Upgrading to Gigabit?

[alexjholland]

Hey

We just got a Linksys WAG320N, which is going well so far.

Whilst the rest of the house use wireless, I have a 15-20 metre long piece of Cat 5e cable going under the floorboards and down to my basement conversion bedroom. (I also get a decent wireless signal for laptop/mobile phone browsing)

The cable then enters a little Broadcom 10/100 switch, where it is connected to:
- Windows 7 PC
- XBox 360
- Macbook

As the WAG320N is Gigabit, it's got me interested in upgrading my entire setup to Gigabit by purchasing a new switch. I'm looking to buy a second XBox soon and am likely to buy a Popcorn Hour box (perhaps even a PS3) next year - so want to future-proof with an 8-port device.

The Netgear GS608 switch has an average of five stars from 40 reviews on a popular Jungle-themed website, is Gigabit, 8-port and only £40.

My main uses are torrenting, watching documentaries online, XBox Live and streaming media between devices. We have a 6Mb BT connection.

Questions:
- How do I double-check my PC LAN card (five years old) is Gigabit compatible?
- Is this the best router option?
- What kind of gains should I see upgrading to Gigabit?

Thanks!

 

[alexjholland]

Aha. The clue's in the name: 'Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller' - and configure has '1000Mbps in Full Duplex' as an option. So it appears it is compatible.

Hmm. Slightly disappointing in the gains there.. Am I right in thinking a 6Mb broadband connection isn't fast enough to see the difference in internet speed with Gigabit? As in, I'd have to have at least 100Mbps broadband for it to work any faster?

Regardless, I'm still likely to buy it. I'm hoping this Netgear might be better as it's simply good, rather than a Broadcom (no-name) switch. I'd like to know I'm all Gigabit, anyway - and £40 isn't bad.

- Is it likely to make any difference to performance when people play movies from my PC's hard drive on their laptops, connected over wireless-N, if the router they're streaming from is connected to my PC at 1000MBps?

- Am I likely to get any compatibility issues with 1000MBps? I only ask, due to the Popcorn Hour issue you mentioned.

Thanks again for your practical advice - you're an asset to the forum!