I Spent $800 on 2.5G Gear But Forgot One $50 Component

Last month I finally pulled the trigger on upgrading my homelab network. New Synology NAS with 2.5GbE ports—check. WiFi 6 router with multi-gig backhaul—check. Shiny 2.5G PCIe NIC for my workstation—check. I was ready for blazing fast local transfers.

First big test: copying my photo library (about 60GB) from PC to NAS. I opened the transfer window, expecting to see numbers around 280 MB/s. Instead: 112 MB/s. Exactly 112 MB/s.

I sat there for a solid minute, confused. Checked NIC settings. Checked NAS configuration. Rebooted the router. Same result. Then my eyes drifted to the corner of my desk—to that old 5-port Gigabit switch I’d completely forgotten about. The one connecting everything together. The one still maxed out at 1Gbps.

I had just spent $800 on multi-gig equipment and bottlenecked the entire setup with a $30 switch from 2019.

The Bottleneck Nobody Talks About

Here’s a dirty secret in the homelab community: we obsess over NAS specs, server processors, and storage speeds, but many of us are still running ancient Gigabit switches that throttle everything.

Think about it:

• Modern NAS devices come with 2.5GbE ports standard
• WiFi 6 routers can push 2.4Gbps+ on the 5GHz band
• 2.5G PCIe network cards cost less than $20
• Yet we’re all connected through switches maxed out at 1Gbps

I did the math on my setup. My 1Gbps theoretical max was actually limiting transfers to around 940Mbps (about 117 MB/s). Meanwhile, my NAS could handle 2.5Gbps, which should give me 295 MB/s—2.5 times faster.

The Hunt for the Perfect 2.5G Switch

I went down the rabbit hole of 2.5G switches. Enterprise options from Ubiquiti and MikroTik were $200+, often with fan noise loud enough to wake my sleeping cat. Managed switches were overkill—I just needed fast, reliable, and quiet.

Then I found something that checked all my boxes:

Why This Specific Switch?

After researching dozens of options, here’s what made this switch stand out:

1. The Port Configuration Makes Sense

Four 2.5GbE ports handle my main devices: NAS, gaming PC, workstation, and WiFi 6 AP. The two 10G SFP+ ports (which also support 1G and 2.5G modules) give me room to grow. Most competing switches only offer 2.5G ports with no upgrade path.

2. True Plug-and-Play

No web interface to configure. No VLANs to set up. No firmware to update (unless you want to). Just plug in power, connect cables, done. For a secondary switch in my homelab rack, simplicity is a feature, not a limitation.