Gigabit + 10Gb Switches under $550

I haven't had a chance to play with SwitchOS yet is there any performance change if you use it and aren't using any of the L2/L3 routing features?

 

To my knowledge there shouldn't be any difference, at least theoretically.

In the past, there was a difference in feature set, I believe LACP bonding was added first to SwitchOS (I may be mistaking here)

However, RouterOS is updated MUCH more frequently, and it seems that new (even switching features like 802.1x, that was added in RouterOS 6.45) is added to RouterOS first nowadays. From my perspective RouterOS is the better choice, now if they would just start shipping devices with a more secure default configuration I would be happy.... there is so much stuff you need to disable.

 

Yeah I do love all the features in routerOS I was just curious if for a basic data only switch if there might be less overhead in SwitchOS or something. Getting a 24 port POE switch that can act as your router and firewall at the same time is huge(the CRS328-24p)

 

I just received this switch yesterday and I found that the fans spin down significantly to around 4000 RPM (and thus produce a lot less noise) if I log onto Webfig and go to the Health page after bootup. Otherwise, they pretty much stay at 6000+ RPM with the associated loud noise. This is despite upgrading RouterOS to the latest available immediately after first boot. Last I checked, the CPU temps were sitting around mid-40s Celsius, so good thus far.

That said, I did open the case and get the model number of the fans it's using (Chiefly CC4028B12M; datasheet here). I currently have it on a high shelf in a laundry closet and I can't really hear it unless I open the door and get close to the switch. If I ever do get sick of the noise, the Noctua A4x20 FLX will probably work as a replacement, albeit thinner than the OEM fans.

(BTW, I currently have about 7-8 cables plugged into the switch--with only about half of those typically active at a time--and still get the same behavior. This makes me think that it might not necessarily depend on the number of devices, or maybe I haven't heavily loaded it yet. )

 

Hm. You can probably buy a used Arista 7124 for less than 300 USD nowadays. Just pop whatever SFPs you need for the job.

 

I just picked up 2 Aruba S2500-48T-4x10G 48port 10/100/1000 switches for $125 each off of ebay. The 10G fiber SFP+ transceivers are around $6 each on ebay as well.

A youtuber Vicious Computers has some great videos on setup and modding this switch -- Vicious Computers

A picture of them in my new open frame rack. Just need to finish racking servers and run the backbone cables across the basement to the new rack location

 

Looks like Mikrotik just released a new firmware update that makes the fans behave a bit better. Besides not needing to go to the Health page for them to spin down, they also turn off entirely until CPU temps hit low-mid 60s Celsius (after which they spin up to 4K RPM until temps drop by 5 or so degrees).

Anyway, it'd be nice if there was a way to make the fans always be on at, say, 1,000-1,500 RPM to keep the temperature swings as infrequent as possible. Maybe a future firmware update.

 

Excellent, detailed post, thanks a lot for that. A lot more info than Mikrotik has been willing to give me on this switch (exactly nothing, they simply didn't reply to my mails).

Looks like for a home environment at least, an additional investment in Noctuas is a necessity.

 

Depends on the home environment. I don't foresee replacing the fans on mine any time soon thanks to the FW update and its positioning, but I can see the fans still being an issue if you have to keep the switch near a work area or something. I do agree that it's not a switch intended for home use though (nor are many of the other options mentioned in this thread).

 

So the new firmware did make that much of a difference in terms of noise?

Have you tested how energy consumption of the switch is, especially when idle? That would be really interesting to know.

 

Just tested power consumption. 24W with no Ethernet ports plugged in/active, going up to 28W with the current setup (4 ports active: 2 1Gbps, 1 100Mbps, 1 10Gbps). It didn't seem to make much of a difference whether one or both of the power supplies were plugged in, either, so they're probably wired in a failover configuration.

As for noise, the latest firmware made a difference in the sense that the fans are now off until the CPU hits a temperature threshold (and doesn't require explicitly going to the health page for them to spin down). When they do spin up, they only seem to spin up to 4K RPM vs. the constant 6K RPM that they were at when I first received the switch; the former is definitely quieter than the latter. I think if you can position the switch in a location that stays fairly cool via AC or other means, it might be enough to keep the CPU from hitting that threshold. And as mentioned before, I don't hear the fan when it does spin up since it's in a closet that generally stays closed and is high enough that when I do walk by, I'm below the level of the switch.

BTW, it looks like the fan stays at 4K RPM until hitting 55C (and thus shuts off). And the combo SFP+/Ethernet ports do appear to support NBaseT speeds as well per Webfig (since that's something that someone on another forum had asked).

 

Thank you again for the detailed info, really appreciated.

24W idle is actually pretty decent for a 12 port 10GBase-T switch. I guess the dual PSU costs a few watts of efficiency, but still very acceptable.

Of course noise is always subjective, but it seems like Mikrotik's new firmware has made a real difference. Noise wise, four cooling fans are often better than two or even one when it comes to adequate cooling, especially when replacing them with Noctuas or other slower fans.

The switch supports all NBase-T modes. It's not mentined on the Mikrotik website, but on their Twitter page.

Interesting switch for sure.

 

FS.com has decent priced 4x10G switch.
24-Port Gigabit SFP Stackable Managed Network Switch
S3900-24T4S Fanless 24-Port 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Stackable Managed Switch with 4 10Gb SFP+

279 usd.

 

So, you know how I was saying that the fan noise on the Mikrotik wasn't a big deal? That was before fall hit and it no longer became necessary to run box fans to cool the house down (which were apparently masking the switch's fans). I ended up pulling the trigger on the Noctua fans I mentioned before and they arrived today.

Anyway, it turns out three of the four fans were 40mm deep, not 20mm like I originally thought. I managed to secure them with the bumpers (since the original screws didn't seem to do the trick and the ones that came with the Noctuas were too big to fit in the holes) but I may want to swap those out at some point. Regardless, after putting the case back on and running through fan detect from the terminal CLI, the noise seems to be a lot quieter--especially with the low-noise adapters.

BTW, fan detect seemed to change the thresholds for fan on/off. I think it's going down to something like 50C now before turning off the fans but I'll have to pay closer attention to see for sure.

 

I'm most probably going to grab TP-Link T1700G-28TQ, but there's something weird I couldn't figure out (not being a network guy). I was previously looking at Ruckus 7150-C12P, which has half the ports and is significantly slower, yet it cost like 50% more.
Could anyone tell me why is that?

 

There's a few factors at play here, outside of the name(rucks vs tplink) the ruckus switch is offering more advanced management(L3 vs L2+) which typically impacts price. It's also offering PoE(power over ethernet) to run various endpoint devices(phones, cameras, other switches ect.) even with it's low port count both of those things typically raise the price of a switch and you can see the effect of that looking even within the same vendor.
Mikrotik CSS326-24G-2S+RM 132.21 at amazon (SwOS layer2 from what i've read never actually used it)
Mikrotik CRS326-24G-2S+RM 171.44 at amazon (RouterOS Level5, lots of features cpu keeps it limited to L3 ish)
Mikrotik CRS328-24P-4S+RM 365.00 at amazon(RouterOS Level5, cpu is still the limit here, gained POE and 2 more 10GB SFP+ ports)

so in this particular instance the price more than doubled going from a simple L2 device like the CSS326 to the POE enabled L3 device the CRS328(though it gained 2 more 10gig ports too)

 

I thought it could be because of the PoE but it all adds up I guess.
I could use PoE feature, but I guess I'll be good enough with the TP-Link.

 

You would think that this information would be more clearly stated by mikrotik.

The firmware changelog simply stated "health - improved fan control on CRS3XX and CCR1016-12S-1S+r2".

There is still no user fan control and I nearly lost my mind trying to figure out why all of a sudden my fans wouldn't spin.