiber. Anyway, a fully loaded 16-port copper 10 Gigabit EdgeSwitch XG would be around $1149. https://www.amazon.com/6COM-10GBase-T-Copper-Transceiver-Ubiquiti/dp/B075WR8FHT @AMAZON

I have been running a Ubiquity firewall for some years (10?) now - the Edgerouter series are modern, independent derivatives of the old Vyatta Open-Source router project. Configuration can be challenging, but at least you know it’s in there somewhere.

MPG: I’d much rather have a 4-port to 8-port plain copper wiring switch, fanless and unmanaged—and no desire to deal with network management for a simple connectivity issue.

For now, I really only want high speed between the 2019 Mac Pro and 2019 iMac 5K, and I can do that with a single Cat 6 ethernet cable @AMAZON, which works great. So I am not going to bother with a switch.

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