Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been checking out some of the new USB 4.0 10-gigabit Ethernet adapters that have hit the market. In my latest review, we take a look at one from Unifi – known more for their network infrastructure equipment vs. individual adapter cards.
At $200, it sits a bit higher on the price scale compared to others, but this one stands out because it doesn’t have a noisy fan. The outer case gets a bit warm but I noticed no performance degradation under sustained loads.
This adapter is running with the same Marvell AQC113 chipset as some of the others we’ve reviewed recently. Setup was simple. On macOS, Linux (Ubuntu), and Windows, the adapter functioned as plug-and-play in my testing. UniFi also provides a direct link to Marvel’s driver download page for those who need additional support. That’s a refreshing change from some of the vendors I’ve seen who push downloads through sketchy sites.
Performance was consistent across the board. I ran speed tests on all three platforms—Mac, Windows, and Linux—and consistently saw results in the 9.4 to 9.47 Gbps range in both upload and download directions using iPerf. The adapter maintained those speeds reliably with minimal variation.
To get the full performance you will need to connect this to a USB 4 or Thunderbolt connection. In addition to 10 gigabit speeds it will also operate at 5, 2.5, 1 gigabits or 100 megabits. I’m sure it’ll probably support 10 megabits too if you happen to plug it into a 90s era hub.
Overall this one feels like a solid option for anyone looking to get reliable 10 gig connectivity and something I’m comfortable recommending.