10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE)

10GbE delivers 10 Gbps full-duplex over Cat6a copper (BASE-T) up to 100 m or SFP+ fibre connections for longer distances. Increasingly featured as a secondary NIC on flagship enthusiast motherboards alongside 2.5GbE — for example the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex and Gigabyte AORUS Xtreme Z790 include Intel X550 or Aquantia AQC113 10GbE controllers. Critical for direct-attached NAS connectivity (QNAP, Synology 10GbE NAS), video production shared storage networks, and ultra-fast local backup over 10GbE switches.