Help trying to understand data speed between switches and routers

[XTREEMMAK]

Hey all,

I'm new here so first off, thank you for reading my post! Glad to be here!

So I'm working on a media server project and I've just about acquired all of my gear for it. I'm having a little trouble with the networking side of things and would like a little help/feedback/suggestions.

Here's the prospect server thus far:
Case: Rosewill 1.0 mm Thickness 4U Rackmount
Motherboard: ASRock H87WS-DL ATX Motherboard
CPU: Xeon E3-1271 v3 Quad-Core Haswell Processor 3.6GHz
RAM: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600
HDD: WD Red 2 TB NAS Hard Drive (x5) (Single vDev - RAIDZ1)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 PSU
Cooling: Stock x6 120mm fans + x2 60mm rear fans + Noctua NH-D15 6 heatpipe with Dual NF-A15 140mm fans
Ethernet: HP NC364T PCIe 4Pt Gigabit Server Adapter

Use Case:
I will be using the build for PLEX media server, but also (running FreeNAS) as a file server, a security footage destination server, an Own Cloud server, and a secondary backup destination working in tandem with Crashplan. I may (if I can) run 1 or 2 VM's but that's not in scope at the moment. For Plex, I will serve a minimum of 3 users locally, and at least 2 remotely. Current ISP and modem is Comcast with service output of 97Mbps Down and 23Mbps Up (yes in America, we're robbed XD).

The Problem:
Right now it's with my networking plan (I'm still a beginner at Advanced networking so bear with me please).
The server will have a 4 port NIC card (HP NC364T PCIe 4Pt Gigabit Server Adapter) which can aggregate to a total bandwidth of 4Gbps with fail over. This however requires a switch that can accept LACP. So, I'll be getting this. This will also be my first "semi-managed" switch ever:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I5W5EGA/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1GN4TS8783JN3&coliid=I3HBMAJZYWOMND&psc=1

Part of the problem I'm trying to figure out is with my router.
I understand that switches are L2 tech dealing with MACs and router's deal with IPs at L3. The router that I currently have is this:
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N600-Wi-Fi-Router-WNDR3400/dp/B0041LYY6K/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453934497&sr=1-1&keywords=Netgear+N600

Not a bad WiFi router, but I just discovered that all the LAN links are 10/100! So my guess is that I will eventually need to upgrade my router. My two prospects are here:
1. TP-LINK AC1900 - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PDLRHFW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2WAPUQJ5S2D4C&coliid=I1UZ96U2W273D9&psc=1

2.NETGEAR Nighthawk X8 - AC5300 - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PD3HOC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2WAPUQJ5S2D4C&coliid=I3D4KZM5IF3GZ&psc=1

The benefit of the second option is that it also offers link aggregation, however I'm not sure what kind aka at L2 or L3?

My question is, where would I start to see my bottleneck in regards to stream performance with my current option (The Netgear N600 with 10/100 LAN links)? I'm not entirely sure how my switch would hook up to my router either (is it 4 designated links from the switch to the router, or is it a single gigabit link?). Lastly, would link aggregation at L3 be even worth it; is the second router choice worth the expense, or would it be necessary to change my router at all? Lastly, if I'm not mistaken, after an established rout is made (after the L3 device asks who has specific MAC and the server answers), isn't the rout solidified to prevent asking anymore?

As for what else would be on the switch besides the server:
1. Home Automation System
2. IP Security Cameras (probably from another switch lead)
3. HUE System Hub

As for the Router Links:
1. Switch Lead (either a single gigabit lead or 2 gigabit leads??)
2. PC
3. MacPro
4. PS4

Sorry for the long winded details x_X

Thanks for the help!

UPDATE:
I'm going to TRY to draft a physical diagram. Maybe that might help with the description above.

[deanwebb]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

You can probably find a used Cisco switch for much less cost that will be capable of LACP. Might want to look into that. However, the slowest connection you'll have will be your internet connection. Doing a LACP will give you high speed on your local network, won't buy you anything with data rates over the Internet.

As for the wireless, those are actually using multiple bands to aggregate transmission rates. They require wireless adapters that have multiple transmitter/receivers in them.

How fast is the Internet coming into your home? And what benefit do you get from 4Gb transmission rates locally? What do you have that will be receiving the media?

Diagram not really needed here...

[XTREEMMAK]

Lol sorry, before I saw the reply, I already created a diagram that lists much of what will be connected to the network:

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1Sc9WeCfPXGOVJXax5VlzTpT4uYptotppGMRD2dqz8AY/edit?usp=sharing

After reading an article, it was recommended that I keep all my high speed links connected to high speed devices. In my case, this wouldn't be my router. However so far, the largest bottleneck seems to be between the Internet and the Router right?

To your question, the 4Gb pipe is just to allow multiple streaming locally around the house at 1Gb speeds across as many devices as possible easier. Now I'm not sure if a wireless device would benefit from this. In an extreme case, we're talking about 5 simultaneous 1080p streams at once. The CPU of the server can handle it, but not sure how everything else down the line would handle it. Since I'm not really experienced with how communication is handled between L2 and L3 devices when we're considering link speeds, I sort of got stuck. 

[icecream-guy]

However so far, the largest bottleneck seems to be between the Internet and the Router right?

yes, your internet connection is the bottleneck. unless you have  > 100Mb internet connection, which I doubt.

Throughput from device to device on your local network would depend on your switch. there is far difference between gigabit network connectivity and gigabit network throughput

The GS724T should work fine. Each port is capable of powering 2000 Mbps of data throughput in full- duplex mode per port, so you should be good there.

[routerdork]

I have a few of the GS108T's at home and they are very good for cheap managed gig switches. I also have the X4 version of the Netgear router you are looking at. I have had no issues with either and really like them.