Hello

I'm trying a new router (Netgear Orbi RBK22 - 1 router + 1 satellite - It's the "small"  mesh system, on sale at Costco for $149)

The router feeds a Gigabit switch (Trendnet s80g) and my server is attached to the switch

Can I improve transfer speeds with a better switch, or it won't make a difference?

 

Thanks

 

 

If you're running a LOT of devices with a LOT of traffic, packets per second and switching fabric bandwidth would make a difference. But generally, no, it won't make a noticeable difference.

 

Edited April 14, 20197 yr by Michael_P

I transferred a large file (30GB) from my laptop downstairs to my server upstairs

Server was hooked up directly on the router's LAN port

Max speed was ~34MB/s......It was fluctuating between 25MB/s and 34MB/s, most of the time around 30/31 MB/s

I will try again with the server hooked up to the switch and watch for differences....

Was the 'Laptop' on a wired connection or wireless connection?   Are you using a cache drive on your server?  

 

There is also Lan Speed test utility that I have used in the past.  I would suggest that you 'vet' it before downloading.  You can find it here:

 

   https://old.totusoft.com/lanspeed1.html

 

You do have to use a fairly large file size to get around the RAM caching that Unraid will use if memory is available. 

laptop is wireless......I do most of my transfers that way (wireless from laptop downstairs to server upstairs)

Yes, I use a cache drive (SSD 480GB)

And I only have 4GB of Ram on my server.......

 

 

That's pretty good for WiFi. At this point, you're probably limited by the card in your laptop.

Hopefully, you realize that the Wireless connection will be the limiting factor on the transfer speed.  Remember that the all of the devices that are using that radio will be sharing the same bandwidth.  Devices using the 5GHz radio have the potential of higher throughput but there are many factors that can negate that.  

 

You may not realize it but a wired switch can have several pairs of computers running transfers at 1Gb in both directions simultaneously!  (Your TrendNet switch can handle 4 pairs of 1Gb simultaneous transfers.)   Wireless is a poor second choice anytime throughput is a concern.

Yes, I know.............When i rarely transfer from my desktop upstairs (wired) i hit 80 Mb/s

But like I said, i usually transfer from my laptop (wireless) downstairs

I just wanted to know if switches could make a difference (Trendnet ve Netgear vs etc...)

Under light loads and simple configurations (no VLAN's, etc.), all of the unmanaged switches have a very similar performance level.  There are differences between them as far as reliability, stability and expected longevity goes, but you can pretty much figure that out from reading the user reviews on Amazon and Newegg.  

 

Your Trendnet s80g switch model has been around for more than five years and is now in its second (at least) hardware version.  These basic switches are using a  technology that is a very mature so don't expect any exciting developments in home-market unmanaged switches in the foreseeable future.