A gigabit LAN question

[theyosh]

Hello PCMech!

So I recently purchased a Asus RT-N66U since my good old Linksys WRT54G finally passed away after years of reliable service. Now I have 3 PC's, 1 Netgear Stora NAS and a few things hooked up wirelessly. I have 2 of the 3 PC's running in my bedroom and currently I have a cat-5e line ran directly from my router to my bedroom and split into 2 via a 10/100 switch.

Here's my question, I want to take advantage of the gigabit capability on my new Asus router. Do I just swap my 10/100 switch with a 10/100/1000 switch? Is it that simple or are there other things that I am overlooking?

Also my PC listed in my signature has 2 ethernet ports on it, is it easy to daisy chain my secondary PC in my bedroom to my i7 system and share the internet connection that way and have a full gigabit capability?

I found this gigabit switch on NewEgg:

Asus GX-D1081 V2 8 port Gigabit switch *refurbished*

I know it's refurbished but I figured as long as it works I'll be happy with it. So here's a run down on my hardware:

Router: Asus RT-N66U
Switch: EZXS55W (in my bedroom splitting a cat-5e line)
Systems that are connected via cat5e cable:
1. i7 system in bedroom running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
2. i5 system in bedroom running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit
3. i5 system in living room Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
4. NAS Netgear Stora in living room

theyosh

[rjfvillarosa]

As long as all 4 systems are running gigabit Lan cards you should be good to go with that new switch. Looking at the specifications in your signature I am sure those two systems are gigabit Lan. The only bottle neck you might have is on the "daisy chained" setup, but you probably wouldn't even notice.

[EzyStvy]

10 refers to 10 megabit per second network speed (10Mbps) - "mega" being the term for "million". 100 means 100Mbps, or 100 million bits per second. 1000 means 1000 megabits... or 1 gigabit, or 1 billion bits per second.

A 10/100/1000 switch isn't going to help with internet speeds since you probably don't get close to the 100Mbps speeds from your ISP.

It would help if you transfer lots of file between computers... As long as each computer has a 10/100/1000 network adapter.

[theyosh]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa As long as all 4 systems are running gigabit Lan cards you should be good to go with that new switch. Looking at the specifications in your signature I am sure those two systems are gigabit Lan. The only bottle neck you might have is on the "daisy chained" setup, but you probably wouldn't even notice.

Sweet! I am not going to "daisy chain" my systems in my bedroom since getting a gigabit switch will solve this minor problem. I'm going to take a trip to my local electronic retail stores to see if they have anything I can grab for a deal before I order one through NewEgg. I figure if I stick with Asus, Linksys, D-link or Netgear I should be safe. Thanks for your quick reply!

Originally Posted by EzyStvy A 10/100/1000 switch isn't going to help with internet speeds since you probably don't get close to the 100Mbps speeds from your ISP. It would help if you transfer lots of file between computers... As long as each computer has a 10/100/1000 network adapter.

Yeah my ISP's bandwidth is only 50-60Mb down and 6Mb up. But lately I have been transfering a huge amount of data from 2 of my PC's to my NAS and would love the gigabit bandwidth to do so. Just to backup 350GB worth of stuff takes about half the day and if I can cut that down by a factor of 10 that would be awesome.

theyosh

[glc]

TP-LINK TL-SG1005D Unmanaged 10/100/1000Mbps 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch - Newegg.com

[theyosh]

Thanks GLC! Well you just killed my excuse to go "browsing" at a couple of my local retail stores, my girlfriend will thank you for that one... haha

When I was browsing for a gigabit switch I did come across this one but was afraid that maybe it wasn't reliable or a good brand to buy. One thing I learned from reading most of the posts around here is to not read too much into NewEgg's reviews. But since PCMech suggests it I am a lot more at ease at giving this a shot, thanks again for all the quick replies!

theyosh