10/100 or 10/100/1000 router & switch?
adarryl
No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
I have changed ISP's from SDSL @ 1040 kbps to ADSL @ 7300 kbps dn/768 kbps up and am still using my original 10/100 Linksys router and 10/100 Zonet switch. Should I be looking at the 10/100/1000 routers and switches instead? Any advantage for me by making such a change in hardware? This is a home network with 6 PC's. THX!
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I disagree. And ALL computers do not have to be gigabit either. No it does not help internet speed. But if its doubling as his switch it helps if he has multiple gigabit capable computers. The cost differance is not great enough today to short change yourself and buy a 10/100 router if its also a switch and you have or plan to have multiple gigabit computers in the future.
Tex
So...do you disagree with him in that in order to utilize gigabit, you need to have NICs that support the Gigabit speed?
The gigabit switch is perfect if you want to upgrade your LAN for internal file transfers. If you are already minimum cat 5e wired, you have won half the battle.
Your question was already answered. I am unsure of what you could possibly be confused about?
Uhh "yes" you would need a gigabit NIC to take advantage of a gigabit routers speed... Is that what you were asking? I surely hope not.
Cheers
Tex
You quoted his entire text, then the first thing you stated was that you disagreed with kryyst stating that there is no advantage to a network upgrade. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...especially if he isn't going to utilize the increased LAN bandwidth.
I will dissect you post to better explain my perspective and justify my ignorance towards your response...
1) And ALL computers do not have to be gigabit either.
For what? Gigabit to work or regular 10/100? If the former, then yes all systems do need to have gigabit interfaces to utilize gigabit capabilities.
2) No it does not help internet speed.
True, we all agree...next
3) But if its doubling as his switch it helps if he has multiple gigabit capable computers.
Yes, without a doubt...next
4) The cost differance is not great enough today to short change yourself and buy a 10/100 router if its also a switch and you have or plan to have multiple gigabit computers in the future.
TRANSLATION: "Routers with internal switching are so cheap nowadays, you might as well get 'em if you can?"
I just saw that quick edit, please don't insult my intelligence with your last question. It is unnecessary and quite rude. Its not like I just build and service computers...
Ciao :bigggrin:
I think you've been working on networks of scale to much. On a small setup he's not going to notice a significant difference. While it's true the cost of a 10/100/1000 switch isn't a huge leap (but still it'll be double) from a 10/100 the cost for a 10/100/1000 router is because you are no longer looking at your typical linksys/dlink routers.
Lets assume for a second that all his home computers by some chance have giga cards in them, not even that odd an assumption if they are only a year or two old as many rigs now are coming with them. But he's only going to notice a difference in transferring files between the machines and the speed difference would only be noticeable if he's transferring larger (500mb+) files back and forth. Even then the speed difference we are talking about is not night and day. Sure you could measure it but the practical difference isn't worth while to recommend a giga switch for speed. You could argue for your future needs it's worth while. But again why pay now for what will come down in price in the future, whenever that is.
Also note that if you want to go the giga route for switches you have to be careful as many lower end switches that are labeled as 10/100/1000 have 1 giga port and the rest are all 10/100.
I am on my 4'th home gigabit switch. Having migrated to copper from fiber. And from a fiber backbone and copper gigabit to pure copper now.
I agree with you completely that in MOST situations you will not see a differance at all in transfer speeds. ZERO!
I have not done intensive tests with the onboard giga nics but have done them with most aftermarket nics.
In a 64bit slot (I have multiple dual cpu servers) there is a huge gain (with a good switch!). With a cheap 32bit giga nic in a 32 bit pci slot there is almost nothing.
But surprisingly if I slip one of my nice 64bit nics into a 32bit slot I see a sizeable boost even on a desktop box.
The card is very key to the gain you get. Its more obvious in a 64bit slot but a NICE card in a 32bit slot shows a nice boost. The highend cards do more then just allow giga transfers they optimize the transfers for that medium. I buy my nice 64 bit cards on eBay for $20 and they work in a 32 bit slot.
I have not had time to really test the onboard giga NICS as I had hoped they would be better then then the cheaper cards in a 32 bit pci slot.
But the differance in price in a 8 port 10/100 router switch and a giga router/switch last weekend at Fry's was $20.
I drink more beer then that in a long night.
At that price I say go gigabit.
You spend more then that on two cute lighted fans to decorate your case.
Cheers
Tex
But for $20 differance between a giga and a 100 EIGHT PORT router then hey... go ahead and get the giga router.
For clarification, when I was on SDSL the first time, I was leasing a one port modem and purchased my current 10/100 router and switch. When I left that ISP, I had to purchase an 8 port SDSL modem/router unit from the new ISP. Once that was done, there was no need for a router and switch as I could cover all PC's (8 at that time) with just the SDSL modem so my router and switch were retired to the shelf. Since I have now gone to ADSL, I had to lease a 2-port ADSL modem and resurrected my router and switch to serve now 6 PC's. File sharing and transfer are things I enable only on demand like when I build a new PC. Getting the itch even now!
OMG !
Tex
You said...
"I will dissect you post to better explain my perspective and justify my ignorance towards your response..."
Please stop right now! You do not need to justify your ignorance any further, TRUST ME !
Your ignorance to my response is now well documented here. Congratulations.
NO!! All computers do not have to be gigabit. If 4 out of 6 as he stated are gigabit then those gain an advantage in normal file transfers and other networking functions.
And even if the internet was somehow magicaly tansformed to gigabit ALL THE COMPUTERS do not need gigabit either. Have you ever actualy DONE THIS before? NO ALL THE COMPUTERS DO NOT NEED TO BE GIGABIT!
Thats what I disagreed with and I am basing that on real life experiance and testing. With 4 home network giga switchs and dozens of giga cards both fiber and copper.
None will gain anything for the internet OBVIOUSLY. Since the net connection is not gigabit ???? HELLO??? (rolls eyes...)
But ALL THE COMPUTERS do not need to be gigabit either. You can mix and match giga and 100 on the same switch. And the gigabit ones will connect at gigabit and the 100's at 100.
Cowboy
You have 4 of 6 systems with giga cards in them already? Then pony up the extra bucks and get a gigga switch, if you only need a switch. If you need a a combination router + 8 port switch then I still say don't bother with giga the cost is to high. But if you just need the 8 port switch then in your case you can take advantage of giga speeds and I'd say go with it.
Then I'd suggest taking your mutliple PC's and reconfiguring them so that one maximizes it's harddrive space and acts as a file server to the rest of them. You can then centralize anything you want to do and don't have to worry about each machine having enough space. It's much more efficient both use and cost wise.