Managed or unmanaged gigabit switch

S

steakman1971

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
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I'd like to get rid of my network mess I currently have: a few switches chained together. I'm basically out of room and some are only 10/100. I'd like to upgrade to either a 16 or 24 port gigabit switch.

I'm trying to decide if it is worth the extra money to go with a managed switch. This adds on a decent amount to the price.

Currently, I have 4 desktop computers (3 are used for everyday tasks like web browsing, some game play etc. Another is my HTPC and runs XBMC.) We also have a few iPad's that often stream Netflix and do some web browsing. Occasionally, I'll use my laptop from work.

I have a DroboFS that backs up computers and stores all of my files for XBMC.

Future options? Hard to say. Could have IP phone, TV's hooked up, additional HTPC/Roku/AppleTV-type devices.

I'd guess right now, unmanaged would work fine. The network traffic will usually not tax the switch. I occasionally copy lots of large files on the network.

Opinions please?
 
Wrong forum for this.

http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

I reported your thread, so a moderator should move it shortly.

IMHO, unless you do a lot of various streaming while downloading large files simultaneously, I think unmanaged will be fine. Most likely your biggest concern will be from your ISP, so you'll want a router that can manage the connection to give priority to things like steaming video and gaming, over downloading/surfing.
 
If you have survived this long on a mess and still on 10/100 then you don't/won't need a managed switch.

A single 24 or 48 port GbE switch of the dumb type will do just fine.
 
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