Upgrading network trying to optimize link aggregation

[Kupermanp]

Hi,

So when built my house I went crazy with the wired cabling. I put multiple ports in each room and ran them to a central closet. There are 36 wired ports in the house that are connected to two 24 port gigabit switches. I mainly use the network for media streaming from a central Qnap NAS to multiple XBMC/KODI clients. Several computers and a plethora of small devices are also on the network.

I am currently able to keep most everything on one switch with just a few things on the second switch, but I'd like to be able to organize the ports by room which would mean equalizing the load between the two switches. I ended up getting a couple of managed switches for super cheap (Zyxel gs1900-24 for $80)

My question is what is the best way to keep the performance of a single switch across the two switches or the best way to optimize the set up. The most resource intensive activity would be streaming multiple media streams to several rooms

I have
Zyxel GS1900-24 x2 (these are replacing two 24port unmanaged switches)
Qnap TVs-472- this has four network ports but I'm only using two right now
Netgear R7500v2

I would just get a 48port switch but right now the cost increase is a bit steep and I need something fanless as the network closet is connected to the bedroom and the fan noise drives my wife crazy

Thanks
K

 

[System Error Message]

You can get a 48 port switch with 12V fans and just replace them with scythe fans for some silence. There are other good silent fans too but only the well known branded ones are silent if they say they are.

You could get 24 port managed switches with stacking or 10Gb/s ports. You can also combine ports to create a large link between them. Your choice of going cheap usually means you'd have to sacrifice performance when it comes to multiple switches as thats where your bottleneck is assuming all devices from switch A tried to communicate with switch B all at the same time if you had more devices than the number of links.