Adding a gigabit switch to a 10/100 network

[TheThirdMan]

Hey guys,

I'm slowly building up a render farm at home. I'm currently using the modem/router I got from my internet provider and it's a basic 10/100 model with WIFI. It's ok for what I need but it's starting to be a major bottleneck with rendering and transferring great numbers of bitmaps and 3d scenes across the network. It's also a pain to use remote desktop connection over.

I've found a gigabit switch that looks pretty good: D-Link Gigabit Switch.

I initially thought about getting a network card for each PC on the network and connect them over that so I'd have two networks side by side: one gigabit one for networking between the PCs and then a 10/100 one for internet access.

I realised this is probably over complicating it though. Is there a way to plug in this gigabit switch to my 10/100 router and maintain the gigabit speeds PC to PC whilst also providing a net connection to each PC?

Or should i just get a new modem/router with gigabit ethernet? They're more expensive but it may be a better choice?

 

[el-Capitan]

Hey guys,

I'm slowly building up a render farm at home. I'm currently using the modem/router I got from my internet provider and it's a basic 10/100 model with WIFI. It's ok for what I need but it's starting to be a major bottleneck with rendering and transferring great numbers of bitmaps and 3d scenes across the network. It's also a pain to use remote desktop connection over.

I've found a gigabit switch that looks pretty good: D-Link Gigabit Switch.

I initially thought about getting a network card for each PC on the network and connect them over that so I'd have two networks side by side: one gigabit one for networking between the PCs and then a 10/100 one for internet access.

I realised this is probably over complicating it though. Is there a way to plug in this gigabit switch to my 10/100 router and maintain the gigabit speeds PC to PC whilst also providing a net connection to each PC?

Or should i just get a new modem/router with gigabit ethernet? They're more expensive but it may be a better choice?

Yes, exactly that. Should not be problem. Your PCs will communicate at 1000 among another and will have internet access.

PC1 ---\
PC2 ----Switch --- Router
PC3 ___/

 

[TheThirdMan]

Yes, exactly that. Should not be problem. Your PCs will communicate at 1000 among another and will have internet access.

PC1 ---\
PC2 ----Switch --- Router
PC3 ___/

Thanks for the reply!

So i would connect an ethernet port on the router to any of the ethernet ports on the switch with a standard cat5 ethernet cable?

 

[kevnich2]

Thanks for the reply!

So i would connect an ethernet port on the router to any of the ethernet ports on the switch with a standard cat5 ethernet cable?

Correct - I usually plug in the uplink cable to the very last port (if it's an 8 port switch, connect port 8 to your router). This isn't a rule or anything, I do it strictly out of habit so when I look at the switch, I know the last port is my uplink but you can connect any port on a gigabit switch.

I actually only have my switch plugged into my router, nothing else. This way my switch is what is handling all internal traffic and the only traffic hitting my router's switch is either broadcast's or actual internet traffic.

 

[TheThirdMan]

Correct - I usually plug in the uplink cable to the very last port (if it's an 8 port switch, connect port 8 to your router). This isn't a rule or anything, I do it strictly out of habit so when I look at the switch, I know the last port is my uplink but you can connect any port on a gigabit switch.

I actually only have my switch plugged into my router, nothing else. This way my switch is what is handling all internal traffic and the only traffic hitting my router's switch is either broadcast's or actual internet traffic.

great, thanks for the super clear response! I'd do exactly the same with the port usage! Thanks!

 

[MTDEW]

PC1 ---\
PC2 ----Switch --- Router
PC3 ___/
I actually only have my switch plugged into my router, nothing else. This way my switch is what is handling all internal traffic and the only traffic hitting my router's switch is either broadcast's or actual internet traffic.

Slight necro alert! :biggrin:
It's just this seems like the perfect thread to ask this question.
1: Does this configuration slow down internet speeds when more than one pc is online at the same time since all pcs plugged into the switch are sharing the same single port on the router?

My router only has 4 ports.
I need 6.
So I figured, why not grab a gigabyte switch and put all pcs on the switch, but I'm not 100% sure that this is the right way to go.
My Belkin F5D8236-4 v2 router doesn't have gigabit, so I figured It would be nice to have the pcs use gigabit for LAN at least since I need a switch anyway for the extra ports.

 

[PliotronX]

Slight necro alert! :biggrin:
It's just this seems like the perfect thread to ask this question.
1: Does this configuration slow down internet speeds when more than one pc is online at the same time since all pcs plugged into the switch are sharing the same single port on the router?

My router only has 4 ports.
I need 6.
So I figured, why not grab a gigabyte switch and put all pcs on the switch, but I'm not 100% sure that this is the right way to go.
My Belkin F5D8236-4 v2 router doesn't have gigabit, so I figured It would be nice to have the pcs use gigabit for LAN at least since I need a switch anyway for the extra ports.

No not in the least 🙂

 

[MTDEW]

No not in the least 🙂

Great, thanks for the info.
Now I'm wishing I added a switch a long time ago...LOL