[Pc_Support] Re: ABS 8-Port, 5-Port GbE Switch -- VSC7388, VSC7385 (Blog article)

[Jason Boxman]

Derek Konigsberg said:
> Often I find myself looking for what higher-end stuff can be had for good
> prices on eBay, rather than bargain newer stuff.  For example, got myself
> a GigE switch within the past year.  It is an Intel NetStructure 470F
> (8-port, fiber).  I was lucky enough to snag it for $100, though the going
> price on eBay was $400'ish.  (all my existing GigE cards were fiber, and
> my 100Mbit switches had fiber uplinks, so it offered more flexibility to
> me)  Of course the fiber patch cables themselves are one of those odd
> items thats super-expensive retail, but super-cheap on eBay.
>
> In the 10/100 (1000-uplink-capable) department, I've been very happy with
> my BayStack 450-24T switches.  They're fully managed with all the bells
> and whistles, and have become really cheap.  (I paid $200'ish for my first
> one, $100'ish for the second, no idea how low they are now)

So, having no GbE yet, would there be increased value in getting Fibre cards
and a Fibre switch as opposed to going copper?  I suppose I lose out on
copper GbE that's on-board on newer chipsets.

Every time I try GbE I end up getting crappy NICs and plug them into a poor
switch or just into each other and things don't quite work out.  I really
need to buy some quality NICs for GbE.  Of course, my backup server can't
push 10.5MB/s over an SSH connection with arcfour encryption -- let alone
3DES or even Blowfish --, so the point is probably moot until I retask
systems...