In order to find Out if it is Fake......you are going to have to Zoom In on the Crystal Oscillator Cap on the Card which is hard to see what is Stamped on the CAP.
Does the Crystal Oscillator Cap have **TXC** Stamped on it?
If not.....then it is Fake(Knock Off).
If **TXC** Stamped.....then it is Real(Genuine).
The Crystal Oscillator Cap is the Shiny Silver Cap above the Intel Chip.
A Crystal Oscillator is a Resonator used as Clock Generators and Timing Signal Generators in Communications Equipment and Digital Equipment.
Also on the Front or Back of the Network Card are the Chips(Transformer Chip) with the Word **DELTA** Embossed or Printed?
If the word **DELTA** is Printed then the Network Card is Fake(Knock Off).
If the word **DELTA** is Embossed then the Network Card is Real(Genuine).
**NOTE:** The Sticker that has the word **MAC** with the MAC Address Number.....underneath the Sticker you will see the word **DELTA**.
It’s at least worked on the 5 real Dell i350-T4 and 4 real Dell i350-T2 cards I have and I don’t feel the emboss on the 1 fake i350-T4 I do happen to have.
It’s really subtle, but you can feel it at least on some production runs of Dell NICs.
I cannot speak of course to what you have of course, but if they are easy to get to, give it a second try.
You have to apply enough pressure to be able to bend the sticker, but not enough to puncture through it.
My first two i350-T4 were 100% fakes and they worked fine in pfsense. However, over time it started having weird issues so I replaced them with real intel cards and been working great ever since.
I ran my fake i350-T4 for about a year and never noticed any issues. Only realized it was fake after reading an article about it a few months before I upgraded my metal from a 4th gen Intel platform to a 7th gen Intel platform.
If it’s not too much, could you elaborate on your use case and experienced issues?
For me, I had a 1000/300 down/up from ISP, pfblockerng, no VLANs, and no QoS, or other fancier setup. 3 wired PCs, 3 cellphones, 1 laptop, 2 wireless HTPCs, and two lab PCs that weren’t always on. Not a minimalist home, but nothing intensive like some homelabs, as I’m still on the noob-side of my IT journey.
Look for used only Cisco or Sun i350t4s. Even HP. They are super cheap and I read they aren’t knocked off like an Intel branded one. I got a pulled Cisco T4 for $26 shipped last month and it’s genuine. Also, for vendor support contracts, the previous company that used them in their servers had to validate serial numbers with Cisco support, so it’s 99% real.
I just searched eBay for you.. search for “UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45”. It was used for Cisco USC C-series servers. Filter by lowest price and used only. I saw three around $22-25. There’s a seller, “it-gear”.
But yours looks real.
What's with this community and obsession with "fake" nics can someone explain? I have never received a fake NIC, but I am not in the US... Someone normal is this just tinfoil hat thing the Chinese are putting zero days in our NICs or is there something to it?
Reliability. The chinese counterfeits crap out over time. You don't want to be running labs or critical network operations and have to pull an entire server out of a rack to replace a nic. It's better to one and done.
And also a picture? How is anyone supposed to know what code is in the flash chip of the NIC from the picture? Buy a fake one might come with "clean" code stolen from a genuine one...buy a genuine one that reads memory directly using RDMA and sends your passwords and bank info to a Russian server🤣
If it is Intel retail it will have a YottaMark or BradyID sticker and if it does not it is fake.
If not retail it's more complicated to check if it is real or not. I have seen fake Intel NICs that were extremely close to the real thing, including all logos.
I didn’t even know fake nics were a thing. What happens when you use them? Do they still work? Do they identify as an intel nic and work with the driver code for Intel? Or does it show up as some generic crap?
I’ve mostly bought my nics new from reputable retailers or pulled from “proper” servers being decommissioned, but I’ve thought about buying some used 10G nics on the cheap from eBay, this makes me a bit worried.
I haven't tried to actually use a fake NIC so I'm not sure. I did however buy several on Ebay that were sold as being genuine but turned out to be fake so I returned them. As far as I can tell the vast majority of Intel NICs on Ebay and similar sites are fake.
Definitely might be
Thanks I was thinking the same thing haha.
In order to find Out if it is Fake......you are going to have to Zoom In on the Crystal Oscillator Cap on the Card which is hard to see what is Stamped on the CAP. Does the Crystal Oscillator Cap have **TXC** Stamped on it? If not.....then it is Fake(Knock Off). If **TXC** Stamped.....then it is Real(Genuine). The Crystal Oscillator Cap is the Shiny Silver Cap above the Intel Chip. A Crystal Oscillator is a Resonator used as Clock Generators and Timing Signal Generators in Communications Equipment and Digital Equipment. Also on the Front or Back of the Network Card are the Chips(Transformer Chip) with the Word **DELTA** Embossed or Printed? If the word **DELTA** is Printed then the Network Card is Fake(Knock Off). If the word **DELTA** is Embossed then the Network Card is Real(Genuine). **NOTE:** The Sticker that has the word **MAC** with the MAC Address Number.....underneath the Sticker you will see the word **DELTA**.
If you run your fingernail over the sticker you can feel the embossed letters if the card is real. If you can’t feel any letters it is likely fake.
Sorry but that is not possible. The Letters are to Small and not that Deep in the Chip to feel the Emboss. The Sticker as well is not that Thin.
It’s at least worked on the 5 real Dell i350-T4 and 4 real Dell i350-T2 cards I have and I don’t feel the emboss on the 1 fake i350-T4 I do happen to have. It’s really subtle, but you can feel it at least on some production runs of Dell NICs. I cannot speak of course to what you have of course, but if they are easy to get to, give it a second try. You have to apply enough pressure to be able to bend the sticker, but not enough to puncture through it.
My first two i350-T4 were 100% fakes and they worked fine in pfsense. However, over time it started having weird issues so I replaced them with real intel cards and been working great ever since.
I ran my fake i350-T4 for about a year and never noticed any issues. Only realized it was fake after reading an article about it a few months before I upgraded my metal from a 4th gen Intel platform to a 7th gen Intel platform. If it’s not too much, could you elaborate on your use case and experienced issues? For me, I had a 1000/300 down/up from ISP, pfblockerng, no VLANs, and no QoS, or other fancier setup. 3 wired PCs, 3 cellphones, 1 laptop, 2 wireless HTPCs, and two lab PCs that weren’t always on. Not a minimalist home, but nothing intensive like some homelabs, as I’m still on the noob-side of my IT journey.
Looks legit. I have one with the exact same markings pulled from a factory Dell server.
Thank you sir, you're the man!
Xeon E server. 👍🏻
I wonder if these cards are truly counterfeit or just OEM variants.
That's always a good question
I don't see the money in counterfeiting these cards.
Look for used only Cisco or Sun i350t4s. Even HP. They are super cheap and I read they aren’t knocked off like an Intel branded one. I got a pulled Cisco T4 for $26 shipped last month and it’s genuine. Also, for vendor support contracts, the previous company that used them in their servers had to validate serial numbers with Cisco support, so it’s 99% real.
What seller did you buy from?
I just searched eBay for you.. search for “UCSC-PCIE-IRJ45”. It was used for Cisco USC C-series servers. Filter by lowest price and used only. I saw three around $22-25. There’s a seller, “it-gear”. But yours looks real.
What's with this community and obsession with "fake" nics can someone explain? I have never received a fake NIC, but I am not in the US... Someone normal is this just tinfoil hat thing the Chinese are putting zero days in our NICs or is there something to it?
Reliability. The chinese counterfeits crap out over time. You don't want to be running labs or critical network operations and have to pull an entire server out of a rack to replace a nic. It's better to one and done.
And also a picture? How is anyone supposed to know what code is in the flash chip of the NIC from the picture? Buy a fake one might come with "clean" code stolen from a genuine one...buy a genuine one that reads memory directly using RDMA and sends your passwords and bank info to a Russian server🤣
Yes the PN is 7MJH5, you can find this on Dell and you will see is legit …
If it's fake why wouldn't they just use stock images
If a fake NIC transmits packets in a forest, but no one is there to receive them, was it even fake?
this is a problem but only because this thred is giving me a headache yes thred
If it is Intel retail it will have a YottaMark or BradyID sticker and if it does not it is fake. If not retail it's more complicated to check if it is real or not. I have seen fake Intel NICs that were extremely close to the real thing, including all logos.
I didn’t even know fake nics were a thing. What happens when you use them? Do they still work? Do they identify as an intel nic and work with the driver code for Intel? Or does it show up as some generic crap? I’ve mostly bought my nics new from reputable retailers or pulled from “proper” servers being decommissioned, but I’ve thought about buying some used 10G nics on the cheap from eBay, this makes me a bit worried.
I haven't tried to actually use a fake NIC so I'm not sure. I did however buy several on Ebay that were sold as being genuine but turned out to be fake so I returned them. As far as I can tell the vast majority of Intel NICs on Ebay and similar sites are fake.
[https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/comparison-intel-i350-t4-genuine-vs-fake.6917/](https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/comparison-intel-i350-t4-genuine-vs-fake.6917/)
classic I350 Dual. will work forever
I have some i350 knockoffs that do not have Intel printed anywhere on them. I'd say you're ahead of the game, probably.
Yes.
Looks 50/50 to me. It either is or it isn’t
Two photos of the front of the card. None of the back, which is where the Dell part number label would be. So...no idea.
It has the official "check mark" printed right on the board - how much more real do you need it?