Hub vs Switch

[Blakhart]

Will there be any diff in ping time between the two?
Will a switch run better, as in less/no collisions?
Assuming both are 10/100 jobbies.
Ping is the single most important factor in this situation.
There are no other computers save the game server online on the hub/switch at night so it gets full attention when it is prime time game wise. I have been using a switch but noticed a ping spike from one of the players on the lan end (I was at home) and thought perhaps my switch is going bad as it is the only thing between that player and the server. It has recently supported fewer players without serious lag, unlike before. I have tried different nics (same brand) in the server and that did not make a diff.
Thanks for looking

[mbossman2]

All things being equal, a hub will have a (very) slight advantage in ping times as there is no processing being done by the hub (a switch looks at the frame and forwards it to the proper port and that takes a very small amount of time).

BUT, if there are multiple machines connected to the switch, the switch, over time, will out perform the hub as a switch eliminates collisions and the need for retransmissions.

[Dave22]

Switch latency could also be affected by what mode the switch uses:

Store and Forward mode waits until the entire frame is received before sending out. It also does CRC. (slowest but most reliable)

Cut-Through mode forwards the frame as soon as the destination MAC is read (fastest)

Fragment-free mode waits until the first 64 bytes are received and then sends. This is the middle of the road because it doesn't wait for the full frame but yet does a basic check of the integrity of the packet (collisions will usually happen in the first 64 bytes so if that 64 byte block is good, chance are you have a good packet going out).

Also, if the switch has spanning tree protocal enabled, that may slow it down.

Frankly, I can't tell the difference except on high traffic networks! YMMV

[Hot Rod]

Per HP's site....you will see very little if any difference between hubs and switches when less than 24 network devices are on the network. Larger than 24 network devices, you will want to look at going to a switch.

[Blakhart]

Thanks Gents!
I am impressed with the info you lay before me. This opens up all sorts of questions. How can I tell what mode the switch is using?
If there are only 5 comps total, is a hub going to give slightly less lag? I will use the hub then. The switch came with no software, it is called plug and play by the makers. I went to zonet's site (it is a 3008 switch) and found no software to get into the switch.
Is there a generic gui to get into it and set modes and such?
Again, thanks for the wealth of info.

[Dave22]

The user manual should have technical specs which say what method the switch uses.

Most switches now use a web interface *IF* it's a managed switch. You may have a low end switch w/o management capability.

If there's a management console port, then you can use Hyperterminal or some other terminal emulation software to connect to it and configure an IP address.

[piasabird]

A Hub and a Switch work differently. If a self sensing hub gets a message it sends it to everything else connected to the Hub every single time. It runs hotter and slower.

A Switch partitions each connection into an area and isolates it. Because of this only messages for a specific device go to that device. This cuts down on the collissions and speeds up the process.

I recently replaced a hub that was burned up by a lightning strike at a telephone pole/transfromer next to my house. The Switch I purchased from Linksys has been running great. It runs cooler than the hub ever did. It also runs in Full Duplex mode. This means it could run up to twice as fast.

I havent had any problems with it.