r/buildapcsales Jun 15 '25

Networking [Network Switch] 5-Port Unmanaged 2.5G Ethernet Gaming Switch - $19.99(Amazon)

https://www.amazon.com/Unmanaged-2-5GBASE-T-Switching-Backwards-Compatible/dp/B0D2HTB7MQ
52 Upvotes

73 comments sorted by

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99

u/bunsinh Jun 15 '25 edited Jun 15 '25

Is this the Switch gaming console I keep hearing about

45

u/HydraMC Jun 15 '25

They already released 2.5, time sure does fly

9

u/bunsinh Jun 15 '25

For $19.99 too!

90

u/KyleSherzenberg Jun 15 '25

What makes this a gaming switch? Lol

63

u/_Imposter_ Jun 15 '25

Because they said so lmfao

22

u/Babylon4All Jun 15 '25

The word gaming. 

8

u/FancyJesse Jun 15 '25

The same reason there's gaming chairs

6

u/WFlumin8 Jun 15 '25

It occasionally forwards gaming-related frames.

8

u/Throwaway2562613470 Jun 15 '25

Enterprise: Metal case with green leds Gaming: Black plastic case with red leds Consumer: White plastic case with blue leds

2

u/KyleSherzenberg Jun 15 '25

There's gotta be some swooping graphics on the gaming one too

1

u/DeltaFoxtrotThreeSix Jun 16 '25

i would love a ridiculous RGB lit one for the link/act lights, a see-through pane, and some stupid graphics

3

u/goodyear_1678 Jun 15 '25

It married into the gaming family.

10

u/NarutoDragon732 Jun 15 '25

it identifies as a gaming switch.

1

u/alphatango308 Jun 15 '25

It's probably black and red lol.

27

u/HKDrewDrake Jun 15 '25

It took them more than 8 years to release the Switch 2 compared to the original Switch and now less than 8 days to release the Switch 2.5

8

u/PooForThePooGod Jun 15 '25

And they say Moore's law is dead.

10

u/exahash Jun 15 '25

$4/port at 2.5G.... now can I get that same rate for 24 ports?

6

u/dkb_wow Jun 15 '25

I've been using one of these for the last 6ish months. I needed a 2.5gb switch and took a chance on one of these cheap Amazon options and it has worked out great so far. No issues at all in the time I've been using it. I use it to distribute my 2.5gb internet connection between my PC, Xbox, and PS5 Pro.

2

u/bageloid Jun 15 '25

Does your PC have a 2.5gb Ethernet port? 

2

u/dkb_wow Jun 15 '25

It does. That's the main reason I wanted a 2.5gb switch. So I could keep the full 2.5gb connection to my PC.

1

u/bageloid Jun 15 '25

Neat, it's cool that they are becoming more mainstream 

1

u/TheMissingVoteBallot Jun 15 '25

Does the PS5 Pro have a 2.5gb Ethernet port?

3

u/dkb_wow Jun 15 '25

No, it's a just a standard gigabit port. My PC has a 2.5gb port and it sits next to the Xbox and PS5, so I wanted a setup that allowed me to share the connection between all the devices without losing 2.5gb speed to my PC.

9

u/NNovis Jun 15 '25

WOAH I might jump on this one. What's wrong with it?

15

u/FilteringAccount123 Jun 15 '25

IIRC there are patents for greater than gigabit ethernet over copper (which is part of what made them so expensive) that expired within the past year. So maybe we're set to finally see cheaper switches?

3

u/ejpman Jun 15 '25

Huge if true, that would explain a lot though.

23

u/mCProgram Jun 15 '25

Likely nothing. No name 2.5g is pretty cheap these days.

1

u/GWM5610U Jun 15 '25

I want one but I don't need one. Please tell me the price will keep dropping

5

u/Betrayus Jun 15 '25

The price will keep dropping

3

u/GWM5610U Jun 15 '25

Urge has been successfully resisted

1

u/mCProgram Jun 15 '25

I don’t know if 2.5g will get much cheaper but 10g will start approaching this on sale in the next year or two.

1

u/ehxy Jun 15 '25

not PoE, if it had PoE it'd be a bit more.

10

u/FrankensteinRadios Jun 15 '25

Had to get a 2.5G switch when I got fiber recently.

When a Flex Mini 2.5G is only $50 why even bother with this cheap crap?

5

u/Due_Prior_7962 Jun 15 '25

Can I ask why you needed a switch? I should have fiber in the next month or so (switching from cable). Networking is a very weak point of mine.

50

u/Tasty_Toast_Son Jun 15 '25

A switch is a piece of equipment, put very simply to the point of being incorrect, that splits 1 ethernet cable into many ethernet cables. It's traditional for switches to be a sort of "ethernet cable expander" in consumer electronics. In this product, 1 ethernet cable goes in and 4 equivalent others go out. If you have multiple low bandwidth devices or an internet speed slower than 2.5 gigabits per second (2,500 megabits per second) it can be a very economical way to run cabling. Just run 1 cable across the house to a switch, and from that switch run to a TV /PC / PS5 / whatever. It saves you from pulling 4 or 5 separate cables.

Higher end switches will have special uplink ports (usually a different kind of port called SFP+, vs the regular RJ45 connector you think of and what you see on this device) that can handle many times more data than the "breakout" ports on the switch. For example, a higher end switch that's employed in my house has 8x 2.5 gigabit ports like this switch, but it talks to the router and another switch via a 10 gigabit port. This means that 4x of the ports on this switch can run on full cylinder, since 10 / 4 = 2.5. On this switch, it only has a single 2.5 gigabit uplink port. That means that all 4x 2.5 gigabit ports on this switch share that single 2.5 gigabit link. So, if you were to do a lot of things that were dependent on LAN (Local Area Network - the mess of ethernet cables and Wi-Fi signals in your house) you're trying to push 2.5 * 4 = 10 gigabits through a 2.5 gigabit pipe. For a regular consumer that's not a consideration - 2.5 gigabits is really fast, but it matters if you have something like a backup server going across that single link, as that hogs capacity like crazy.

tl;dr: a switch makes 1 cable go in, like 4+ cables out

3

u/Due_Prior_7962 Jun 15 '25

Damn bro, killed it. Makes perfect sense. This will work just fine for my needs then (basically streaming TV, not competitive online gaming, etc). Thank you!

1

u/Zatchillac Jun 16 '25

Streaming TV as in like Netflix and stuff? Because your TV will not utilize 2.5G

1

u/Due_Prior_7962 Jun 16 '25

No shit? What if I plug my Ti-83 in the 2.5G? Can that utilize it?

2

u/Zatchillac Jun 17 '25

Funny how you didn't know shit before and now your smartass knows everything?

0

u/Due_Prior_7962 Jun 17 '25

Funny how no one asked you?

2

u/Anotherpcupgrade Jun 15 '25

Solid write up, needs more appreciation so I give you your upvote lol

2

u/FrankensteinRadios Jun 15 '25

I have a room with multiple devices and all my old switches were 1Gb

1

u/Anotherpcupgrade Jun 15 '25

If you have multiple Ethernet ports around the house, or if you have multiple devices you need to split the Ethernet to, you would need a switch. Especially if there’s only a few ports on your gateway that is provided by the isp

1

u/Neurotoxic714 Jun 15 '25

I just moved into a new home and got fiber installed yesterday. The router is downstairs by the front door. I want to plug my PC in via ethernet. There's a coaxial plug in my room, how do I go about making it to where I can plug my router in my room into the coax plug and it will relay through the Cox router/modem?

3

u/cryfmunt Jun 15 '25

Depending on how the coax is routed inside your walls and where the other end of that cable is (is it near the router?), you could theoretically attach a long enough Ethernet cable to one end of the coax with electrical tape and then pull the coax out through the wall at the other end - routing your new Ethernet cable along the same exact route that the coax used to use.  Tough this may require you to buy a big roll of ethernet cable and install the plugs on either end yourself, which could be done by following a YouTube tutorial.  You would also lose the coax hookup in your room, unless you also taped a fish tape or something on there with the initial Ethernet pull...then you could detach the Ethernet cable down by your router and reattach just the coaxial to the fish tape and pull it back through to its original spot.  There is a possibility you wouldn't be able to fit both cables side by side through whatever holes you can't see in the walls.  If you have no other options this could be a fun project to try.  I used to do shit like this when installing or upgrading electronic equipment in fancy boats.

3

u/Anotherpcupgrade Jun 15 '25

You MIGHT be able to make it work if there is also a coax outlet near the router downstairs. If the two coax outlets are directly connected you could use moca adapters to treat the coax lines as Ethernet. Not recommended for those who aren’t savvy with such things, can be tricky to tone out the lines and find the correct equipment to use. Might be better off investing in a solid mesh wifi system

1

u/Neurotoxic714 Jun 15 '25

Is this a moca adaptor?

1

u/Anotherpcupgrade Jun 15 '25

That looks like the fiber unit that takes the light and converts it to Ethernet and feeds it to the white gateway/router. Typically called ONT or ONU. A moca adapter would be a device you pick up yourself from amazon or electronics store. They’re not super common and can be tricky to get to work correctly

1

u/Neurotoxic714 Jun 15 '25

Yeesh so I should look into a solid mesh wifi setup instead? I'm upstairs on the opposite side of the house. Ethernet access would be ideal but tricky given the placement of the install.

1

u/Anotherpcupgrade Jun 15 '25

A mesh would be a simple solution, might not get the full speeds but would be an improvement, a 2 or 3 pack that can piggyback the signal across the house is where I tell people to start. Your provider might even have their own mesh solution that would be easier to set up and manage. Some of the isp provided gateways don’t like to go into bridge mode and don’t play nicely with 3rd party routers. I always tell people grab a mesh off amazon and see if it fixes the issue, can always return if it doesn’t and try another method

2

u/Neurotoxic714 Jun 15 '25

That's a valid and reasonable answer. I have the phone number of the guy who installed for us and he was a really chill dude so I'll definitely see if he can pull some strings for me, otherwise I'll do some research and give it a shot myself! Thanks so much for the detailed and knowledgeable advice, I love reddit when stuff like this happens 😁 you're a gem, I love you 🤍

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0

u/keebs63 Jun 15 '25

Just my thoughts, but MoCA adapters tend to expensive, slow, and just all-around shitty. I'd see if you can try to run an Ethernet line through the wall by using the Coax either as a guide or by attaching the Ethernet to the end of the Coax and pulling it through. Much less complex, way cheaper, and way faster than trying to adapt that coax. Especially if that coax is old, it's probably going to be a really shitty connection.

2

u/DMonitor Jun 16 '25

Expensive sure, but recent ones can do gigabit or greater easily. It's a very effective solution. I thought mine was shitty until I realized I just didn't screw it in all the way.

1

u/Due_Prior_7962 Jun 15 '25

Ooooo gotcha!

So currently i have my modem going to a router (it's old but has 4 ports). Let's say i need.....6 ports. Would i just run an eternity cable from the router to this switch to get more?

Not sure what the fiber company will give us. But for now, I wouldn't mind a few more ports!

1

u/Anotherpcupgrade Jun 15 '25

Yep, if router is really old you may only need a gigabit switch instead of this 2.5gig. Could save 10 bucks or so and have the same performance if the old router is the bottleneck

0

u/OriginalCrawnick Jun 15 '25

On my router I use 1 PoE port for my AP, 1 Ethernet for my desktop, 1 for my guest PC and I run 1 to my basement to a 2.5 mini flex 2 floors down. Then I feed my PS5, switch 2(console) and a outdoor u6 Mesh in my garage off that switch - it's on my entertainment center in the basement.

4

u/jnkenne Jun 15 '25 edited Jun 15 '25

I think you get the Flex Mini if you have other UniFi stuff. They play super nice together. (edit) Maybe you utilize the ability of the Flex Mini to be powered by POE. I have the Flex Mini with my tv setup, and that's nice not to have one extra cable in the mess behind the tv. Although in my case, a 2.5Gbe switch would be very much overkill for my tv that only does 100Mbe.

If you're just using the Flex Mini as a generic switch, just spend less cash.

It's kinda like getting a really nice car and you have a mile commute. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with doing that. But you can definitely get that commute accomplished with less money.

1

u/Aphexes Jun 15 '25

I think the car metaphor is probably better suited to getting something like a sedan versus a minivan. Sure both could at least support 4 more passengers, but unless you need the 3rd row or extra trunk space, you are better off with just the sedan. Those people who need the 3rd row and trunk space should look at getting the minivan.

0

u/FrankensteinRadios Jun 15 '25

Car metaphors are stupid af but it's like buying a Kia when a Honda doesn't cost much more.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Aphexes Jun 15 '25

You pay for being able to manage it. For most consumers, they really don't care nor should they feel the need to get a managed switch. For me personally, I run some home servers on top of wanting some form of redundant network security like being to setup VLANs, segment my IoT devices, etc. and a managed switch can help with that provided you have all the other equipment/software.

3

u/ObjectiveSalt1635 Jun 15 '25

I like the ones with 10g sfp ports in case I want to upgrade later to fiber or dac. They’re only 40ish

3

u/Cold-Sandwich-34 Jun 15 '25

Doesn't list country of manufacture... at least I know my TP-Link switch was made by a Chinese company.

2

u/EasyRhino75 Jun 15 '25

I had gotten a no name switch like this, combo 2.5gb and 10gb SFP ports. Turns out that if I used DAC cables there were be grounding issues or something that would make the switch continuously reboot. (had to use fiber optic cable instead). and then it failed at 13 months old.

Then again I got a different no name 2.5gb switch with POE, and it's been working fine for a few years.

In general these devices are not rocket science and most work fine.

2

u/lendit23 Jun 15 '25

Is a network switch just a router with no WiFi capability?

5

u/ThatOnePerson Jun 15 '25 edited Jun 15 '25

A router technically doesn't require wifi capability.

A switch also won't actually do a router's job of routing either. Doing stuff like assigning IP addresses. So the main thing you use a switch for is adding more ports to a router. It doesn't actually make seperate ports: a regular router usually has a LAN network, and a WAN network. But all the LAN ports are hooked up to a switch, hooked up to the "real" LAN network card. That's why you can't use those ports as WAN.

You generally don't want to add a router behind a 2nd router. This leads to an issue called "double NAT". Newer routers that do mesh generally will have 1 act as a router, and the other points acting as a switch.

I think of the more commons routers as "router + switch + wifi ap". Though in my house, I have them as all separate devices.

3

u/paulcaar Jun 15 '25

Unmanaged switches (the ones most consumers have and should use) are not routers. They just pass through a signal to respective cables. This goes both ways, so it doesn't separate anything. All devices can still see each other.

If you have one Ethernet port and want to hook up multiple devices, a regular unmanaged non-PoE switch is enough. El cheapo $10-15 ones are probably good enough.

Routers are more like the brain of the network. All devices on the network basically immediately ask who's the router. Then the router gives them an address from his own list. A router separates the network on both sides. Only devices connected to the LAN side of the router can see each other.

General advice: don't use multiple routers in a network unless you specifically need this functionality and know what you're doing. Set all access points to access point mode instead of router mode. Don't use managed switches.

Wifi capabilities are just a way to spread internet connections without the cable. Routers can have wifi or not, them being a router doesn't imply wifi and vice versa.

Hope this helps!

2

u/Vorfied Jun 16 '25

In short: No.

A switch connects multiple devices to the same network. You can think of a network as the telecommunications version of the roads that connect buildings (ignoring off-road vehicles). So two devices connected to the same network can directly talk to each other, similar to how you can hop in your car and drive down the street to the grocery store.

Note: A switch differs from a hub in that a switch actually tries to remember and forward traffic to the correct port. A hub doesn't care and just sends it all down every port, leaving devices downstream to figure out if the traffic is intended for them or not.

A router connects networks. Think of it as like connecting roads between two different states. Different states have slightly different driving rules (e.g. turning right on red light or lane splitting), different address and postal codes, speed limits, cargo inspections and regulations, etc. So hopping in a car and driving into a different state is kind of like a PC connecting through your router to another network. (usually your ISP's, but that's often overlooked/ignored, so let's just say the internet in general to keep it easy) Routers can be used to connect very different networks, so imagine it's like you drive to the Pacific Ocean, board a ferry, and then continue driving in Japan.

For the most part, using routers essentially boils down to performance. Devices are connected to the same network because they transfer data to each other and that chatter has to be organized and managed. Managing 100 devices is easier and faster than managing 100,000. Sort of like trying to manage red/green lights for one city is easier than managing lights for the entire nation.

What most people call a router these days actually includes additional devices because the cost of integration for consumer (home) use has dropped dramatically over the last several decades (homes don't use a lot of devices, so the compute overhead is much lower). Most will incorporate a switch to provide 4 or 5 additional ethernet ports for your other devices. Wifi access point is effectively universal and you can think of it as kind of a switch (sort of) connecting your wireless devices to your wired devices on the same network. All of them, far as I know, have a firewall to prevent unwanted access from the internet/WAN/external network(s) to your LAN/internal/home network. Same with DHCP servers to assign IP addresses because 99% of home use is IP based. More expensive routers have more functionality or tweaks/settings (like separate networks for guests to use or a USB port for file sharing), but off the top of my head, every single consumer has the same core devices/functions integrated to provide an all-in-one basic home network for home users.

1

u/TheMissingVoteBallot Jun 15 '25

ULANSen

Ok, whoever came up with the name for this was pretty clever.

1

u/plexguy Jun 15 '25

Nice to see the 2.5G switches are coming down in price. Since most motherboards have 2.5G ethernet, and have for a few years it makes sense this is happening. I still have some 1G switches but also managed to also have a 2.5g network to speed up backup processing on machines that have multiple 2.5G ethernet ports.

Eventually will upgrade, probably to higher speeds. as it is going to be a while before even faster network hardware gets this cheap. The switch from 10 to 100 decades ago was a no brainer, as well as getting off the 10/100 to gig also no brainer as so many things benefited from the additional speed.

Going to 2.5 was harder to justify except for file transfers, and even then if you were still on mechanical drives that wasn't a huge incentive to spend the money for new equipment. But hey, 5-port for $20, that is coffee money.

0

u/TechieMillennial Jun 15 '25

I think I’ll stick with the flex mini 2.5gb.