Is a switch worth the extra money?

Iroquois · 27th June 2001, 3:59 PM

Is a switch worth the extra $ for a 5-user network? Or should I stick with an 8-port hub??

prophetek · 27th June 2001, 4:15 PM

It really matters what you want to use it for
If you need extra performance then it's the way to go, but if the normal hub does you fine, I wouldn't bother

pH@tTm@N · 27th June 2001, 4:20 PM

I cant see 5 users getting much benefit of a switch for general usage.

BUT: some applications like MYOB networked send the entire database to each PC - so the networked can get chocked pretty quickly if things like that happen.

I dont think you would even notice or could measure the difference for things like e-mail, pings for LAN games etc for 5 users.

My 2.2cents inc GST

Regal · 27th June 2001, 4:21 PM

If youre going to frequently transfer files betweeen clients then yes a switch would be handy, theyre pretty cheap these days to.. if youve already got a hub and youre mostly just going to share internet then personally, i wouldnt bother upgrading to a switch.

Dr Kildare · 27th June 2001, 5:21 PM

Bought myself a Mototech 8-port switch for $130 last week...

North Rocks Computer Market...

Mainly cause my 16-port 10MBit hub was a dog for coping large files...

-=Prison Sex=- · 27th June 2001, 5:58 PM

The whole point of a switch is to give each point an elect. switched circuit to greatly minimize (even cut out completely) packet collisions which hubs always do.

I swear by switches cause they are so reliable. You also cant expect great performance transfering large files if you have shitty network cards. Stick to an intel based nic or a 3com card.

If youre moving alot of megs of data on more than PC at a time then get a switch. Do you at any time transfer more than 100mbits of data from the network ? If so i would get a switch.

Squozen · 27th June 2001, 6:16 PM

Good call. I regularly copy large (>400Mb) files back and forth across my LAN, and my Mototech switch is a right ripper. They really don't cost all that much more than a hub, and you get to feel 1337 and all that.

Which is important.

--
S

alchemy · 27th June 2001, 6:51 PM

i'd be interested to find out how many of you are actually buying "switches" and not "switching hubs"

there is a huge different, because a switching hub isnt a switch at all, its just a hub that can switch between 100mbit and 10mbit hasslefree. and there is often alot of naming confusion between the two.

FreeFrag · 27th June 2001, 7:01 PM

Say station A and B want to transfer data, and C and D also want to. Using a switch, can they transfer together?

Iceman · 27th June 2001, 7:30 PM

yes yes definately yes

dont buy a hub for godsakes, in most cases a switch is just as cheap..

and dont fall for 'switched hub' either.. 5 people at 100mbit swapping files is a nightmare on a hub..

Dr Kildare · 27th June 2001, 7:59 PM

A good way to determine if it is a switch or not is whether full duplex is enabled/active...

Here's a link for the sexy Mototech one I bought...
www.mototech.com.tw

sarsipious · 27th June 2001, 9:19 PM

where I work a 5 port switch is basically the same cost as a 4 port hub.....

why wouldnt you get the switch ?

switch is only better if more than 3 people will be pushing fat data at once.

Manaz · 27th June 2001, 9:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FreeFrag
Say station A and B want to transfer data, and C and D also want to. Using a switch, can they transfer together?

It's exactly this situation in which a switch is better than a hub.

In a regular hub (which is actually more correctly called a repeater), the data from A (we'll say A is sending to B, and C to D, to make the argument simpler) gets sent to all the ports on the hub - whereas with a switch, the data is only sent to the port that computer B is connected to. Similarily, the data from C is only sent to D on a switch. In the case of the hub, computer B and computer D get ALL the data, and have to sort out what they need, and what they don't. They also get reduced bandwith each for the data that they DO want - because the data that they DON'T want is also being sent down the network cable to them - which can only carry a limited amount of data at a time. Also, because computer A and C want to send data at the same time, there is a much greater chance of collisions (because the data from A is sent to C as well, and ethernet networking only allows one computer to transmit on a circuit at a time).

A repeater also forces all the computers to transmit at the highest transmission speed that is common to all the cards - if A, B and C all have 100Mb/sec cards installed, but D only has a 10Mb/sec card, then all transfers are forced to run at 10Mb/sec. A switch allows each card to run at it's maximum transfer rate that the switch also supports - so a 100Mb/sec switch will let all the cards run at their top transmission speed.

A switch is *always* better than a hub. How much better though depends on your situation - and that ultimately affects if it's worth it for you to pay the extra a switch costs over a hub.

MegaBaz · 27th June 2001, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Iroquois
Is a switch worth the extra $ for a 5-user network? Or should I stick with an 8-port hub??

Unless you network is always going to have more than 2 file transfers going at the same time then No. (as in comp1 to comp2 then comp3 to comp4 etc.)

Other wise keep your hub.

But then again with 8 port 10/100 switch at $130 why not..

Simon · 28th June 2001, 2:10 AM

Manaz has got it as usual

.

A switch has dedicated bandwidth whereas a hub has shared bandwidth.

If you had a 10 port 100mbit hub then each port can trabsfer at 10 mbits (100 div 10) where as a switch has a full 100mbit on each port. The other major use for a switch is to gain extra collision domains, if data can't collide then it can move not only more quickly but more effectively.

Basically switches are extremely good for LAN games , lots of data transfers etc anything where collision domains and speed are required. So basically everywhere

.

You also may have heard the term 'Router' ??.

Well a switch is similar to the way a router works , routers rely on IP addresses to relay data to a remote host , a switch uses the LAN cards MAC (media access control) address. This address is hard wired into every single NIC built and is unique to your NIC.
This is what speeds up the network , once a packet has been successfully sent to a remote host , the switch 'remembers' the host's MAC address and records this into a table . So basically the next time you send a packet the switch knows where to send it , so it can send it direct , the quickest path is a straight line

. The HUB will send to all and wait until the owner accepts the packet.

I hope this wasn't to technical , but I am pretty sure you lot know what you are doing

.

If you have any questions stay after class

27th June 2001, 3:59 PM	#1
Iroquois Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brisbane Posts: 1,960	Is a switch worth the extra money? Is a switch worth the extra $ for a 5-user network? Or should I stick with an 8-port hub??

27th June 2001, 4:15 PM	#2
prophetek Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Victoria Posts: 15	It really matters what you want to use it for If you need extra performance then it's the way to go, but if the normal hub does you fine, I wouldn't bother __________________ "Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past" ~ George Orwell

27th June 2001, 4:20 PM	#3
pH@tTm@N Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: BRISBANE Posts: 1,816	Switch for 5 users? I cant see 5 users getting much benefit of a switch for general usage. BUT: some applications like MYOB networked send the entire database to each PC - so the networked can get chocked pretty quickly if things like that happen. I dont think you would even notice or could measure the difference for things like e-mail, pings for LAN games etc for 5 users. My 2.2cents inc GST __________________ pH@tTm@n OCAU Projects:-[HT DIY Speakers HUGE Sub] [MAME Arcade Sticks] [Supra NA 2 TwinTurbo 2 Big Single Turbo] \|XEON X5650 6core@??Ghz\|3xCorsair 4Gb 1600MHz DOMs \|2x GTX560Ti OC SLi\|OS 100Gb SSD \| RAID0 2xRaptor 72Gb, Apps RAID0 4xRaptor 36Gb \| 3x DELL 24"\|

27th June 2001, 5:21 PM	#5
Dr Kildare Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Melbourne Posts: 3,877	Bought myself a Mototech 8-port switch for $130 last week... North Rocks Computer Market... Mainly cause my 16-port 10MBit hub was a dog for coping large files... __________________ Notebook: Apple 15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz (Penryn) File Server: Dell PowerEdge SC430 3.4GHz (Presler)

27th June 2001, 5:58 PM	#6
-=Prison Sex=- Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 78	The whole point of a switch is to give each point an elect. switched circuit to greatly minimize (even cut out completely) packet collisions which hubs always do. I swear by switches cause they are so reliable. You also cant expect great performance transfering large files if you have shitty network cards. Stick to an intel based nic or a 3com card. If youre moving alot of megs of data on more than PC at a time then get a switch. Do you at any time transfer more than 100mbits of data from the network ? If so i would get a switch. __________________ Catch The Fever .......

27th June 2001, 4:21 PM	#4
Regal Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Melbourne Posts: 127	If youre going to frequently transfer files betweeen clients then yes a switch would be handy, theyre pretty cheap these days to.. if youve already got a hub and youre mostly just going to share internet then personally, i wouldnt bother upgrading to a switch.

27th June 2001, 6:16 PM	#7
Squozen Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Melbourne, Aust Posts: 46	yes Good call. I regularly copy large (>400Mb) files back and forth across my LAN, and my Mototech switch is a right ripper. They really don't cost all that much more than a hub, and you get to feel 1337 and all that. Which is important. -- S

27th June 2001, 6:51 PM	#8
alchemy Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brisbane Posts: 541	i'd be interested to find out how many of you are actually buying "switches" and not "switching hubs" there is a huge different, because a switching hub isnt a switch at all, its just a hub that can switch between 100mbit and 10mbit hasslefree. and there is often alot of naming confusion between the two.

27th June 2001, 7:01 PM	#9
FreeFrag Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Shepparton, Vic. Posts: 2,538	Say station A and B want to transfer data, and C and D also want to. Using a switch, can they transfer together? __________________ ..::imagestore.ugbox.net::.. ..::quotes.ugbox.net::.. "Could we be on the way to that Holy Grail of a busy forum with almost all threads being quality ones?" - Agg "Are you sure its the standard of administration that is declining, or is it the standard of users?" - Baker

27th June 2001, 7:30 PM	#10
Iceman Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brisbane (nth), Australia Posts: 6,304	yes yes definately yes dont buy a hub for godsakes, in most cases a switch is just as cheap.. and dont fall for 'switched hub' either.. 5 people at 100mbit swapping files is a nightmare on a hub.. __________________ _,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_ WTB: Cisco 1801-M PM me Please rehash my posts and pass them off as your own ideas! Triple points for doing it in the same page of the thread. Plagiarism is the sincerest form of copyright infringement.

27th June 2001, 7:59 PM	#11
Dr Kildare Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Melbourne Posts: 3,877	A good way to determine if it is a switch or not is whether full duplex is enabled/active... Here's a link for the sexy Mototech one I bought... www.mototech.com.tw __________________ Notebook: Apple 15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz (Penryn) File Server: Dell PowerEdge SC430 3.4GHz (Presler)

27th June 2001, 9:19 PM	#12
sarsipious Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 74	hub vs switch where I work a 5 port switch is basically the same cost as a 4 port hub..... why wouldnt you get the switch ? switch is only better if more than 3 people will be pushing fat data at once. __________________ That's right.. you know your special.

28th June 2001, 2:10 AM	#15
Simon Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Townsville Posts: 564	Manaz has got it as usual . A switch has dedicated bandwidth whereas a hub has shared bandwidth. If you had a 10 port 100mbit hub then each port can trabsfer at 10 mbits (100 div 10) where as a switch has a full 100mbit on each port. The other major use for a switch is to gain extra collision domains, if data can't collide then it can move not only more quickly but more effectively. Basically switches are extremely good for LAN games , lots of data transfers etc anything where collision domains and speed are required. So basically everywhere . You also may have heard the term 'Router' ??. Well a switch is similar to the way a router works , routers rely on IP addresses to relay data to a remote host , a switch uses the LAN cards MAC (media access control) address. This address is hard wired into every single NIC built and is unique to your NIC. This is what speeds up the network , once a packet has been successfully sent to a remote host , the switch 'remembers' the host's MAC address and records this into a table . So basically the next time you send a packet the switch knows where to send it , so it can send it direct , the quickest path is a straight line . The HUB will send to all and wait until the owner accepts the packet. I hope this wasn't to technical , but I am pretty sure you lot know what you are doing . If you have any questions stay after class __________________ Cheers for now Last edited by Simon; 28th June 2001 at 2:17 AM.