Network Switch recommendations

Hi All,

I am looking into sorting out my wired network, I will be using cat6a throughout the setup which needs 24 ports. I dont want to use SFP+ optical, it is just too expensive for my use case.
I don’t want to spend a fortune on a switch but I want to allow an upgrade in the future.
At the moment I have a mix of desktops, laptops, tv’s and games consoles that are mainly 1G but I want to upgrade the server and the two main desktops to 10G at some point in the future just to speed up the connection to the server (unraid nas).

I currently have an 8 port gigabit switch and then an extra 1G switch in each room where I need more than one connection. I then use the virgin media wireless router for my wireless devices.

I was looking at three options for my wired network,
The first option was to add a 16 port gigabit switch next to my 8 port and daisy chain them and in the future swap the 8 port for something like this https://www.netgear.com/gaming/sx10/ (although I would prefer a min of 3 10G ports) and again daisy chain them. I was going to keep the main systems that need to access the server all on the same switch.

The second option is to get a 24 or more port switch and either swap it out for one with some 10G ports or to daisy chain a 10G switch similar to the above later. I was looking at a second hand enterprise switch but I don’t know enough about them to buy one to save money in the short term allowing more budget in the future to swap it out (non of the PC’s are 10G at the moment)

The final option is to get a switch with some 10G ports and 24 1G ports now and I just dont use the 10G ports until I upgrade the devices which doesn’t seem like the most efficient option.

I see the cheapest up front options to be adding a 16 port switch to my 8 port (it gives me just enough ports) or getting a second hand 24 or more port switch.

For my WiFi I was going to put my virgin media router into modem mode and get one of these to act as the wireless router, https://www.asus.com/Networking/RT-AX58U/ and put it somewhere more central in the house.

If you are still with me after the novel above I am interested in your thoughts on the three options for reliability and speed across the network.

Also can anyone recommend a switch that is available in the UK for a reasonable price either a new or used 24+ port switch?

Thanks again everyone

Ubiquiti are popular for folks that want something full featured. However, I’ve also heard they aren’t very straight forward to configure compared to something like a Cisco, at at least twice the price.

Check out the STH forums

Patrick and team have reviewed a bunch of “low price” 10GbE switches recently including the new Mikrotik one ( MikroTik CRS312-4C+8XG)

General consensus is they are not yet ready for hone use due to price and noise. The suggestion seems to be to get a cheap SFP+ one (under $200) and use the new sfp to rj45 transceiver modules for cat6a.

Not sure I’m convinced myself. Still waiting for an 8 port silent 10GbE switch for £200. Then I’ll upgrade.

The netgear 510 is another option that may suit you

Here is a good link for some used 10g switches

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/brocade-icx-series-cheap-powerful-10gbe-40gbe-switching.21107/