do switches have a better network throughput than routers?

[dc5]

currently i have a netgear fr114p 4 port router. since all ports and used wouldnt this cause lag for the router? i'll probably get a switch anyways soon because i might add another computer. so will a 8 or more port switch improve network speeds compared to the router i have right now?

ps. once in a while i transfer big files (movies) over to my server.

 

[NleahciM]

Originally posted by: dc5
currently i have a netgear fr114p 4 port router. since all ports and used wouldnt this cause lag for the router? i'll probably get a switch anyways soon because i might add another computer. so will a 8 or more port switch improve network speeds compared to the router i have right now?

ps. once in a while i transfer big files (movies) over to my server.

your 4 port router is actually a router with a built in 5 port switch 🙂 I don't see why using all the ports on it would cause any lag. I would expect adding a switch to slow down everything *a bit*, as it's just one more thing between your computer and the Internet. I don't think network transfer speeds would be affected too much.

 

[dc5]

how about transfering large files to other computers? since the router is already routing internet traffic, wouldnt it slow down if i transfer large files to another computer on the network? on the other hand if i had a switch, the files wouldnt need to go past the router.

 

[Genx87]

It should have enough power to push packets through to the internet and between machines on the switch.

Besides your internet connection is quite tiny compared to a 100Mbps switch.

 

[Ertaz]

Routing=Routing, Switching=Switching. There should be little overhead added when your device is doing both. If you would like to segregate your large traffic on to its own switch you might see some lower latencies on the main switch when the other PC's are browsing or Gaming, but I doubt it would be noticeable.