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[sevenlayermuddle]

As part of my home network revamp I decided to by a new gigabit switch to replace the old Netgear GS608, which was acting up.   I extended its life some years ago by replacing some caps but recently it had started to intermittently drop back some ports back to 100Mbit.   Plus, I always disliked how hot it got, and the power brick got hot too.   So I bought a nice TP-Link SG1008, just over £26 from Amazon...

http://uk.tp-link.com/products/details/?categoryid=224&model=TL-SG1008

It's a very nice professional-looking bit of kit, solid steel rack-mountable/desktop case, with internal PSU and normal kettle mains lead.   But best of all, I have measured power consumption reduced from the Netgear's 7W to 2W   And that's with six gigabit ports active.   Once the power-savers kick in on the connected devices and they sleep, the switch's power draw drops to just 1 Watt!

These figures are from a cheap plug in power meter so can't guarantee accuracy, but I've not caught it out telling any other fibs.

Normally I'm cynical of what I call the 'green bandwagon' which mainly seems to contrive to maximise profits by preying on the conscience of those worried by climate change, selling  pointless 'energy saving' devices which usually don't save any energy at all, and are always packed in bright green boxes which puts my back up all the more.   But credit where credit's due, this is a huge improvement over its predecessor.   And it came in a pleasant blue/white box, rather than a green one.

PS I see they are no longer available from amazon UK, only from the merchants and costing more.   Maybe I got the last one?  But I'm sure it'll be available elsewhere at similar price I paid.

[roseway]

Amazon still sell what appears to be the plastic version of the same thing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000N9B688?

[sevenlayermuddle]

Amazon still sell what appears to be the plastic version of the same thing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000N9B688?

I think the plastic one has external PSU brick vs  mine's internal.   Probably won't make much difference, may even be exactly the same components just split into two parts, but worth being aware of.

[Ronski]

That's a nice reduction, I have the GS 116 and that draws 6w, so costs about £8 a year to run. My netgear router draws about 10w,  and then the HG612 draws 7w. It's the server that's getting a bit power hungry and now draws just over 100w.

[sevenlayermuddle]

It's the server that's getting a bit power hungry and now draws just over 100w.

That's a bit (not much) more than mine, an HP Proliant ML 115 loaded with four HDDs.   Serves for TV & media, plus NAS and source control.    Once I'd managed to get disks to really spin down when idle (a struggle!) I got it down to 60W-ish at idle.   Justifiable from a cost perspective (say, a pint of beer a fortnight) considering the perceived benefit, but it still bugs me.

I've thought about replacing it with a low power mini-ITX build but I'd miss the brute force of its generous CPU cores which, once in a blue moon, come in useful.

[Ronski]

Mines was about 50w when first built with 3 HDD,  but now it has a modem, quad tuner and I think six  HDD. Oh,  and a raid card.

Edit, forgot to say.  I have the same sentiment over it's running costs, it's well worth it,  the whole family use it. I'm also in the process of moving to Mediaportal, so it will be a TV server as well.

[Berrick]

I'm also in the process of moving to Mediaportal

@Ronski: have you ever looked at media browser 3? Its currently being re written to do something similar, very customizable and some very nice eye candy.

[Ronski]

I do use Media Browser 2 for my movies and series in Windows Media Centre. I only very recently noticed there was a version 3 and it looks promising, but didn't think it was usable for TV at the moment. Are you using it?

[sevenlayermuddle]

I've just realised, there seems to be a second-order benefit of my 'energy saving' endeavours.

Sat here day-dreaming working at my desk, I'm noticing how nice and quiet it is.  The only sound I can here is birdsong from the trees.

Of course... the power brick from the old Netgear used to be tucked down the side of the server.  So did the router's power brick, but it all got reaaranged to suit the Billion router as I wanted it in a different place.  And without these two power bricks sharing their heat, the server itself seems to be staying MUCH cooler to the touch, hence quieter as the fan's just idling.

And of course that server-grade cooling fan itself is an energy sink in itself when it starts working hard, so the net saving may be even greater than predicted by just comparing old switch vs new.   

[roseway]

Yes, I can agree with that. I have an HP Proliant server which works as a media server and NAS. It's positioned so as to get the best possible cooling airflow around it, and it's almost totally silent, as the fan has hardly any work to do. I haven't measured the power consumption, but the cooling fan is fairly substantial, and undoubtedly would consume some significant power if it was working hard.

[kitz]

Looks a good price

Im also trying to do my bit by replacing the HG612, TG582n & a gb switch with one unit.  Now that I only have one PC and the NAS permanently attached to the LAN then theres not much point in having a separate switch.  The TV downstairs is now working nicely via wi-fi so no need for ethernet down there either at this rate

[sheddyian]

Amazon still sell what appears to be the plastic version of the same thing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000N9B688?

I have one of these, and can vouch for it's reliability, though I've not measured the power consumption.  But it does run cool.

In fact I have two, one I bought from Amazon, the other I picked up unused at a boot sale for £5! 

The manual also quotes an additional energy saving feature - the power output to each port is also regulated by cable length (or possibly by need), so shorter runs draw less current.

My only gripe with this model is that, whilst there's a connected/active green led for each port, it doesn't indicate what speed they're running at.

Ian

[sevenlayermuddle]

My only gripe with this model is that, whilst there's a connected/active green led for each port, it doesn't indicate what speed they're running

The metal-cased one has two banks of LEDs. The top one indicates connected devices and blink with traffic, the lower bank indicating gigabit devices.   But both banks are tiny, densely packed and the same colour, green.   So unless your really up close, Ian's criticism stands. 

I see Amazon are now advertising that the TL-SG108 is a 'newer version' of the '1008.   I didn't notice that when I ordered mine 

But I don't think they are right as there is no metal version of the '108.  I strongly wanted the metal cased model for its internal PSU which I consider neater, it's earthed which I find comforting, and it's sufficiently heavy that the weight & stiffness of ethernet cables don't keep lifting and pulling it around!

[sevenlayermuddle]

The TV downstairs is now working nicely via wi-fi so no need for ethernet down there either at this rate

I've often posted comments that were sceptical of the capacity of WiFi to carry decent video. 

But I have experimented with my recent new (Billion) router and reallise I was maybe a bit behind the times with my attitudes.   As an experiment, I pulled the ethernet cable from the Mac Mini, let it connect via WiFi to the router in the next room, and tried moving some big files around.   I don't remember the speeds I measured, but certainly into the tens of Mbps, and I do remember thinking 'Wow! that's easily fast enough for HD video!'   

[kitz]

My ATV has always run on wifi and since thats only through one wall, even when on adsl2+ I wouldnt have expected any issues anyhow.
More and more devices these days are reliant on wifi - and in theory there are certain routers that could give higher speeds via WLAN than LAN.

Going back in history even further I was one of the trialists for BBC multi-cast.  I cant recall the exact year but possibly 2006, and the equivalent of HD (ie sporting events) worked perfectly well back then on a 2Mb account.  All my testing at the time was done via wireless to the laptop.   That was quite an interesting time tech wise..  I used to be NDA'd and got to test all sorts of new & exciting things - including the humble beginnings of BT Openzone.  But one of the things I was involved with was direct feedback to BT and Broadcom about streaming events over the internet.  It was also surprising how quick Broadcom were at developing new firmware too when they pulled their finger out, but wireless is now part of everyday life.... and people expect it to work as fast as their internet connection.

Anyhow back on topic - streaming to the TV - like you say brand/type of routers can make all the difference.  My notorious dead spot works perfectly fine with my current routers and the other day I stood in that corner with my ipad and was pleasantly surprised to see it rack up an average of 33Mbps speedtest.