DIY 25 Gigabit Ethernet over Thunderbolt adapter for stable operation
A software developer who purchased a 25GbE adapter and was troubled by overheating shared how he modified it himself.
Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt | Dr. Christian Kohlschütter
Software developer Christian Kohlschutter purchased a Chinese-made 25GbE adapter from Amazon. It's powered by the host, so it only requires a single cable and no additional power adapter. He said it's a very convenient option for both mobile and desktop environments. However, because it lacks a fan or additional power supply, it can get too hot to touch.
So Kohlschutter decided to disassemble and modify it.
The inside looked like this, with two boards sandwiched together: the Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx Ethernet adapter card and the OCP 2.0 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter card.
The card can withstand temperatures up to 55°C ambient and 105°C chip temperature, but without proper cooling, the chassis would get too hot to touch, so Kohlschutter purchased two additional large heat sinks, which he attached to the card using thermal pads.
The heat sink is slightly longer than the case, allowing for air circulation when placed upright.
This measure kept the ambient temperature below 40°C and the core temperature at about 75°C. 'This setup has been very stable for me over the past few months, and I hope it works for you too,' Kohlschutter said.
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in Hardware, Posted by log1p_kr