Not a lame suggest at all, this is probably saner option than me throwing $$$ on an 11th gen i7. Doing some research and I'm curious if you have a recommendation on adapter? I know the ASIX AX88179 is suggested and the Plugable adapter uses that chipset. I'd prefer to get something I know will work plug and play, then I can continue testing to ensure it's just the NIC and nothing else. I also have an Apple Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter, I've not invested too much effort into troubleshooting, it doesn't seem to work natively out the box with Proxmox/Debian.