Does switch quality matter?

[MidiGuy]

I'm looking for a four or five port 10/100 switch. Does the quality effect transfer speeds? Or might a low quality switch have more errors? Or does the quality really not matter much? I've been looking breifly at D-Link (cheapest brand that I recognize on pricewatch.com). Are those any good?

Thanks!

-Midi

 

[bozo1]

I bought the cheapest Linksys I could find and have had no problems for 2+ years.

 

[dakata24]

i also have a 5-port linksys 10/100 switch. works great.

 

[usmc666]

Originally posted by: MidiGuy
I'm looking for a four or five port 10/100 switch. Does the quality effect transfer speeds? Or might a low quality switch have more errors? Or does the quality really not matter much? I've been looking breifly at D-Link (cheapest brand that I recognize on pricewatch.com). Are those any good?

Thanks!

-Midi

Well, basically when you pay for higher end switches (HP, Cisco, 3com) you are paying for more features and managability. If its for home use, linksys, dlink, etc are fine.

 

[JackMDS]

Staples has this week a combo 2 NICs and 5 ports switch $19.92 after rebate.

 

[usmc666]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Staples has this week a combo 2 NICs and 5 ports switch $19.92 after rebate.

No matter what brand those are...thats a GREAT deal.

 

[dakata24]

Originally posted by: usmc666

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Staples has this week a combo 2 NICs and 5 ports switch $19.92 after rebate.

No matter what brand those are...thats a GREAT deal.

thanks for mentioning that deal.. looks pretty good for a switch.. it's a netgear 10/100 switch.. i have 4 port hub and works okay. only thing i dont like about it is that it has the ports in the front. the nics are FA311's, which from what ive read, are questionable in quality.

very tempting though if i get the 80GB maxtor drive.. $79 after rebate (with the use of a $40 off $200 coupon) for the whole lot.

 

[LxMxFxD]

Um, YES...lower end switches tend to switch slower than the better ones. It might be a difference of up to 50% even. For example...the fastest NIC can do about 70Mbit/sec give or take a few. The fastest switches can match that..but the slowest switches can be as low as 30Mbit. Not a difference you're likely to see, but one nonetheless. Also, keep in mind that its unlikely that a lower end switch will make errors..the difference is usually just in throughput. I own that netgear tho...love it. Its even pared with a FA311, by chance.

Lx

 

[spidey07]

There is no difference in performance of SOHO switches whatsoever (smc, linksys, netgear, etc). One of our fine members has conducted smart bits tests and saw non-blocking switching on all ports. Pretty impressive really.

 

[MidiGuy]

Thanks for the input everyone! I'm setting up a lab for training for Microsoft certifications, so I'll probably be doing some remote installations of Windows 2000 Pro (and possibly Server), so I'll want that to go as fast as possible.

-Midi

 

[L3Guy]

One of our fine members has conducted smart bits tests and saw non-blocking switching on all ports.

Our Elete member is spot on.

Um, YES...lower end switches tend to switch slower than the better ones.

Got Data to back that up?

It looks that current small switches are built on a standard ASIC and absolutely ROCK.
Very low latency, very high throughput.

Doug

 

[ScottMac]

The test results are still posted: www.scottmac.net

The tests were run because of some discussion relating to switches VS hubs. Hubs did surprisingly well, switches did surprisingly well.

Check it out.

FWIW

Scott

 

[usmc666]

Originally posted by: ScottMac

The tests were run because of some discussion relating to switches VS hubs. Hubs did surprisingly well, switches did surprisingly well.

Wow, those are surprising...they did A LOT better than I would have guessed.

 

[GigaCluster]

I have used (and still use) a Netgear FA311 NIC on two servers for about three years now, with no problems whatsoever.
It's a good quality product, and seems to be supported by Linux and FreeBSD out of the box.

 

[usmc666]

Originally posted by: GigaCluster
I have used (and still use) a Netgear FA311 NIC on two servers for about three years now, with no problems whatsoever.
It's a good quality product, and seems to be supported by Linux and FreeBSD out of the box.

Switches are not "linux complaint" they use MAC addressses...that is all a switch cares about. As long as your linux/unix/windows box has a nic in it the switch can "switch" its data.

 

[Tallgeese]

Originally posted by: usmc666

Originally posted by: GigaCluster
I have used (and still use) a Netgear FA311 NIC

Switches are not "linux complaint" they use MAC addressses...that is all a switch cares about. As long as your linux/unix/windows box has a nic in it the switch can "switch" its data.

It's OK, dude. He's talkin about a particular brand/model of NIC, about which a quality issue was raised in a previous post.