I Tested the IOCREST USB4 to 10GbE Adapter on Windows and Mikrotik

Published 17/09/2026

Description

Today I’m taking a detailed look at the IOCREST USB4 / Thunderbolt 3 10GbE RJ45 Ethernet adapter and testing whether it is actually a practical way to bring 10G networking to a laptop or workstation without using a PCIe card. This adapter is marketed for USB4 and Thunderbolt 3/4 systems, supports 10GbE over RJ45 with auto-negotiation down to lower speeds, and importantly does not work as a normal USB 3.x fallback device. In my case, I already had a 10G-capable setup with Dell R630 and R730 servers, a MikroTik CCR2004, an RB5009, and later a MikroTik CRS304, so the missing piece was getting 10G all the way to the desk and the laptop for proper testing. My MSI Stealth 18 AI laptop only has 2.5G onboard networking, which makes this kind of adapter especially interesting if you want faster NAS access, lab work, or server testing without opening the machine. In this video I go through: Why I wanted 10G on my laptop in the first place. The current state of 10G on consumer laptops and motherboards. SFP+ vs RJ45 10G and why I chose RJ45 in my setup. My MikroTik and home lab network layout. The IOCREST hardware design and what I like and dislike about it. Initial setup and plug-in experience on Windows. Driver installation and device details. Real-world performance tests with iperf3. iperf3 testing again with jumbo frames enabled. My final thoughts on whether this adapter is worth buying. A big point with this adapter is compatibility: despite being USB-C physically, it requires USB4 or Thunderbolt 3/4 support and does not support USB 3.0, 3.1, or 3.2-only ports. It also supports jumbo frames up to 16 KB on paper, which makes jumbo frame testing especially relevant in a lab setup like this. If you are looking at 10G for a desktop, a laptop, a NAS lab, TrueNAS testing, or MikroTik-based networking, this video should give you a realistic idea of what to expect instead of just reading the product page. The IOCREST model has been discu