Thinking about getting a gigabit switch

yagga

I am thinking about an 8 port gigabit switch. I was considering possibly the NETGEAR GS108 or HP ProCurve Switch 1400. I am open to anything within a reasonable budget. The Netgear is $60-15mir and the HP is $85. I am willing to pay either amount or near these numbers. I hear the netgears regulararily fail and I would like reliability. I am leaning greatly toward the HP. Does anyone have opinions on these two models, or know of another model that would be good for me?

I'd like to primarily increase (well actually maximize) speed among the internal computers, and as secondary benefits, not run out of ports to plug computers and things into, which will be added soon. Currently, hard drive copying across the network is just torture!

I have my home network currently like:
cable modem > plastic Netgear a/b/g + 4 port router > 1. printer; 2. 2 computers

I'd probably just put the switch in after the router and hook everything to that. I've never gotten this "complicated," but it seems pretty damn simple. The router takes care of business I believe, even if I had something still connected directly to the router and needed to talk with something on the switch, right?

primesuspect

For a network that small, it really doesn't matter what switch you get.

That said, I've used and trusted HP's enterprise gear for years and have never had any issues. HP ProCurve switches are top-notch. I highly recommend them.

photodude

I agree with prime, a network that small could deal with any gigabit switch.

I have about the same on my home/business network, I run a Trendnet 5 port gigabit router with wireless b/g/n.

DSL > 5port gigabit router w/wireless > network (2-5 computers and printers mix of wired and wireless)

mertesn

One other question to consider: What is your current router's speed? If it's 10/100 for the LAN ports you won't see any benefit by going to gigabit switches until the router is upgraded as well.

primesuspect

You mean: You won't see any benefit until your internet connection is more than 100mb/s

mertesn

primesuspect wrote:

You mean: You won't see any benefit until your internet connection is more than 100mb/s

No, I mean on the LAN side of things, as the OP stated. But yeah, it won't help internet speeds unless the ISP supports such speeds.

Tushon

You are correct about placing the switch after the router. Just throw one ethernet cable from a LAN port on the router into any port on the switch. I'd put as many devices as you can on the switch, because that is where you will see the internal speed gain. If you have a networked printer, putting it on the router would be perfectly acceptable. Any non-intensive devices (like the printer) should go on the router, while all computers and any media streaming devices should be on the switch. Streaming 1080p movies from my computer to my roommates PS3 was glorious once we had it wired in (instead of wireless).

mertesn

Tushon wrote:

You are correct about placing the switch after the router. Just throw one ethernet cable from a LAN port on the router into any port on the switch. I'd put as many devices as you can on the switch, because that is where you will see the internal speed gain. If you have a networked printer, putting it on the router would be perfectly acceptable. Any non-intensive devices (like the printer) should go on the router, while all computers and any media streaming devices should be on the switch. Streaming 1080p movies from my computer to my roommates PS3 was glorious once we had it wired in (instead of wireless).

No, a 10/100 router will still create a bottleneck for the gigabit switch. Consumer-level switches don't do their own routing, so the router's speed will neuter the gigabit switch.

fatcat

4x10|100|1000 Wireless Routers

if you need more ports, just get a 4 port 10|100|1000 switch also

Tushon

mertesn wrote:

No, a 10/100 router will still create a bottleneck for the gigabit switch. Consumer-level switches don't do their own routing, so the router's speed will neuter the gigabit switch.

Well I look like a pro now. TY for the info.