Reliable unmanaged network switch

[SiM]

So I think my ~5yr old Netgear GS105 is on it's last legs, it's overheating and has been very slow recently (5 devices are connected, but not usually all used at the same time).

Also over the past 2-3 years since my last re-location of PCs it's struggled to connect at 1000mbits (or maybe it's the 20m cat5e cables?), but that I could live with.

I'm after something that can hopefully:
1) have better cooling
2) 8-ports
3) better reliability with gigabit
4) £30-40 cost

The Netgear GS108 (metal case, so better at dissipating heat) is the most popular option, but there's bad feedback regarding bad caps with that model.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

[blueball]

had a gs108 running at home for years, no probs.

[Bluecube]

Do you need to spend that much? I've a couple of 8 port TP Link gigabit switches that I paid well under 20 notes for. Good, small, reliable and provide stable gigabit speeds too.

[Splash]

2 GS108s running here: I blow the dust off once in a while but they've been great. One is used purely for storage for VMware and has been rock solid for circa3 years now - no probs with caps here.

[SiM]

Thanks for the replies guys will go for the 108

[dirky]

I have had big probs withtue gs106 - bad capacitors giving intermittent network access. Could have been a bad batch but we had it across about 6 of them

[SiM]

Too late! Ordered a GS108 already!
£33 here

Hopefully they have fixed the cap issue in newish batches as this has been widely reported over the past 5 or so years.

[roorooroo]

If you have any problems and you need another, here's another vote for the TP link gigabit 8 port. Had mine for 3 years without any problems.

[Marcvs]

Deleted

[matts-uk]

As you mentioned running temperature is an issue, you might want to check that whatever you buy supports 'green' Ethernet, which will power down ports that are idle, so the switch consumes less electricity and produces less heat. TP Link, D Link and Cisco have all recently launched inexpensive unmanaged 8 port Gb switches with green features.

Personally I prefer Cisco but I am in a small business environment, where the warranty trumps bottom line price. The SLM2008 that has been running my workbench for the last 3 years or so runs significantly cooler than most of the other small switches I come across.

I am not the fan of Netgear I used to be but D Link are fine in my experience, as are TP Link for the most part when demands are not great.

[MaddAussie]

Another vote for the TP link
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-8-Po...1925284&sr=8-7

[SiM]

Thanks for the comments guys. I actually might need another one, but only 5 port... or a cheaper 8 port if only a few quid more.

MaddAussie, that 8 port looks massive! About 4x the size of the GS108? I would need something smaller.

Given the strong TP-Link recommendations, I'm looking at this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Giga...dp/B000N99BBC/

Any good?

Also what's people's views on daisy chaining two switches?

BT Infinity --- Router --- Switch 1 --- Switch 2

4 PCs and a TV connected with switch 2
1 PC connected with switch 1

[Bluecube]

I have the 8 port version and it's great. Solid, fast, fire and forget.

Can't comment from experience on the network config but having 5 things on the last link of that chain could make it feel a bit slow if the PC on switch 1 ramps up the bandwidth.

[rs4847]

You can get the 8 port version of that 5 port TP-Link switch for not much more, link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-Giga...956309&sr=1-47

TP-Link gear is cheap and does the job, just don't expect it to last forever.

Daisy chaining depends on several factors however from what I can see it would be no different than connecting all the devices directly to the routers switch, the only issue I can see is if you transfer lots of data either to or from the PC connected to switch 1 to the PC's connected to switch 2 but even then this shouldn't matter either as you'd be lucky to saturate the uplink without jumbo frames assuming the PC's are connected using gigabit nics.

My own setup is like this:

VM Superhub (modem mode) > Netgear WDNR3800 > Dell PowerConnect 2716 > Dell PowerConnect 2708 (all gigabit).

With various PC's and other wired devices connected on both Powerconnect switches and I've never had an issue.

[matts-uk]

Also what's people's views on daisy chaining two switches?

It all comes down to simultaneous traffic between end-points and the switches ability to cache MAC addresses.

Ethernet is basically the pipe that connects the end points. The pipe needs to be wide enough to accommodate the speed with which the end points are able to send and receive. Example, 100Mbps is fast enough to connect two PCs with single IDE disks, because neither PC is able to write to disk faster than 100Mbps.

Given the config you suggested, optimally you would be better connecting the router to Switch 2, where the majority of end points are connected, so reducing contention on the up-link to Switch 1, when the end point is on the internet. However, as your internet throughput is orders of magnitude less than 1Gbps, connecting the router to switch 1 will make very little practical difference.

In short, I would not worry about it too much unless the PC on switch 1 is regularly shifting GBs of data to the devices on switch 2. I might though spend a few pounds more, because one of the ways that switch manufacturers reduce build price is by cutting back on the MAC address buffering RAM, which can cause problems when (typically more than two) switches are daisy chained.

My preference list would be;
1. Cisco SD2005
2. DLink DGS105
3. TRENDnet TEG-S5G
In that order.

The TRENDnet get's a mention because I believe that if you are going to buy a cheap switch, you might as well buy the cheapest switch - So you won't feel so bad when you replace it with a better one