Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Mikrotik makes a whole bunch of 10G hardware. The 8 port ones are fanless and have a heatsink on the back, and the 16 port model has a fan that only gets switched on when needed. I have one sitting behind me and it's been off all day.

It's also easy to open and replace the fan with something less noisy. Just remove a few screws, it's a standard size with a normal connector on it.

There's also big external heatsink so you could rig up a big, slow, fan to help it out a bit.

If you want to be green by the way, use fiber/DAC. The 10G copper SFP+ modules are power hungry, and Mikrotik recommends not placing them next to each other. Also the extra power draw is likely to result in fan use if you have a lot of them.



I had issues with 10G copper SFP+ modules even when there was only one installed in the switch (Mikrotik CRS305-1G-4S+IN), the other modules installed being DAC/fiber. I got random disconnects I could not attribute until I checked the switch logs - the module was shutting down because it was reaching >90C when the ambient temp was 26C. I had to add a fan.


Not all transceivers are created equal; some need more power (and then dissipate the heat), some are satisfied with less. Some can do only 30m distance, others will run over 80m distance.

The Mikrotik ones (S+RJ10) are based on Marvel chip and they are the more power hungry / run over 30m only variety. On the other hand, they can negotiate 2.5G or 5G if necessary and support a proprietary protocol to tell the switch about it, so you will that in SFP+ properties.

As I have written in the sibling comment, I have good experience with BCM84891-based transceivers. CRS305 can handle two (still not next to each other, obviously).


I have the Mikrotik 8 port, but the spacing requirement kind of sucks. If you want RJ45, I'd go with this one: https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/qsw-1208-8c


If you want RJ45, they also have a switch with 10G RJ45 ports built in: https://mikrotik.com/product/crs312_4c_8xg_rm


Oh awesome, and pretty well priced! Know what the noise level is like? The QNAP is designed to be in a home office rather than a server closet, so it’s inaudible. But my mikrotiks are passively cooled, so even better.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: