How to upgrade to 2.5gbe cheaply

Tips and guides
1

I wanted to upgrade my gigabit network to 2.5 GBE, So I could take advantage of the extra bandwidth that I am receiving, but not able to use

Since I need POE, For access points, I chose the following switch:

It may look like a non-name brand, but I chose to switch for the quite impressive power budget, At a relatively cheap price. It is unmanaged yet Support Vlan tagging. I do not use that feature, however, I guess it would likely work

For the ethernet adapters, I went for a real tek based adapter here:

I would usually go fully unifi, however, the switch that I would need to use to achieve the same would be over £400

2

Good morning,
The switch gets some good reviews and it’s made in the UK.
I would check what power category that any devices connecting need and any future ones you might connect.

The usb to ethernet adapters look ok as well, if you’re trying to achieve 2.5 Gbps I would look for something higher (if possible) for the adapters, as 2.5 is the max, so throughout I would think half and if it’s better, that’s a plus unless you’re ok with that.
Plus devices you’re using if they will be capable and what effect it will have one them if they are aging.

Apart from that all good :slightly_smiling_face: you can buy try and see and hopefully pleasantly surprised

1 Like
3

Looking at the local iPerf’s a reviewer did, the throughput isn’t an issue, They achieved 2.4gb/s constant

My Synology has drivers (all be it third party) for Realtek chips - I am yet to see if this is compatible, but my windows machine will be happy either way

1 Like
4

Are you planning on adding it to the NAS?

5

I am, yes. Using the following drivers: GitHub - bb-qq/r8152: Synology DSM driver for Realtek RTL8152/RTL8153/RTL8156 based adapters

Worst case, I send back 1 cheap adapter and get a more expensive one for the NAS

6

Does your NAS version have the PCI-E like expansion? If so I would 100% go for that and use the 2.5 on your PC :slight_smile:

7

It does, but it involves doing something I’ve never done before (opening it up) :smiley:

I’ll see how the USB adapter goes first as they arrive tonight

It’s a Synology DS 1821+, Mainly HDD based (It does have an NVME based write cache) and the 2.5gbe will max out those HDD’s

8

Until I can whack in an intermediary switch, my upstairs PCs can only get 2.5Gb rather than 10Gb due to the length of the cable run. This is finr with me as I already have a couple with 2.5Gb chips built on to the motherboard. For the others, I got these PCIe cards -

Price was right and they work as advertised. Plug and play.

1 Like
9

If you’re going to open NAS up hopefully out of warranty. Then you would need a driver to work with it.

Just a thought, does the NAS have 2 NICs? If so you could put two ethernet cables to it and port channel (lag) the connections instead?

10

I cou’d’ve gone 10G tbh, but the 10Gbe switches seem to take up a lot of power and for me, I think 2.5gbe will be plenty for the forseeable future, I mean. I’ve been on 1gbe for the last 15 years

11

It doesn’t void the warranty - you just take off the outer shell - it is user serviceable, I just have bad eye sight, not so steady hands and I don’t want to risk breaking it, as it has a lifetime of family data on it

The NAS will be connected to a gatway, not a switch and the gateway ports unfortunately can’t LAG. it did cross my mind

" All UniFi Switches support aggregation, except USW-Flex, USW-Flex-Mini and USW-Ultra.

Port aggregation is not supported on UniFi Gateways. Because of this, you should not aggregate two ports connected from a UniFi Switch to a UniFi Gateway."

Port Aggregation FAQs – Ubiquiti Help Center

12

Indeed there is that, if they are raided even more so.

I plug in yet another USB to mechanical backup drive that sits on the top and just backup photos etc to that as well, in case the raid loses more than one drive, which it has before now.

Hope it goes ok :+1:

1 Like
13

I’ll post an update I am sure, tonight. I looked at the chipset for the 2.5gbe adapters I bought (Realtek 1856B) and the drivers support it

14

Got my UCG Max, Stage 1 of my 2.5gbe upgrade complete

Stage 2 complete!

image
image4032×3024 2.05 MB

1 Like
15

Just waiting on my switch now, which is coming tomorrow

1 Like
16

Nice one :+1: did you need drivers or did it find some to use?

17

You can get the drivers on GitHub. I will link it.

The PCie card that would still be better, And I may ultimately end up doing that because on my PC for some reason the 2.5 GB ethernet adapter does the USB disconnect sound and they’re losing Internet for like a second and then it comes back

1 Like
18

It may not be as expected, but maybe better with the PCI cards…

image

Even so - a lot faster than gigabit!

IMG_0149
IMG_01494032×2268 1.1 MB

IMG_0151
IMG_01515712×3213 2.51 MB

I didn’t take my screwdriver, so I was unable to unscrew the old switch however I just blocked the new one on top using Command strip. It shouldn’t get hot to the point where it will melt the glue, hopefully

1 Like
19

All in all, it totaled about £130, I didn’t include the router upgrade price, as some may be using Yayzi’s router as that has the 2.5G ports already

If you total in my UCG Ultra → UCG Max upgrade, it’s closer to £400, as the router was £280, but it does allow me (If I wish) to get rid of my Hikvision CCTV and go to Unifi Protect

20

Nice, I’ve got a 6th gen Intel laptop, which I think has USB C on it and a 7th gen so I might do that also to speed things up a bit.

The other switch might act as a heat sink for the new one :+1: my UDM is in the loft and it’s been about 29 I the UDM has been 60 odd which I’m trying to address, but at the moment the lift hatch gets lifted when I get home and it’s hot.

Nice post :+1: at least the speed is going the right direction

1 Like