> if given the same treatment a datacenter GPU will overheat itself idling
I have a friend who has learned this through several server grade cards over the years.
Yes your Intel 10G NIC was cheap. No you cannot just stick it in your desktop. It is expecting server level airflow, probably with a cold intake side.
He printed a fan mount, slapped it on, and they’ve been happy together since.
I've had multiple X520-DAs in desktop cases for years without doing anything special for cooling. Hell, one of them was in a fully watercooled system that had very little in-case airflow.
The -DA might have been critical in them doing so well ;-) -TA2 might have heated somewhat mightily (only recently lower thermal power twisted-pair gear started showing up)
Show your friend QSFP and QSFP+ ...