The Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 from Netgear is certainly one of the best Ethernet Switches available in the market. It offers impeccable performance and most of all an ultimate gaming experience. For a home network user, a normal WiFi router could be more than enough to fulfill all their networking requirements. As we all know that these routers come with a minimum of 4 Ethernet ports. But if you're more into gaming or have more devices that need network access then you definitely need an Ethernet Switch.
The SX10 also features various network monitoring tools. These tools allows you to monitor the network usage along with other tools to adjust the LED lighting features too. So the SX10 is specifically designed keeping in mind the high-end gaming networking requirements. Hence, gaming users may look at the SX10 as a godsend for their gaming needs. Through the Ethernet switch, you can always stay a foot ahead of your enemies and be surprised with your speed.
Design
The SX10 Ethernet switch comes in a unique wedge shaped design that resembles an alien ship. Its design can highly complement your other gaming accessories like your gaming mouse or keyboards. While speed is certainly an important aspect, it doesn’t hurt to come up with a good looking design as well. The aluminum casing also provides the unit with immense cooling capabilities. The combination of incredible speed and a unique design makes the SX10 Ethernet Switch a tough competitor in the market.
One of the attractive features of it is that it comes with an eye-catching LED lighting feature that can augment your other gaming devices. If you are already using accessories with LED lighting, then it could be a great addition to your gaming environment.
It also comes with 10 Ethernet ports allowing you to connect as many devices you want. Among the 10, SX10 features 8 1Gbps LAN ports along with 2 10Gbit ports that can be aggregated as well. The 2 multi-speed ports can also act as either 1GbE, 2.5 GbE or 10GBE ports. You can as well aggregate the two to deliver an incredible 20 Gbps. Some might think such kind of high speed will increase the heat inside the switch, but no need to worry as the whole unit is encased in aluminum to reduce the heat and cool the unit passively. Hence, no fan is provided in the SX10 Ethernet switch.
When you look at most of the 10Gbe switches in the market, they are largely advertised for the form factor and not much with a good looking design. Netgear has understood the needs of gamers as most of the gamers out there want to create gaming system to envy their friends. That is the reason they tend to go for devices that look attractive and also complement other gaming accessories as well.
Noise Reduction
Another issue with most of the switches in the market is that they produce a lot of noise. Since they are mainly designed for use in server rooms, noise is not given much importance there. But nowadays, even home users started using switches with 8-10 ports. Hence, noise can be a major issue when you are using the switch in your room. Netgear has scored heavily in this area as the aluminum casing largely helps to nullify the sound to a great extent.
Another interesting aspect about the SX10 is that it offers an incredible gaming dashboard that provides you with real-time bandwidth usage for each port along with options to check traffic bottlenecks in the network and set rate limits accordingly for each client in your network. With the dashboard, you can even block devices that consumes a lot of bandwidth.
Setup
Setting up the SX10 is pretty much simple. You just have to connect the ethernet cable from the router and connect it to any of your gaming devices. After that, you can enjoy the incredible speed provided by the SX10 Ethernet switch.
Another interesting aspect about the SX10 is that it offers an incredible gaming dashboard in a web interface that provides you with real-time bandwidth usage for each port along with options to check traffic bottlenecks in the network and set rate limits accordingly for each client in your network. The web interface is pretty much self-explanatory as well. Just by looking at the menu, you can easily understand what is what and change the setting according to your requirements. The web interface provides you options to change settings and view statistics of network usage. It also gives you the option to view the traffic bottlenecks and block devices that use bandwidth more than their share. And everything can be easily done with just a single click.
Our Verdict
Overall, the SX10 gaming ethernet switch is not your ordinary switches available in the market. It combines both speed and elegance in the outlook to provide an excellent ethernet switch for gamers. Netgear has achieved a lot of success in this aspect by providing an ethernet switch that can largely satisfy high-end gamers looking for excellent speed, a good looking design and no-noise switch.
As we have reviewed many gaming routers, we do think that the SX10 is certainly one of the best routers we could have ever tested as it comes with a deadly combination of speed and design. If you are a hardcore gamer, then SX10 is the best thing for your gaming requirements.
