This is Part 3 of Building a Homelab on a Budget. This part is about what network gear to buy and how to keep the layout simple and reliable.
The minimum network shopping list
You can run a homelab with just three things:
- Router/Firewall: your ISP router is fine to start
- Switch: 1GbE unmanaged is enough for a small lab
- Wi-Fi access point: only if your router Wi-Fi is weak
Add decent Cat6 cables and you are already ahead of most beginner setups.
1GbE vs 2.5GbE (where to spend)
- 1GbE is fine for most labs with HDD storage
- 2.5GbE becomes worth it when you use SSDs, multi-node clusters, or heavy backups
If you can only upgrade one thing, upgrade the switch first.
Quick bandwidth math (avoid overbuying)
If you run HDD storage and a few VMs, 1GbE is fine. Upgrade to 2.5GbE when:
- you have SSDs or NVMe storage
- multiple nodes copy data at the same time
- you run nightly backups or large media syncs
Simple test:
iperf3


