The Netgear ProSafe GS105 V4 is a 5 port gigabit switch that consumes at most only 3.5 watts! Although we generally focus on fairly high-end components, sometimes you just need to aggregate a few ports. With wireless networks being ubiquitous at this point, and more devices being optimized for mobile, sometimes one simply needs to add a small switch. One great example of this is if one has a pfsense appliance or a typical SOHO router/ switch and WiFi access point, but only a few switch ports. Something like the Netgear ProSafe GS105 v4 works wonders. Let’s take a look at what this $30 five port gigabit switch has to offer.
The front of the Netgear ProSafe GS105 V4 is very simple. There are five RJ-45 ports dominating the front of the switch. These three ports can run in 10mbps, 100mbps and gigabit (1,000mbps) modes. One LED for 10M, one LED for 100m and both for gigabit. There is also a power LED on the front of the chassis so one knows that the unit is powered on.
Here are the Quick Specs for the Netgear GS105:
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Network Ports
- 5 auto-sensing UTP ports
Forwarding Mode
- Store-and-forward
- 128 KB on-chip packet buffering
Netgear ProSafe GS105 Performance
- Bandwidth: 10 Gbps (non-blocking)
- Forwarding rate:
– 10 Mbps port: 14,800 packets/sec
– 100 Mbps port: 148,000 packets/sec
– 1000 Mbps port: 1,480,000 packets/sec - Latency (using 1500-byte packets):
– 10 Mbps: 30μs (max)
– 100 Mbps: 6μs (max)
– 1000 Mbps: 4μs (max) - MAC address database: 4,000
- Mean time between failures (MTBF):
>1 million hours (~114 years)
Netgear ProSafe GS105 Power Consumption
- Maximum power consumption: 3.5W
Netgear ProSafe GS105 Physical Specs
- Dimensions (w x d x h): 3.7″ x 4.1″ x 1.1″ (94mm x 104mm x 28mm)
- Weight: 0.66 lb (0.30 kg)
Standards Compliance
- IEEE 802.3i 10BASE-T Ethernet
- IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet
- IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet
- Honors IEEE 802.1p and DSCP priority tags
- Jumbo frame: up to 9,720 bytes
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Looking to the rear of the Netgear ProSafe GS105 gigabit switch one can see a simple Kensington locking point and a power supply input. It should be noted that the average Kensington lock is going to cost more than this switch, but sometimes the time and effort to replace makes a lock important. For those wondering, the effective dimensions of the unit are a bit larger then the dimensions listed in the quick specs once cables and the power input are taken into account. It would be great if Netgear could find a way to put the power cable on the same side as the Ethernet ports in a V5.
One will also notice that the sides are ventilated. The Netgear ProSafe GS105 does not have a fan which helps a lot in two areas. First, it is completely inaudible. Second, adding a fan would likely ad 50% to 100% more power consumption. Heat was never an issue with the Netgear GS105.
In terms of performance, the Netgear ProSafe GS105 does not offer management capabilities and is therefore a very simple gigabit Ethernet switch. Performance wise, nothing to get excited about and in our testing all five ports ran fine. Streaming HD video was not an issue and performance between nodes was in the 100-125MB/s range for data transfers.
Conclusion
Overall the Netgear ProSafe GS105 does well for what is made for, to be a small, quiet, power efficient switch. At about $30 after rebates, the Netgear GS105 is very inexpensive. If one does need management capabilities, Netgear has a version of the GS105 called the Netgear GS105e which has some management functionality built-in for around $45. The nice thing about these low-end Netgear switches is that they run cool and are very reliable. I have one 8-port ProSafe GS108 switch that now has 15 months of consecutive uptime. There is surely something to be said for inexpensive and reliable switches.
Nice!!
This is a must have item for your “tool bag” or “homelab”
This or the 8 port version (GS108) always come in handy for quick experimenting or troubleshooting
Absolutely. Back when I worked at an ISP we used the FS105’s as a quick troubleshooting tool that easily fit in a bag.
I just picked up another 2 of these switches from Amazon on Monday. My only complaint about them? They have an extremely high-pitched whine. For the average adult it wouldn’t matter, but for me, especially when used in a quiet environment, I can hear it. I tried both switches, and they both made the noise, indicating it’s innate in the design and not a broken unit.
That being said, if used in anything other than total silence, the sound cannot be heard. I wholeheartedly recommend these switches.
I just wish they put all the connectors/jacks (power & ethernet) on the same side
A PoE version would be great ! (no need of power adaptater)
Hi Bobii,
I use from a few years a linksys slm2008 behind a Linksys SRW224G4P.
The slm2008 has the capability on one port to be powered throught POE, has a best density, has VLAN,… but is 3 time the price of GS108. Could be find at 70$ on ebay.
Good, time to educate the idiots who think they automatically become a “pro” by installing $xxxx Ciscos on networks that don’t even consume 1% of the switch fabric.
Still have some GS116’s kicking around (16 port version 1 of this tough metal series), they still work. First released in 2004, according to Amazon
Got 2 of them for $130 each as refurb, not bad for back in 2005.
But I still carry the tiny GS105 in my travel bag, just in case.
My netgear gs105 worked fine with my Linksys router. I recently replaced it with a Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router. Everything is working fine on my network EXCEPT those connections coming through the GS105. Green lights on the GS105….yellow on the device I’m connecting to. Does anyone have any ideas or know of compatibility issues between these two products?
Hi, could any one tell me about the netgear and the system requirements for it i couldn’t managed to use it.
or could any one give me information about the website where i can find short information about it.