The Netgear Nighthawk SX10 offers 10Gbps ethernet, RGB lighting, a sleek metal chassis and a feature-rich dashboard. How does it get on? Let’s find out.

Product on Review: Netgear Nighthawk SX10
Manufacturer: Netgear
Street Price: GBP £249.99 / USD $249.99

Network switches are often hidden away, screwed to the back of your desk or in a cupboard somewhere to live their lives flashing away in the darkness, but Netgear aims to change that with their wedge-shaped Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 Switch, giving it an appearance fit for any gaming setup. The SX10 features multi-zone RGB lighting, a premium all-metal chassis and a sharp, angular design.

While the aesthetics are an important consideration in today’s market, especially if the device is to take pride of place on your desk, the performance must also be up to scratch; Netgear offers the SX10 with ten Gigabit ethernet ports, of which two are capable of 1, 2.5, 5 or 10Gbps with aggregation on those two ports for up to 20Gbps if you absolutely require the highest bandwidth in your network.

The networking monitoring tools allow control over many aspects of your network with QoS configuration options. This also offers RGB lighting customisation.

The SX10 is certainly a specialised piece of kit, with a price tag to match, at £250/$250. This puts it very close to a lot of professional options so it needs to perform; let’s take a closer look and see what it’s made of.

Netgear on the XR500:

The ultimate gaming experience just got better. Unleash your gaming potential with faster speeds, higher performance, and more control of your game.

Technical Specifications

Edition: Gaming 10-GbE/Multi Gigabit
Form Factor: Desktop

Total Network Ports
2 x 10 Gigabit
8 x 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) RJ-45

Switching Capacity: 56Gbps
Forwarding Rate: 41.664Mfps
MAC Address Table Size: 16K Entries

Network Protocols:
IEEE 802.1p
IEEE 802.3an
IEEE 802.3az
IEEE 802.3i
IEEE 802.3u
IEEE 802.3x

Max. Power Consumption: 14.19 W
Power Supply: External Power Supply (Included)

Dimensions (WxHxD): 268 x 93 x 203 mm
Weight: 1.515 kg

Packaging & Bundle

Netgear use a black and red theme for their Nighthawk products, which the SX10 Gaming Switch is no exception to. The front gives some brief features and a large picture of the product.

The back of the box shows the business end of the switch, ports and all, with some annotations. There’s also a trio of screenshots of the Gaming Dashboard.

Included with the router is a UK power adaptor and setup instructions. You don’t get any fancy extras in the form of stickers or a keyring which would’ve been a small consolation given the £250 asking price.

Closer Look

The metal chassis encompasses the entire switch, including the base. It feels chunky and durable with absolutely no flex at all. There’s 10 LEDs along the back which can be configured independently and a larger LED zone in the “slit” at the front.

Moving round to the rear, it’s clear to see this switch means business. On the far left is a small button toggle which disables all LEDs on the device, handy if you’re gaming late at night and don’t want the distraction, or if you just hate RGB LEDs. There’s then eight Gigabit ethernet ports, numbered 10 – 3, then a pair of 10 Gigabit ports which can be aggregated to a maximum of 20Gbps, numbered 2 and 1. Finally, there’s the power connection but weirdly no power switch.

The base of the switch houses four rubber feet to prevent it from scratching your desk, but unfortunately no mounting points. Being able to mount this on the side of your desk or on a wall would obviously be advantageous.

There’s also a reset switch on the bottom, useful if you ruin your settings or lock yourself out of the device somehow.

Software GUI

Below is a short video of the Nighthawk Dashboard, showing you what can be configured within the SX10.

Conclusion

From the moment you get your hands on the SX10, it truly feels like a genuinely premium piece of kit. The switch’s chassis feels bombproof and looks fantastic at the same time.

Setting up the device is simple and easy, with a step-by-step guide getting you through the initial process which is then picked up by an easy to use and intuitive dashboard system. There are advanced features which will require some knowledge or an ability to learn, but as an unmanaged switch, it works flawlessly.

One feature we’d like to see added to the Dashboard is an included firmware upgrade tool. Instead, as it stands, you are expected to download the file from Netgear’s website and manually upload this to the switch. We’d expect something much more seamless at this price point.

Unfortunately, with regards to performance, we don’t possess the necessary kit to stress test the 10 ports so have instead opted to use the switch for a period of 6 months to gauge its effectiveness. We didn’t once come against an issue from the device, with it performing impeccably for three computers and a laptop on a 350Mbps Virgin Media connection.

The main problem we have is the cost. The device demands a £250/$250 price tag in the UK and US, which on top of a router, many of which offer QoS and traffic prioritisation built-in, is a hefty ask. Though, having said that, if you absolutely require the lowest possible latency in-game and despise the appearance of the vast majority of switches available at the moment, the SX10 will provide you with an attractive package.

The SX10 performed faultlessly for us over our 6 months testing period while looking fantastic. It’s expensive but if you can make use of the 10Gbit connections then we’re certain you’ll be happy.

Pros
+ Looks great, especially compared to most other switches
+ Easy to setup and maintain
+ 10Gbit ethernet
+ Has RGB lighting
+ Silent fanless design

Neutral
+- Pricey

Cons
– Firmware updates aren’t as simple as they should be

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Netgear