Chinese switch?

[vian_siu]

My question was solved in:

1gbs router on a 2.5gbs network?

My current network is as follows: ISP router -> TP-Link Deco X50 (access point mode for WIFI) -> 2.5 Gbps switch -> Other devices (NAS, PC, etc.). My question is, do the ISP router and the access point, both of which have only 1Gbps Ethernet ports, bottleneck my network speed? For example, if I...

forums.overclockers.co.uk

For context, I realised the real reason my WIFI speed was slow is because of the random MAC address on the device. Anyway my next question is, what is the downside of using those cheap Chinese switches?

I have a cheap Chinese one with the primary connection and all the equipment in the living room, and a TP-Link one in my room that connects all the other devices. I don't know if this is bad or the Chinese switch naturally has problems.

My network setup is at the start of that thread; the switch connecting to that switch is the TP-Link. The switch that connects to the router is Chinese.

 

[Caged]

They will all use commodity switch chips so there's no difference. The cheap Aliexpress brands will skimp on things like the quality of all the passive components, the power supply part of the board won't have as many components in as a more expensive switch etc.

I would have no issues using one of the Chinese 2.5Gb switches, but I wouldn't get the included power supply anywhere near a UK mains outlet. Buy a quality adapter and use that instead.

 

[vian_siu]

It just has a power cable and no adaptor. I think the power suppile is inside the switch

 

[Rroff]

What you'll find inside them will vary hugely - I've opened up a few really cheap ones recently due to being a cheap way of getting a metal enclosure of the right sizes for a project with interesting results.

One of them for example has 2 separate boards, one for the power supply and one for the processing stuff, the power supply was obviously sourced off the shelf and slapped in while the main processing board was their own design, ironically the power supply board was well designed with brand name components like Nichicon capacitors and active protection circuitry implemented and the bill of materials for that board alone can't have been much below the cost the whole unit was selling for, while the processing board was a mess of poorly routed traces and the cheapest nastiest noname components aside from the main chips.

Some of the others were the other way around with cheap and nasty power supplies with protection parts downgraded to simple diodes and fuses, etc. but with OK processing boards.

EDIT: Also I found a lot of stuff was only held in place by 1 screw instead of the 3-5 mounting points being populated, tape or glue used to just hold things in place instead of going to the cost of properly mounting, etc.