2.5 G LAN - is my thinking correct?

[blacktop_]

Hello,

Simple question to start, I am a bit out of my depth with the detail of some articles.

Goal: Setup 2.5 G LAN.
Present HW: GT-AX 6000 (on super sale). Good quality 5e LAN cables in the walls, distances <30 feet, some <5 feet. I acknowledge cables may limit success/speeds.

If I understand correctly, I would need a 2.5G switch, and USB 2.5G LAN adapter x2.

GT-AX6000's 2.5 G port ---LAN--- 2.5 G switch ---LAN--- other machines, specifically desktop and NAS.

If this is a correct understanding, I will proceed to comb through these forms for recommendations and proceed.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bbunge]

Hello,

Simple question to start, I am a bit out of my depth with the detail of some articles.

Goal: Setup 2.5 G LAN.
Present HW: GT-AX 6000 (on super sale). Good quality 5e LAN cables in the walls, distances <30 feet, some <5 feet. I acknowledge cables may limit success/speeds.

If I understand correctly, I would need a 2.5G switch, and USB 2.5G LAN adapter x2.

GT-AX6000's 2.5 G port ---LAN--- 2.5 G switch ---LAN--- other machines, specifically desktop and NAS.

If this is a correct understanding, I will proceed to comb through these forms for recommendations and proceed.

Thanks in advance.

Your AX600 has dual 2.5 GB ports. Connect one to the WAN and the other to the 2.5 GB switch, unmanaged switch recommended. You may be OK with the CAT 5e for short distances. It is rated for 1 GB @ 100 meters.

Take a break, though, and ask yourself if you really will gain anything with the 2.5 GB upgrade. It may not be worth the cost especially if it does not work. The AX6000 is still a good investment.

 

[bdub76]

I'm waiting since my NAS can't write that fast. And since I replaced it only a few years ago, I'm in no rush to go out and buy another one with drives that can write that fast. The other thing is that my current router can't packet filter at those rates, not that I can get an ISP to sign me up for those speeds. And I don't have any content that I can pull back that fast. I stream 4K to my TVs, but that's only 25-30Mbps each. My PS5 is only capable of WIFI 6, but since I don't have an AP in the same room, I can only get 2/3rds of what WIFI 6 is capable of. But again, I don't have an ISP that's that fast.

What are you sending and receiving at those speeds internally?

I think, the future is cheap 2x2 APs spread throughout the home wired as the faster WIFI standards only benefit when you get really good SNR. And from what I'm seeing, that's no more than a room away from the AP before my SNR drops below 30.

 

[blacktop_]

Your AX600 has dual 2.5 GB ports. Connect one to the WAN and the other to the 2.5 GB switch, unmanaged switch recommended. You may be OK with the CAT 5e for short distances. It is rated for 1 GB @ 100 meters.

Take a break, though, and ask yourself if you really will gain anything with the 2.5 GB upgrade. It may not be worth the cost especially if it does not work. The AX6000 is still a good investment.

Thank you for your reply, both with the technical side and the voice of reason. Sometimes can it be done is the motivator rather than should it be done.

I believe my NAS can put out enough data to make the upgrade reasonable.

I will cost it out from parts reccomended here and see if the cost is reasonable.

 

[blacktop_]

I'm waiting since my NAS can't write that fast. And since I replaced it only a few years ago, I'm in no rush to go out and buy another one with drives that can write that fast. The other thing is that my current router can't packet filter at those rates, not that I can get an ISP to sign me up for those speeds. And I don't have any content that I can pull back that fast. I stream 4K to my TVs, but that's only 25-30Mbps each. My PS5 is only capable of WIFI 6, but since I don't have an AP in the same room, I can only get 2/3rds of what WIFI 6 is capable of. But again, I don't have an ISP that's that fast.

What are you sending and receiving at those speeds internally?

I think, the future is cheap 2x2 APs spread throughout the home wired as the faster WIFI standards only benefit when you get really good SNR. And from what I'm seeing, that's no more than a room away from the AP before my SNR drops below 30.

This was a very good point - can my NAS saturate an upgraded network.

I have all my large files on the NAS and use my desktop largely as a terminal. In addition, I keep my virtual drives on the NAS.

 

[degrub]

you may want to consider direct attached storage instead of NAS if you need speed and are working on the files directly from the PC. Video editing is one task that comes to mind.
A TB4 connection, if the workstation PC has the internal bandwidth available would likely work. 2.5 Gbit/sec is well within TB4 or 3 capability. Your disk random read/write is likely the limiting factor depending on if you use RAID levels or not.

 

[Tech Junky]

DAS might be the cheaper option as stated. You can probably even hook it up to the router with the USB cable and have network access to it if it's configured just as individual disks or JBOD.

If you need speed though DAS to the PC will give you at least 5gbps or 10gbps at a cheaper price than upgrading the network to hit those speeds.

2.5GE only nets you about 300MB/s. This is about the top end of any spinning disk on the market currently.

If you went with a Raid 10 setup though you could bump that speed to ~400MB/s or higher by using the disk controllers in tandem to multiply the throughput. I have my DIY setup in this manner and a 5GE NIC in the server which can provide up to 625MB/s.

If you hook up the DAS to your PC you can still share the drives across the network but, if the PC shuts off then the drives will of course not be shared.

The fastest DAS I've found though is this one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY73BNQ/?tag=snbforums-20 - $180 and can hit 420MB/s
Most of the DAS units though top out at 200-220MB/s for some reason and they're all in the same ballpark for price.

The alternative as mentioned would be a TB enclosure if you want to upgrade your PC to add the functionality it depends on which MOBO headers you have available or if it already has TB ports on it. I added a TB4 card to my server for $60 and picked up an Acasis enclosure / SN770 drive and can hit 3GB/s with it. The enclosure was $120 / drive $80 for 1TB.

It all depends on how fast you want things to go and how convenient you want data to be. For speed though TB is your goal but, convenience there are options.

 

[blacktop_]

Thanks, you have all given me lots to consider. I will read up on this and report back.

 

[anotherengineer]

One more thing to keep in mind. The Intel 225 and looks like new 226 2.5Gb chips have issues.

 

[kkeretic]

Goal: Setup 2.5 G LAN.
Present HW: GT-AX 6000 (on super sale). Good quality 5e LAN cables in the walls, distances <30 feet, some <5 feet. I acknowledge cables may limit success/speeds.
If I understand correctly, I would need a 2.5G switch, and USB 2.5G LAN adapter x2.

I am currently using the GT-AX6000 and two Windows PCs connected to the router's 2.5G (WAN)/LAN ports. The first PC uses a Realtek 2.5G onboard NIC and the second PC (Intel NUC) uses an Asus USB-C2500 USB to 2.5G adapter. It is actually possible to use the GT-AX6000's WAN port as a 2.5G LAN port if an additional USB to network adapter is attached to its USB 3.0 port and used as a WAN port. So for WAN purpose I am using an inexpensive TP-LINK UE306 1gbps adapter and it works great (my internet connection is limited to 500mbps anyway). I also tried using the Asus USB-C2500 for WAN via USB on the router but the router doesn't recognize it (latest Merlin). Interestingly, I can achieve ~280MB/s transfer rate from the NUC to another PC, but when I copy files from that other PC back to the NUC, the transfer does not exceed 150MB/s. I read on the net that the problem is probably the nature of the Realtek RTL8156B chip on the Asus adapter, and that other adapters with the same chip behave similarly. It would be ideal to have PCI-e NICs in computers but my NUC is limited in that regard. Some sources mention a newer RTL8156BG chip that supposedly solves that problem, but I haven't really found adapter with that chip on market yet. I would avoid Intel 2.5G NICs for now since I read around about problems with them (I225-V).