Need to connect a server to 5 work stations

[alfa147x]

Need recommendations for this:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2166378

On one side we have a Rendering Server and a File Server on the other side of things we have 5 workstations that need a fast connection to these servers.

The servers will be off of the school's network but the workstations will be. My plan was to keep the current workstations connected with their built-in NIC to the school network while adding a gigabit ethernet card to all of the machine and connecting that to servers with no switch in between.

What is the best way to go about doing this? Budget is around $200.

Thanks,
Alfa

 

[Jimmah]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106033
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Whatever gig-e switch you can muster up (good quality would be nice) for the workstations to server. I don't understand the desire to have no switch between though, unless you're maxing each connection out you'll still have decent throughput, the bottleneck would be the server storage system anyway.

 

[alfa147x]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106033
+
Whatever gig-e switch you can muster up (good quality would be nice) for the workstations to server. I don't understand the desire to have no switch between though, unless you're maxing each connection out you'll still have decent throughput, the bottleneck would be the server storage system anyway.

Good point. Thanks!