Here’s a new addition to the network, mainly to replace the ancient Cisco Catalyst 3500 XL 100MB switch I’ve been using for many years, until I can find a decently priced second hand commercial gigabit switch.
![Operational](http://www.experimental-engineering.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IMG_20151022_185837-e1445537201387-225x300.jpg)
Here’s the switch with some network connections on test. So far it’s very stable & draws minimum power. I’ve not yet attempted to run my core links (NAS) through yet, as I’ve not yet seen a consumer grade switch that can stand up to constant full load without crashing.
![Internals](http://www.experimental-engineering.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IMG_20151022_124514-300x225.jpg)
Here’s the switch with it’s lid popped. The magnetics can be seen at the back, next to the RJ-45 ports, the large IC in the centre is the main switching IC, with a heatsink bonded to the top. Very minimal design, with only a couple of switching regulators for power supply & not much else.
![Power & EEPROM](http://www.experimental-engineering.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IMG_20151022_124539-300x225.jpg)
Here’s a closeup of some of the support components. There’s a 25MHz crystal providing a clock signal for the switch IC, just to the right of that is an EEPROM. I imagine this is storing the switch configuration & MAC address. Further right is one of the switching DC-DC converter ICs for power.
As a quick test, here’s 500GB of data being shifted through the switch, at quite an impressive rate. I’m clearly maxing out the bandwidth of the link here. Soon I will upgrade to a 10G Ethernet link between the NAS & main PC to get some more performance.
![Test](http://www.experimental-engineering.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screenshot-from-2015-10-22-191823-300x74.png)