8 port dual speed 10/100 hub or 8 port 10/100 unmanaged switch ?

[igowerf]

I found a site on pricewatch (www.microbarn.com) that has an 8 port dual speed 10/100 hub and an 8 port 10/100 unmanaged switch for $53 each. I was wondering which one is better. And also can somebody explain what it means by "dual speed" and "unmanaged"? What's the difference between a switch and a hub? Thanks in advance.

 

[Rellik]

ok, i will try..

A dual speed hub is able to work on 10MBit and 100Mbit networks.
IT CANNOT USE BOTH AT THE SAME TIME: When a 10 Mbit guy plugs in, it
scales down to 10 Mbit. A Switch is able to offer a better solution.
The 100Mbit guys can play at 100, the 10 at 10..

The best solution is a managed Switch. If the cards support full duplex, you have 200Mbit on every port. 100 uplink and 100 downlink.

Now an example: 5 player Network. player 1 and 2 are playing Q3A.
player 3 needs a file from player 4. player 4 is hosting a UT game with player 5.

If all players have 100Mbit cards, and u use a 100 mbit HUB, these 100Mbit WILL BE SPLIT up in the hub. Also, as the hub is not managed,
it will sent requests(such as the file transfer) to EVERY port, therefore decreasing bandwith. Not good.

With a MANAGED SWITCH, u can direct requests where they are intended
(player 1 "talks" to player 2/ player 3 to 4 and so on) This greatly boosts netspeed and enables you to transfer large files without sacrificing too much bandwidth.

Even if the Switch is not managed, it is the better alternative since
10 Mbit players won´t force the network down for those with 100Mbit cards..

Hope this helps

 

[igowerf]

Thanks a lot for the info. I think I'll go with the switch then.

Edit: I just found another site where I'm going to order a bunch of stuff from. They have two switches that I'm looking at... and the info is kind of confusing.

NetCruiser > 8port 10/100 Dual Speed unmanaged Switching Hub
ARK > 8 Port 10/100 dual speed Nway Switches Hub

I clicked on the links and both hubs have the exact same info/description. The NetCruiser is cheaper by about 3 dollars. Which one do you think is better?