Why can't we have home switches with 120mm+ fans in a 'non-pizzabox' type case?

[heromode]

So the big problem with all 10GB+ switches today is the cooling, because they all come in 1U type format, which only fits 40mm fans. a 48 port traditional switch has 4x 12 ports sections horizontally. If they were stacked vertically, they could be in a case sporting a single 140mm fan.

Or 2x 12x 2.5Gbit port segments, plus 2x 4x 10GBit ports, stacked on top of each other, in a case roughly the size of one of those small 4 disk SOHO NAS units. With a single 120 or 140mm standard fan.

Maybe the chinese will someday realize this could be a better format for homelab switches.. just like they dominate the market in those small passively cooled 'topton' boxes now.. Just my thoughts..

 

[ano]

buddy runs 120mm hos his aristas with CAD (cardboard aided design) and dremel

 

[heromode]

CAD (cardboard aided design)

 

[sic0048]

Well the "home lab" market represents a tiny fraction of total sales, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for manufactures to spend the time and money to redesign a form factor that is universally used in network facilities all around the world, just for us.....

 

[rtech]

Well the "home lab" market represents a tiny fraction of total sales, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for manufactures to spend the time and money to redesign a form factor that is universally used in network facilities all around the world, just for us.....

With NVME SSD ability to saturate 10G ethernet market for such switches would be not just homelabers but pretty much anyone.

 

[OrlyP]

What you're proposing is actually a mini rendition of this guy...



... so like the daddy version above, in order for all the ports to be arranged in a grid in this hypothetical shoebox-shaped switch, the manufacturer needs to redesign it in such a way that it would have multiple PCBs or 'blades'... one PCB for every row of ports, and then somehow, all the PCBs will have to be tied together through a high-speed backplane that can do 80gbps or faster (depending on the port density). It will likely make for a very complex and expensive design for home use, IMO.

Either that or you can just replace those 40 mil fans with Noctuas to help quiet it down.

 

[i386]

With NVME SSD ability to saturate 10G ethernet market for such switches would be not just homelabers but pretty much anyone.

I wish this would be true. Of 100 people that I know probably only 5 will know what a switch is and of those 5 only 2 will know about/need speeds north of 1GBit/s. All others have [insert streaming service name] or "use the cloud" ._.

 

[rtech]

I wish this would be true. Of 100 people that I know probably only 5 will know what a switch is and of those 5 only 2 will know about/need speeds north of 1GBit/s. All others have [insert streaming service name] or "use the cloud" ._.

When corporation marketing will want to sell them above 1G trust me they will know what 10G ethernet is.

 

[heromode]

one PCB for every row of ports

stacking PCB's with interconnects between them is not difficult.. it costs about 50 cents for the pins that go into a female connector block, and some mounting supports.

 

[acquacow]

I just put notctua 40x20mm fans in my 4 swtiches, the are all silent.

 

[heromode]

I just put notctua 40x20mm fans in my 4 swtiches, the are all silent.

as an example, a 48 port + 4x 10Gbit SFP+ port Brocade ICX6450-48P sporting something like a 800W passive PSU, no noctua is ever going to do it, as the original 3 fans spin up to 18000 RPM. Nothing is silent at those rpm's.

My original point stands. Enough PoE ports and 10gbit+, 40mm fans ain't gonna cut it in a home setting.

 

[OrlyP]

 

[oneplane]

You'll have to liquid-cool your switch.

 

[OrlyP]

stacking PCB's with interconnects between them is not difficult.. it costs about 50 cents for the pins that go into a female connector block, and some mounting supports.

Not when you're switching tens of gigabits per second between them. The manufacturer needs to maintain full wire-speed, non-blocking switching between any port or ports. This adds unnecessary complexity, extra components (both active and passive), uses up more electricity, and will undoubtedly cost a lot more. And for what? It will come in a weird package that either won't fit standard racks or take up more space. There's a reason this type of platform is only common in the enterprise and telco switching equipment.

It's a good idea, don't get me wrong. There are already specialized, odd-shaped switches built for industrial applications like those that are DIN rail mounted. But these don't come cheap for what they can do, so I don't know if the home lab enthusiast crowd will be willing to spend a ton of dough in the name of using a 120mm fan for silence, without first addressing it in a more conventional way (sound isolation, replacing the fans, etc.)

Maybe someday, we can come up with silicon that are so efficient that heat generation is no longer an issue. I had a 1U 8x 1gbps unmanaged D-Link switch way way back that had two 40mm fans that were loud when they were new, and just progressively become rattly as they got old. Their newer smart web switches are already fan-less, so maybe it's just a matter of time 10gig and PoE switches will start shedding fans in future designs.

 

[acquacow]

as an example, a 48 port + 4x 10Gbit SFP+ port Brocade ICX6450-48P sporting something like a 800W passive PSU, no noctua is ever going to do it, as the original 3 fans spin up to 18000 RPM. Nothing is silent at those rpm's.

My original point stands. Enough PoE ports and 10gbit+, 40mm fans ain't gonna cut it in a home setting.

I just rock a 24-port gig-e, a 12-port 10gig-e, and an 8-port 10gig-e, and an 8-port PoE NVR for my security cameras. All copper, no issues cooling them.