10Gb Ethernet over copper users? (CX4 v. SFP+ v. KX4/KR v. T)

A

acesea

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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I'm looking at some 10gbe goodness and am interested in the copper cables and interfaces. At this point is it a given that 10GSFP+Cu supersedes 10GBASE-CX4 for short lengths due to form factor and 10GBASE-T providing longer cable lengths over Cat6/a? What, if any, beneficial characteristics does CX4 offer?

10GBASE-CX4 gear can be found at resellers used now at $100 to $200 per port and the infiniband sff8470 cable is also cheap (~$15) and easy to buy. Does CX4 gear pricing reflect it being on the market for several years now and make it a soon worthwhile proposition for high bandwidth solutions over ethernet? Or will SFP+ gain popularity and CX4 nics and modules risk end-of-lifing?

How do 10GBASE-KX4 and 10GBASE-KR relate to all this?
 
CX4 came first and few really want it these days due to the different cables and length limitations. If you can live with the 15m length limitation, might as well save some money. SFP+ while being more flexible of course, winds up costing way more unfortunately. KX4/KR are uses in backplanes only and you won't find any cards with it.
 
Sorta OT

I still haven't seen anyone use copper 10GE

Any reasons for using copper over fiber?
 
LZ1 said:
Sorta OT

I still haven't seen anyone use copper 10GE

Any reasons for using copper over fiber?
Click to expand...

Price. A shorthaul fibre SFP can be $800/side. A copper SFP+ cable (with the SFP+ modules built on both ends) is $120.

If you can stay close do SFP+.
 
I use 5m SFP+ 10Gb, no issues. I would have to check on the max length, but I think you can do 10 or 15m.

The longer the cables, the thicker they get, and harder to route.
 
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