Hi! I have a networking setup query with the goal to minimise cost. I am hoping to purchase one item, be it a switch or router, and have all the rest remain the same. The end goal is to have a speedier network set up between a couple endpoint nodes. I'll describe the current state of the network and then where I'd like to be. Current State: Internet<-->to WRT54G-TM (DD-WRT SW)<-->Various as listed below - Internet is addressable as aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd DHCP Assigned from ISP - WRT54G-TM is a 10/100 - WRT54G-TM (DD-WRT SW) is static at [192.168.1.1] - 1 printer connected to WRT54G-TM static IP of 192.168.1.10 - 3 PC connected to WRT54G-TM (DD-WRT SW) with dynamically assigned addresses starting at 192.168.1.100 - X# of Wireless devices connected to WRT54G-TM getting more dynamically assigned addresses starting at 192.168.1.100 I want to add some hardware to create a kind of segmentation for a gigabit switch/hub/router since I have a couple PC that are gigabit now and some that are not. I read online a few ways of configuring router to router connections. Additionally, I read a lot of info about switches operating at the speed of the slowest device on them. I'd like to segment it in a way to get the gigabits on a network where all devices are accessible to each other and at their optimal connection speeds. What I am thinking is the following: Internet<-->to WRT54G-TM (DD-WRT SW)<-->Gigabit router/switch<-->Two Gigabit capable PC <-->Other Various As listed Below - Internet is addressable as aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd DHCP Assigned from ISP - WRT54G-TM is a 10/100 - WRT54G-TM (DD-WRT SW) is static at [192.168.1.1] - 1 printer connected to WRT54G-TM static IP of 192.168.1.10 - X# of Wireless devices connected to WRT54G-TM getting more dynamically assigned addresses starting at 192.168.1.100 Changes: - 1 PC of 100Mbps connected to WRT54G-TM (DD-WRT SW) with dynamically assigned addresses starting at 192.168.1.100 - Gigabit router (switch is better?) connected to WRT54G-TM (will this slow it down?) - Gigabit router set to not assign DHCP addresses - Gigabit router set to static ip such as 192.168.1.11 (after printer) Theory is: - PC A and PC B connected to Gigabit router will get an IP like 192.168.1.xxx from the WRT54G-TM - This is good for allowing PC A and B to be seen and see others in that space In this setup, if I am on PC A and make a connection to PC B will it run gigabit since they are each gigabit NIC and connected to a gigabit router or does the link to the WRT54G-TM slow it down? Also, as traffic passes from PC A to PC B will it all be sent up to the WRT54G-TM in order to find destination and causing it to run at the slower 10/100 speed? The speed hits are undesirable and even with the gigabit switch and WRT54G-TM switched there's still some connection of a slower switch into a fast switch that may slow stuff down. If this is not the proper way to achieve a fast data between the faster parts of my home network, may I have your recommendation on which parts I should procure in order to achieve that with a focus on cost sensitivity? Thank you for the help!

"In this setup, if I am on PC A and make a connection to PC B will it run gigabit since they are each gigabit NIC and connected to a gigabit router or does the link to the WRT54G-TM slow it down?" Yes, the internet connection will only go as fast as the WRT. The communication between the A and B maybe faster but probably not enough to warrant the purchase of the gigabit switch or router. In plain English, it's not worth it, save your money. Instead, I recommend TCPOptimizer from www.speedguide.net to increase speed. It's free. Run it on each machine. Read special instructions for Vista.

"switches operating at the speed of the slowest device on them" This is not a true statement. If that were true a 10/100/1000 switch would only operate at 10mb with an old pc connected when it has gig servers plugged in. You have based all of your work on a false premise.

Thank you! That's great news. Is the underlying premise that the PC A will go to the DD-WRT to find out where the PC B is and then interact with PC B only over the gigabit from then on? Or is it even better that the switch will handle the knowledge that PC B and PC A are all contained downstream from it?

Ideally you would replace your main router with one that supports gigabit on the lan. You plug everything into it and you will be fine This way the gig pcs [not on wireless] would all talk gig and everything else would talk their own rate [54mbps for wireless]