INTRODUCTION

   Gigabit Ethernet connectivity may be more than sufficient for the majority of home networks but it's far from convenient when it comes to office and small business use so even though it did take a while 10GbE connectivity is now more popular than ever before. This of course is largely due to several price drops over the years so although back in 2015 when we first started doing 10GbE NAS reviews it was considered as way too expensive (niche) today things have changed so even some mid-end mainboards feature 10GbE ethernet controllers (alas not the highest performance ones). This is also why we've also seen a significant increase in NAS models ready with 10GbE cards right from the factory lately so things are really looking good for office/business users (and even home users) looking to upgrade their local network to 10GbE speeds. QNAP released their first 10GbE switches last year and after spending 1 full month with their QSW-804-4C model our review is finally here.

   QNAP Systems, Inc., headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, provides a comprehensive range of cutting-edge Network-attached Storage (NAS) and video surveillance solutions based on the principles of usability, high security, and flexible scalability. QNAP offers quality NAS products for home and business users, providing solutions for storage, backup/snapshot, virtualization, teamwork, multimedia, and more. QNAP envisions NAS as being more than "simple storage", and has created many NAS-based innovations to encourage users to host and develop Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning solutions on their QNAP NAS.

   The QNAP QSW-804-4C is a compact, unmanaged 8-port 10GbE switch (can be used both as a desktop model and in a rack) that offers 4 SFP+ fiber ports, 4 RJ45 copper ports and 4 SFP+/RJ45 combo ports (all 10GbE) featuring a total switching capacity of 160Gbps. Also, thanks to its support for the 10GBASE-T and NBASE-T standards (5 speed auto negotiation - 10G/5G/2.5G/1G100M) the QSW-804-4C 10GbE switch is compatible with existing cables so there's no reason for you to go out and get the far more expensive (still far more affordable compared to active optical cables - AOC) direct attach cables (DAC). QNAP has also given the switch support for the IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet standard that basically allows physical layer transmitters to consume far less power during periods of low or no data activity. Another feature that may not stands out at first is its dual 40mm exhaust fans which as you all see later on in our review even while in operation are almost inaudible. This may not be a game changing feature for most office/business uses but for home use (or even in our lab for that matter) this is extremely important.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The QSW-804-4C arrived inside a plain cardboard box that has a product drawing at the front right beneath the company logo and over its main features.

Just the company logo and a disclaimer are placed at the rear of the box.

Typically with QNAP products the first thing you'll see once you open the box is a welcome note.

The switch is wrapped inside a plastic bag and placed between two thick foam spacers.

QNAP packs a rackmount kit, four rubber feet (for desktop use), the power cord and the quick installation guide with the QSW-804-4C.

THE QSW-804-4C

Measuring just 285mm in length, 233mm in width and 43mm in height the 2.10Kg heavy QSW-804-4C is a very compact 10GbE switch.

To showcase its size we placed the QSW-804-4C right over the Netgear PROSAFE XS712T and the Linksys LGS124P and LGS326P switches.

QNAP has placed their logo at the top of the aluminum enclosure.

The front is separated into two sections the far left which has the activity/speed/link LEDs and the center which has the 12 available ports.

On the left side of the enclosure we find the two 40mm low-RPM exhaust fans.

The right side of the enclosure is partially perforated.

At the rear of the switch we find the power port and a serial port.

Turning the switch over we find four round areas where you can place the bundled rubber feet.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Network switches are very similar to routers so we’ll be using roughly the same testing methodology here as well. So aside the usual networking benchmark by Passmark (updated to v9.0) we'll also be using ATTO (v3.05 for 1GbE tests and v4.00.0f2 for 10GbE tests) and Crystal Disk Mark (v5.1.2 for 1GbE tests and v6.0.2 for 10GbE tests). The reason we are still using ATTO v3.05 and Crystal Disk Mark v5.1.2 for 1GbE tests is due to the fact that we can't re-test all of the switches to ever pass from our lab and also because unlike Passmark results from these versions are inaccurate compared to results from the latest ones. Also as you’ve already noticed we decided to replace the QCheck software by Ixia with Crystal Disk Mark since we feel it’s a more complete and reliable choice for testing switches. To test all network switches we are using our top two desktop systems (details above) along with two laptops with which we simulate LAN load. Our systems are placed 15m away (connected with CAT7 cables) from the switch in hand and each test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average scores are recorded into our charts. Our systems have Windows 10 Pro installed complete with all updates up until the 8th of January 2019.

   Also just like with Modem/Routers we will also be recording power consumption is these reviews during all our tests and both the lowest and highest numbers will be available in our charts. Finally when testing network switches with built-in fans (active cooling) we'll also record noise levels using our high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed at roughly 5-10cm away.

TEST RESULTS - PERFORMANCE

1GBE 

10GBE

TEST RESULTS – POWER CONSUMPTION / NOISE LEVELS

CONCLUSION

   QNAP may not have a long history when it comes to switches (quite the opposite frankly) but having manufactured most of the top NAS models in the market over the years has allowed them to release a great little NAS. Of course the QSW-804-4C is only little in size since as you can tell from our charts it has nothing to fear compared to larger models like the XS712T by Netgear. Sure to be fair the XS712T has been around for roughly 5 years so it’s not exactly state-of-the-art (we’ll reach out to Netgear to see if we can get one of their latest ones to review) but back then things couldn’t get much better than that. So having a much smaller 10GbE switch with even higher performance levels compared to one such model is a win in or book. Still performance and size are not the only two things going for the QSW-804-4C since both power consumption and noise levels are also very low. Sure its two 40mm exhaust fans have the potential to go even faster so they may get louder under warmer conditions but the same applies for all the switches we’ve used in the past. For us the single drawback of this unit is its lack of any PoE+ ports and although people looking for a 10GbE switch may not have much use for that there are always exceptions (so we do hope QNAP addresses that issue in upcoming models).

   Price is yet another thing going for the QSW-804-4C 10G Switch by QNAP since it currently retails for just USD489 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 432Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Now there are many 10G compatible switches in the market today (some even cheaper but with fewer ports) but most of them don’t support the 10GBASE-T and NBASE-T standards so that’s also something to keep in mind. So leaving out the lack of PoE+ ports we really liked everything else about the QSW-804-4C and that’s why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Compact Size
- Excellent Performance
- 4 SFP+, 4 RJ45 & 4 RJ45/SFP+ Combo Ports
- 160Gbps Maximum Switching Capacity
- Low Power Consumption & Noise Levels
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- No PoE+ Ports (For Some)