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New Zealand, Wellington
1 Level
706 Review
25 Karma

Review on πŸ”Œ MikroTik CRS312-4C+8XG-RM: High-Performance 12-Port 10G Switch with Dual Power Supply by Andre Young

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Works great but very noisy. Recommended if you can handle the noise.

I paid too much for this. $630 if available elsewhere on preorder for $500. I didn't want to wait. I was thinking of buying two but I'm very glad I didn't. While I'm happy with these devices, fan noise is significant. Sounds like a jet plane. I'll try updating the firmware that people have reported fixes the issue. I almost bought two of these panels but not at this price and while I will need a few more of these panels in the future this makes the loud noise unlikely. I will choose a competitor product simply because I need something in areas where noise is important. I need 2-4 10 SFP+ ports and 6-8 1Gb Ethernet ports. Note. I have three different Mikrotik products and I love them. I will choose another product, e.g. B. A 9-port SFP+ switch for branch nodes. This is a lot less money, offset by the fact that you have to buy transceivers and partially offset by the fact that you only have to buy enough transceivers to meet my needs while still allowing for future expansion. This particular product is not in an area where sound is important. If you have a closet and don't care about fan noise, you will love this product. The fans appear to be quite powerful and will likely keep temperatures down on other devices. I've connected a lot of 1GB RJ45 transceivers and wish there were more, but when my network changes I don't need as many. This comes with two power supplies. Suitable for critical environments. I have a home system that is replacing an outdated 20 year old 1Gbps Category 5 network. The power cords are standard computer power cords that also snap in with spring clips - a nice touch. I then tied the two cords together and plugged them into two adjacent outlets on my 19.5" rack mount surge protector/power distribution box. Carefully. Do I need redundancy? It's worth asking if this will affect the lifespan. I use it as a regular switch and it works right out of the box. Connectors and I get 1GB speed on slower devices. I have 1 GB internet connection and speed up to 940 Mbps. used as a switch and will be transitioning to using a router. The remaining ports I use for the time being for Ethernet. Final Thoughts: A 9-port router/switch with all SFP+ ports is much cheaper, and fiber optic transceivers are cheaper. I think this is the best way. I use an ASUS WiFi 6 router as my main router and while it's fast it lacks the configurability I want. In the future I will switch to a 9-port MicroTik router. I set up a second ASUS Wifi 6 router as an access point in another building to extend my coverage. WiFi 6 is a worthy upgrade. In this building I will be using some old devices for extra WiFi coverage as the building is made of concrete blocks which limits range. With WiFi 6MB on my latest second floor computer, I was able to get to a more distant WiFi 6 hotspot at a considerable distance. A pleasant surprise. It's still not a replacement for the fiber optic channel. With the right transceivers, they can connect from miles away. My transceivers are 300M. Fiber optic channels are fantastic. It's the most fun I've had in decades. I installed a file server and haven't been able to use the full 10G speeds yet, which is disappointing. I've studied for a week and file transfer is still slow despite trying many options. I also have a Plex server on the network with a 1G connection and it works great with video. I want to port this to a more powerful machine and 10G speed for multiple connections. Final Thoughts. I got a lot of Cat8 cables and used them for shorter connections to peripherals and for a redundant backbone. Everywhere I hear them warming up. I rely on fiber to connect my 10G devices and computers. The only issue I had was that a 10G NIC failed in the first two weeks and was replaced under warranty. When you need to connect with RJ45 to legacy wiring. This device is a good choice. If you have the opportunity to switch to fiber optic cable, the best choice would be a 9-port SFP+ - it can also be used with RJ-45 transceivers, or even a small 4-port 10G-plus-1-1G device – that's what got me hooked. via fiber optic cable. I am planning to return some purchased 10G RJ45 transceivers. I use 8-port 1G switches with 10G backbone for slower connections. To update. MikroTik has a 12-port router with all SFP+ ports. If I had to do it again I would stop there and not buy something so expensive. Even buying transceivers for each port becomes cheaper and more flexible. I can take it off and sell it and replace it with another product. To be honest it helped with outdated 1G and slower products.

Pros
  • Durable finish
Cons
  • Quality