Lenovo Tiny 2.5G NIC and Intel X710-DA2 Adapter

Turn your Lenovo tiny PC into a super router! The M720q/M920q/P330 have a PCIe x8 Gen 3 slot that allows all sorts of interesting options, but a very common use is for a home firewall running your firewall software of choice. And if you replace the wifi card with an A+E key 2.5GbE and put a single/dual SFP+ card in the PCIe slot, you'll have a huge selection of different ports for your routing needs!

This model is an add-on "bump" to allow putting a 2.5GbE NIC in the wifi slot while allowing use of an Intel X710-DA2 dual SFP+ NIC in the PCIe slot on Lenovo M720q/M920q/P330 tiny PCs. The dual SFP+ NIC is just wide enough that you cannot fit the 2.5GbE board next to the ports, so I made this ugly bump-out. It's janky, looks dumb, and works fine. Since it sits on a shelf in my rack, looks don't matter, functionality does. All ports are still usable, including the on-board 1GbE NIC.

Printing

You need to print 1 of each part (3 total). The baffle will replace the one on the tiny PC and the 2-piece clamshell will hold the 2.5Gbe NIC. See the print file for print orientation, a small amount of tree supports were used. I used PETG with a 0.6mm nozzle, 0.15mm layer height on my MK3S and it came out fine (print file attached). PLA might work, but the higher heat resistance of PETG is recommended.

Other Parts

I used these NICs (Intel NICs tend to have very good compatibility/stability with all operating systems):

- Lenovo-branded X710 (like https://www.ebay.com/itm/375750319539 ) as they are known to fit in these tiny PCs, but not all X710-DA2 are exactly the same size. This board barely fits in the case, and you have to remove the wifi antenna to do so.

- Intel i226V 2.5G NIC ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYDSFLS3 ). There's many different "brands" of these out there, they're all more or less the same. Note the 20cm cable length, shorter will not reach! Also - you need an A+E key adapter. This NIC will run at 100Mb/1Gb speeds too if you need, though the on-board 1Gb NIC does the same.

You'll Also Need

- A riser card for the pcie slot (if you don't have one already) - these convert the special port on the Lenovo to a standard pcie x8 slot. You're looking for Lenovo part number 01AJ940 (eBay has lots of options).

- (2x) M3 x 0.5mm x 8mm long Button Head or Socket Head Screws (to attach the clamshell to the baffle).

- (1x) M4 x 0.7mm x 20-30mm long Socket Head Screw (to join the 2 halves of the clamshell).

- A drill and tap is helpful to thread the holes on the baffle and clamshell (drill out the hole if it prints undersized, tap the threads), but you can likely thread using a bolt (once drilled to the right diameter) if you don't have access to one. There are (3) M3 x 0.5mm threads on the baffle (the 3 tabs to connect to the computer case), (2) M3 x 0.5mm threads on the back of the clamshell (1 each per half), and (1) M4 x 0.7mm thread on the Left Clamshell.

I've been running this setup for around a year with no issues on an M720Q with an i3-8100, 8GB RAM, running pfSense. I have the 2.5GbE NIC connected to my cable modem (2Gbit service), and one of the SFP+ slots connected via a DAC to my core switch. I routinely speedtest at over 2.3Gbit to the internet, and internal transfer tests clear 9Gbit between SFP+ connected devices.

More reading for the obsessed: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/lenovo-thinkcentre-thinkstation-tiny-project-tinyminimicro-reference-thread.34925/