Best switches for Gaming
If you are planning to do a LAN party – it is essential to get a 10GbE switch. It is 10 times faster than regular switches. New Netgear switches already come with gigabit WiFi, this means then wireless has become faster than old-school wired networks. This is why it is time to finally upgrade your old and slow network to up to date solution. NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming 10 port Gigabit Switch features Control Ping & Latency Gaming Dashboard | 8 port 1GbE, 2 port 10G / Multi-Gig Uplinks
What is a 10Gbe switch?
A definition for a switch is :
A network switch is a computer networking device that connects devices together on a computer network by using packet switching to receive, process, and forward data to the destination device.
What 10Gbe means is, that speed will be 10 times faster than regular gigabit connection. Visually, there will be no difference. Same looking cable and same looking port. If you are copying large files every day and data transfer speed is very important, then you need to consider faster network options than regular gigabit network. 1GbE will soon be obsolete and be replaced by a new standard.
Cheapest Dual port 10GbE 
Very often people need only two 10GbE ports. This could happen in small video editor teams where there is only one person editing. This person then will get maximums bandwidth connection and others will connect over the regular 1GbE connection. People connecting over regular gigabit network will only access shared project files and work with files which do not require fast transfer speed. If people choose smart switch, they often use link aggregation combining 2 or 4 regular LAN ports potentially doubling or quadrupling transfer speed. Single or double 10GbE port is also useful if there are 10 or more users connecting to the NAS and transferring quite big files regularly. This will allow potentially 10 people to download simultaneously without noticing transfer slowdown. The 10GbE SFP+ port is made for very long distance connections. If regular rj45 is up to 100metres then an SFP+ connection can have kilometers long cable between the switch and a device.
What managed or smart switch means?
You will often find that cheaper switches are called unmanaged or non-smart. This means it is a simple 10GbE NAS and will do basic switch function as good as it can. If you connect it to a Synology, NAS system will enable load balancing function. But sometimes 10GbE is simply not enough. This where the link aggregation function is useful. It is available only on smart / managed switches. This means that you can connect 2 or more cables between a NAS and a switch and have 20GbE connection (need to be done on both ends).
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ASUS XG-U2008 10-Port Unmanaged Network Switch |
Unmanaged | |
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NetGear 1GbE+10GbE Unmanaged Switch GS110MX-100UKS 8-Port RJ45, 2x RJ45 10GbE |
Unmanaged | |
| NetGear 1GbE+10GbE Smart Managed Plus Switch GS110EMX-100UKS 8-Port RJ45, 2x RJ45 10GbE | Smart | |
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NetGear 1GbE+10GbE Smart Managed Plus Switch GS110EMX-100UKS 8-Port RJ45, 2x RJ45 10GbE |
Smart |
Single port shared 10GbE Copper/Optical
Connect 10GbE NAS to the switch allowing 10PC simultaneous connections with 1GbE bandwidth. Without 10GbE connected NAS, 10 users would get100Mbit bandwidth each.
 NetGear 1GbE+10GbE Smart Managed Pro Switch MS510TX-100EUS 9-Port RJ45 (4x 1G, 2x 2.5G, 2x 5G, 1x 10G) , 1x Shared SFP+ |
Smart |
Cheapest 4-port 10GbE +optical
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Unmanaged | |
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QNAP QSW-804-4C Switch with 8 x 10 GbE SFP+ Ports and 8 Shared 10GBASE-T Ports |
Unmanaged |
Cheapest 8-port 10GbE
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Buffalo BS-MP2008 Managed L2 10G Ethernet 100/1000/10000 19U Switch – Black |
Managed | |
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Qnap Switch QSW-1208-8C 10GbE Switch, 8x combo SFP+ / RJ45, 4x SFP+ |
Unmanaged |
Cheapest 12-port 10GbE switch
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Managed | |
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NETGEAR M4300-12x12F (XSM4324S) 12-Port Layer 3 Managed Desktop Stackable 10-Gigabit Switch w/ 12x 10GbE SFP+ Ports |
Managed | |
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Buffalo BS-MP2012 Managed L2 10G Ethernet 100/1000/10000 19U Switch – Black |
Managed |
Cheapest 16-port 10GbE switch
NETGEAR ProSAFE 16-Port 10-Gigabit Ethernet Smart Managed Switch (XS716T-100NES) |
Managed | |
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Ubiquiti Networks Edges Switch/16-Port 10g/XG |
Unmanaged |
Can I get second hand 10GbE switch?
Yes, eBay is always selling and listing on auction switches. They come from businesses thrown away because of upgrades. If you are ready to get something with no warranty you can go this route. Some ports might be faulty or slower. Here is latest auction offers -> 10GB Switch | eBay
Do I need a managed or unmanaged switch?
An unmanaged switch will be always cheaper because it can not be configured. If you have Synology NAS it will automatically enable load balancing using even unmanaged switch. This is all fine if you do not want to increase the bandwidth above 10GbE. If you want to combine 2 or more ports and double your bandwidth speed then you need to set up link aggregation. You will need a smart switch (managed) to enable this functionality.
How can I benefit from a 10G network?
Applications
- Add 10Gbps network connectivity to file or application servers and high-performance workstations
- Upgrade your onboard network adapter to 10 Gigabit for faster communication
- Increased network performance and lower host CPU utilization
- Create a video/audio editing console with 10 Gbps access to network storage
- Improves network performance with reduced CPU utilization
- Offloading calculations and improved CPU usage
Is 10Gbe connection faster than Thunderbolt?
The 10gigabit network is as fast as Thunderbolt 1. But it is slower than Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt 3. If you are looking for Thunderbolt 2 speed, you will need to get a dual 10GbE port card which will double throughput speed. Then by enabling link aggregation, you will be able to reach up to 10Gbit X2 speed. In this case, you will be using 2 cables instead of one. If you want to have only 1 cable, then instead of getting a 10g card you will need a 25g card. For matching Thunderbolt 3 speed, you need a 40gb network card or dual port 25gb.
Dual ports will let you transfer data twice as fast because it will travel through 2 cables. Max speed per cable will still be as per standard you have chosen. If it is the 40GbE card – max speed is 40GbE. Dual LAN card would mean that data can be transferred at speed of 40Gb/s twice as fast.
The advantage you get by choosing network solution is that you are not limited by a number of Thunderbolt ports on your device. It is easier to collaborate and expand.
Is it time to upgrade my network to 10gb NIC (Network Interface Card)
Finally, it can be said- it’s about the to start using a 10G network. File sizes for everything we do have become much bigger than it used to be. With new phones and photo cameras, the picture size of 5MB has become a norm. High-resolution images reach even 100MB file size. Same is with video. New 4K video resolution becomes more popular because of YouTube, new high-end phones, and TVs. A movie with 4K resolution will take 4GB of your space. And that is the compressed format. If you want to edit such file, you can add another digit to the capacity. You might have noticed that many NAS – network drives are performing at the same transfer speeds. Usually, with those NAS devices, you will notice only one network port featuring at the back of the box. Speed is the same because hard drives inside them already perform faster than the network port can push through. And this means that regular gigabyte network is too old technology and it needs to be replaced by something faster and more reliable. New technology already demands new network speeds. Luckily networking market is ready for the change. Thanks to competition 10g hardware prices have fallen dramatically.
What is cheapest 10Gb RJ45 switch?
NetGear 8-port switch comes with dual 10GbE ports. So there are two options for you. Either connect NAS to Switch and further to your PC – all 10GbE. Or NAS to a Switch and then 8 computers connected over regular 10GbE cable.
In a first option, you can have fast backup or video editing solution with a potential speed of 10Gb/s. In second option All 8 users connected with gigabit cable will experience potentially the same transfer speed at stable 1Gb/s. If NAS was connected by a 1GbE connection, one client connection potentially could massively effect transfer speed of any other connected user.
| NetGear | GS110MX-100UKS | 1GbE+10GbE Unmanaged Switch | 8-Port RJ45, 2x RJ45 10GbE | £157.10 | Link |
Other 10GbE switches from cheapest to most expensive
| Make | Model | Standard | Connection | Price | Link |
| NetGear | GS110MX-100UKS | 1GbE+10GbE Unmanaged Switch | 8-Port RJ45, 2x RJ45 10GbE | £157.10 | Link |
| NetGear | GS110EMX-100UKS | 1GbE+10GbE Smart Managed Plus Switch | 8-Port RJ45, 2x RJ45 10GbE | £192 | Link |
| NetGear | MS510TX-100EUS | 1GbE+10GbE Smart Managed Pro Switch | 9-Port RJ45 (4x 1G, 2x 2.5G, 2x 5G, 1x 10G) , 1x Shared SFP+ | £305.40 | Link |
| NetGear | XS505M-100EUS | 10GbE Switch | 4-Port RJ45, 1x SFP+ | £336.60 | Link |
| NetGear | MS510TXPP-100EUS | 1GbE+10GbE Smart Managed Pro Switch | 9-Port RJ45 (4x 1G, 2x 2.5G, 2x 5G, 1x 10G) , 1x Shared SFP+, 8x PoE+ (138W) | £395.70 | Link |
| NetGear | XS508M-100EUS | 10GbE Switch | 8-Port RJ45, 1x Shared SFP+ | £457.90 | Link |
| NetGear | GS728TX-100NES | Gigabit Smart Switch | S3300-28X 28-Port with 4x 10G | £492 | Link |
| NetGear | XS708E-200NES | 10GbE Plus Switch | 8-Port RJ45, 1x SFP+ (v2) | £500.40 | Link |
| NetGear | XS708T-100NES | 10GbE Smart Switch | 8-Port RJ45, 2x Shared SFP+ | £593.80 | Link |
| NetGear | GS752TX-100NES | Gigabit Smart Switch | S3300-52X 52-Port with 4x 10G | £834.70 | Link |
| NetGear | GS728TXP-100NES | Gigabit Smart Switch | S3300-28X-PoE+ 28-Port with 4x 10G, 24x PoE+ (195W) | £859.70 | Link |
| NetGear | XS712T-200NES | 10GbE Smart Switch | 12-Port RJ45, 2x Shared SFP+ | £926.10 | Link |
| NetGear | XS716T-100NES | 10GbE Smart Switch | 16-Port RJ45, 2x Shared SFP+ | £1,164.30 | Link |
| NetGear | GS752TXS-100EUS | Gigabit Smart Switch | 52-Port with 4x SFP+, 10G | £1,193 | Link |
| NetGear | GS752TXP-100NES | Gigabit Smart Switch | S3300-52X-PoE+ 52-Port with 4x 10G, 48x PoE+ (390W) | £1,448.60 | Link |
| NetGear | XS728T-100NES | 10GbE Smart Switch | 24-Port RJ45, 4x SFP+ | £1,821.50 | Link |
| NetGear | XS748T-100NES | 10GbE Smart Switch | 44-Port RJ45, 4x SFP+ | £3,163.50 | Link |
Why RJ45 not SFP?
RJ45 or standard internet/network cable is something we all are used to. SFP is fast standard connection popular in server rooms and data centers. It is very fast and also expensive cable. RJ45 is better because it will be backward compatible with people trying to connect with older computers. If not all people do have a 10GbE connection they can still connect to your network with 5GbE or 1Gbe cable and easily work. There is no adapter required.
Which cable do I need for a 10g network?
With the regular network, most likely you will have CAT6 cables. But for 10GbE speeds, you will need something better insulated against interference. Something called CAT6A or CAT7 cable.
Difference Between CAT6 and CAT6A. CAT6a is the newest type of Ethernet cabling that you can install on your network. … CAT6 cables are rated at 1Gbps while CAT6a cables can achieve up to 10Gbps.It is able to achieve this because it operates at 500Mhz; twice that of the 250Mhz operation of the CAT6
What 10Gbe ready NAS is there I can connect to?
- TS-453BT3-8G
- ReadyNAS 524X 10GbE
- ReadyNAS 626X 10GbE
- TS-1635-4G
- TVS-1282T-i5-16G
- DS1817
Cheapest 10gb 1 Port PCI Express Network Cards RJ45
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