Today, we have another switch from the company that decided to name itself after a NIC and Giga-bit. The Nicgiga S25-0402P is an unmanaged 2.5GbE switch with four ports of 2.5GbE and two ports of SFP+. While the unmanaged 4+2 switch options tend to be very inexpensive these days, this switch adds PoE capabilities for a different twist. When we were testing this one, we found something that we were not expecting.
If you want to check the current pricing, we purchased this from Amazon. Here is an affiliate link to the one we bought.
Nicgiga S25-0402P Overview
We first covered this switch in our 2024 Mega round-up, which you can find here:
We have also added this switch to the Ultimate Cheap Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Buyer’s Guide where we have listed 40+ models. Bookmark that page to get the latest. We will like all of these reviews from that page.
Nicgiga S25-0402P Hardware Overview
On the front of the switch, one can see four 2.5GbE ports and two SFP+ 10GbE ports. On this switch, the 2.5GbE ports are PoE+ (af/at) capable.
This switch did not come with rack ears or rubber feet for mounting. However, the side of the chassis has holes, so it is likely possible to fashion brackets.
On both sides, there are vents.
The rear has an AC power input and a grounding point. This switch has an internal power supply, which is something that we did not see on these switches 12-18 months ago, but it is starting to become more common.
On the bottom, we get a label and wall mounting points. The label has the PoE information. We probably would not suggest 78W of continuous PoE power output on this switch as we will show inside. We would have liked to see PoE+ listed or even just IEEE 802.3af/at listed. Otherwise, it is hard for someone to remember what this switch supports years ago.
Inside the switch, we can see the main switch board.
We have seen this single-chip solution a few times, although these 4+2 switches often come with different PCBs.
We wish this switch had a bigger heatsink on the Realtek chip.
Although the internal PSU is labeled as a V7.0 PSU, it is probably not the fanciest we have seen. However, we did see something else: It is only a 75W PSU. Remember the label says that the switch has 78W of PoE output, and the switch itself, without counting PoE device power, also takes some of that capacity. It feels like for a switch advertising 78W of PoE output, it should have a PSU bigger than 75W.
We are working on the review of a firewall system that one might expect to have a really low-end PSU, but instead, it contains a Mean Well power supply. That PSU is $16+ itself, so it makes some sense on why we do not get something of that quality inside a switch like this.
Next, let us get to management, performance, and power consumption.
You guys really need to do a better job representing the line rate metrics. I think you would be better off showing mins, max’s, and averages in text rather than the confusing graph you always use.
Why show 4x of the 2.5 gbps port if the speeds were essentially the same across all 4 interfaces? It’s redundant data.
And then maybe show the total maximum (cumulative) of the entire switch, similar to what the Ciscos and Aristas do when they provide metrics for marketing material?
The graphs are especially bad on mobile.
STH makes for a good bedtime read. Always puts me right to sleep. Can’t wait to read the next installment of the next identical switch from the slur company. Hope it’s just like this one!
A month ago the word was these reviews were going to stop after the new roundup and bigger switches were going to be looked at. What happened?
Today, we have another switch from the company that decided to name itself after a NIC and Giga-bit. The $NAME is an ${MNGPREFIX}managed $BW switch with $PORTS ports of $BW and $UPLINKPORTS ports of $UPLINKTYPE.
Did I get the job?
Love these ambiguous switch reviews. It’s nice to know that in the offbrand market, you basically are getting the same junk under any of the labels, with your tear downs helps us prepare for the homelab builds (power, Fans, SFPs,…etc).
You should spend some time on the full 10G switching like the Sodola SL-SWTG3C12F. The tear down on that guy might surprise ya a bit for the price point :)
It’s a great insight on the 75W PSU.
I wonder if these trolls are bots. They’re saying almost the same things even when you’re actually reviewing different models and you’re finding something significant between advertised and actual specs.
Obviously the marketing department inherited an old Hi Fidelity Watt Meter from grand-dad that measures instantaneous peak power drawn from the wall socket and calls that the Watt rating. When they start adding iron weights to make it feel more like “Pro” gear you’ll know the wheel has turned ’round again.
I’m still looking for a cheap managed 2,5G POE+ switch for my home. 9 or 10 ports prefered