NETGEAR Nighthawk SX10 Gaming Switch – Hardware Review
With the new Nighthawk Pro Gaming line of networking devices, NETGEAR has differentiated themselves from other network device manufacturers. As many games need a network connection to be played, it’s very important to have a stable network. With the reveal of the Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 Gaming Switch they have made organizing a LAN- party or having a home network where streaming full HD videos across multiple devices a lot easier.
Design
Networking features are the most important subject when looking at network switches. But when you look at the SX10 Gaming Switch, you can tell NETGEAR has done a pretty good job in designing as well. The device comes in a premium metal casing that not only looks good but it also takes care of the generated heat. This made using fans in this device unnecessary. The aluminum casing takes care of the heat as aluminum is a great heat-conductor which helps getting rid of the generated heat. By using no fans in this switch means that it generates a lot less noise than other switches that do use fans to take care of heat issues
Every LED on the switch are RGB LEDs. This switch has the possibility to customize each and every LED with the color you want. You can set multiple colors for one port to identify which speed the connection has. The triangle on top of the device functions as a power LED. This can be customized in a color of your choice as well. On the back of the device, there’s a button that, when clicked, engages stealth mode. This turns off the lights of all LEDs so you don’t have flickering lights when data is transferred.
Specs
- Eight Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Two 10GbE/Multi-gigabit ports
- Customizable LEDs with a stealth switch to turn them all on/off
- Up to 64 VLANs
- Premium aluminum casing
- Port-based or 802.1Q QoS
- Up to four Link Aggregation setups with up to 8 members
Overview
The installation of this product is very simple as it’s an easy plug and play setup. When the uplink port is connected and the other devices are connected to the other ports, it just works.
Having eight Gigabit Ethernet ports and two 10GbE/Multi-gigabit ports, this is the first gaming switch that makes multi-Gig Ethernet available for gamers around the world as multi-Gig Ethernet has only been available to business and enterprise customers.
Link Aggregation (LAG) allow you to combine multiple Ethernet links into a single logical link. With the SX10 Gaming Switch, It is possible to create 4 LAGs with a maximum of 8 members each.
A gaming dashboard comes along with the installation of the SX10 Gaming Switch that displays real-time bandwidth usage per port. This gives you the ability to track down traffic bottlenecks and set download/upload limits to each and every connected device.
This Gaming dashboard gives you all the important switching capabilities, packed in a user-friendly interface. With this interface, you don’t need to have a big knowledge about networking because the UI makes it very easy to work with.
The switching page includes all the classic features like QoS, VLAN, Multicast and LAG settings. QoS, is available in two different ways to optimize your bandwidth usage over the used ports. You can choose between port-based and 802.1Q . When chosen, it will also explain what happens. All these features are available with a quick explanation about what they’ll do so you’ll never turn on something without knowing what it’ll do.
Then, there’s a page named: Diagnostics. The SX10 provides a bunch of easy and automatic diagnostic features. They are easy to use and fast. Ideal for a gamer as you wouldn’t want to lose much of your gaming time. With the first test, you can test if all your cables are working okay. Then the next function is called Loop Prevention. This prevents your switch causing a loop that will end up blocking your network traffic and cause lag. This option is automatically turned on after installation. Port mirroring is also very easy as you just have to select the source and the target and then you’re done. It can’t get any easier. With the last option, Port Statistics, you can check the amount of data that’s going through all the ports when you suspect you’re having troubles with the internet traffic.
Lastly, on the last page called settings, the name already implies what you can do here. A number of settings are available here for you to change or improve the way your switch is functioning. There are some preset modes available for you to choose from depending on how you want to use your network. There are two presets available to choose from. These are the gaming preset and the media streaming preset. These presets optimize specific ports for gaming or media streaming so you’ll get the best performance needed.
The LEDs can all be changed here as well to your liking. Other options like firmware update, power saving mode and reboot switch all speak for themselves. Updating the firmware is easy as on the specific page, there’s a link that connects you to the page where updates are posted. You can download them there and then upload them to your switch on that same page. You can register you product here and change your password to one you want. And when some settings are messed up, you can return your switch to default settings easily here by a click on the button.
Conclusion
The SX10 Gaming Switch is truly a device made specifically for gamers, in design as well as performance. It provides many tools gamers need to control and manage their network. the user interface is really easy to work with and you don’t need a lot of knowledge to tune your network the way you want. Presets are available for an easy setup to give your most important devices the connection they need. It’s a perfect device to organize a LAN party with your friends as each device can get the bandwidth needed to have a good gaming experience. When you’re suspecting problems in your network, it’s easy to find out as many auto diagnostic tools are available for you to check your network. if you’re looking for a switch to expand your network and to have complete control over every connection then this could be the one for you. At the time of writing, this device can be bought for a price of €272,25 / $249,95.
NETGEAR Nighthawk SX10 Gaming Switch - Hardware Review,
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