New cable router or add a gigabit switch?

cyber69 · 19 Apr 2012 at 21:15

I'm trying to improve the speed of my small home network and currently have just a D-Link DIR-655 gigabit router for everything.

I have two Synology NAS drives on the wired connection along with my main desktop and currently the throughput is around 300Mbit.

I've seen the performance results for the Asus RT-N56U and they measure around 900Mbit which should be a fair bit quicker than my current router.

But i've also thought about keeping the D-Link and just adding a gigabit switch for all the devices instead.

Which option would provide the best throughput for the NAS drive's?

Destination · 19 Apr 2012 at 21:37

What drivea are in the NAS, what are the max speeds the drives are capable of?
Just a factor to consider.

bledd · 19 Apr 2012 at 22:43

^+1

Unless they're good NAS enclosures, they won't get anywhere near gigabit speeds. Some NAS enclosures are a complete joke.

bremen1874 · 19 Apr 2012 at 23:37

cyber69 said:
I'm trying to improve the speed of my small home network and currently have just a D-Link DIR-655 gigabit router for everything.

I have two Synology NAS drives on the wired connection along with my main desktop and currently the throughput is around 300Mbit.

I've seen the performance results for the Asus RT-N56U and they measure around 900Mbit which should be a fair bit quicker than my current router.

But i've also thought about keeping the D-Link and just adding a gigabit switch for all the devices instead.

Which option would provide the best throughput for the NAS drive's?

If you’re currently seeing 300Mbit to the NASs then that’s all you’re going to get as they’re obviously already running at Gigabit speeds.

If you need more Gigabit ports than your existing router offers just add a Gigabit switch.

The 900Mbit you’re quoting for the RT-N56U is its WAN-LAN routing performance. It has no relation to the speeds you’ll see between devices on your LAN.

Van Diemen · 20 Apr 2012 at 09:54

if your Synology NAS units are the older or the DSxxxj models then 36MB/s (300Mbps) is the max you're going to get

cyber69 · 20 Apr 2012 at 11:01

One is a DS710+ and the other a DS212, both Gigabit. I was thinking of taking them off the router and the desktop and putting all three on a seperate gigabit switch and then plugging the router into the switch.

All obtain DHCP from the router. Would this speed things up? Or am I best just replacing the router (which i've had for about 3 years but it's been rock solid).

whitecrook · 20 Apr 2012 at 11:10

It's your NAS which is slow, changing your router wont speed them up.

Van Diemen · 20 Apr 2012 at 11:29

I have a DS212j & a DS212+

my speeds are:
212j = ~36MB/s
212+ = ~54MB/s

all going through a gigabit router.

Both NAS units & my PC's have gigabit ports, but the NAS unit & the HDD's installed in them are the limitation