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2.5 Gbps worth it? 7200 rpm drives worth it?
(alien.top)
If you want to go build a high-capacity all-SSD NAS, you need to decide how many kidneys you can part with.
The folks at /r/datahoarder will be the best to talk to about storage solutions. I prefer 7200 drives for use in my daily driver box, and I don't really care (but have them) in the NAS.
2.5GBe is overkill — don't forget you also need the cables that can support the throughput. But, even when you get the cables sorted, drive speed will be a bottleneck anyway.
I would not spend money on 2.5Gbe gear if your WAN is limited to 1gbps.
There just aren't many reasons in a small network context where having that kind of network speed will give you a tangible benefit. In those circumstances where it would make a benefit, you would already know and would not be asking this question.
When it comes to gaming, the speed of data transfer on your internal network will mean diddly-squat. Firstly, I am not aware of any games that will saturate a 2.5g link. That's because most online games are designed to be playable on ADSL+. There just isn't that much data transfer.
And if you are doing LAN party only type stuff, then you will likely want a switch with more ports than with more bandwidth per port.