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Getting a home server that has two separate networks each working at full speed

Getting a home server that has two separate networks each working at full speed

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DailyGamer24_7
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09-04-2026, 07:31 AM
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I have a question that experts in networking can probably answer, but I know there are some basic rules before you read this... I run a home media server with Windows Server 2012R2 on a basic Xeon computer. This computer has two ethernet ports, both are 1 gigabit (1 Gbps) and they look like this: .251 and .252. There is no special teaming or weird settings on the server or the switch. From my point of view as a media server, there is plenty of speed. I can run three 4k videos at once without any trouble.

I am doing a lot of re-encoding video files which usually are between 10 GB and 70 GB big. On my current network, I see speeds like 115 MB/s - that basically uses up the full 1 Gbps speed. I want to find a faster way and think 2.5 gigabit (2.5 Gbps) is possible without too much money. I was wondering if I could add a 2.5 Gbps adapter directly to my server so my two big PCs can transfer these large files faster.

I know that I will need a switch with 2.5 Gbps ports as well. I tried figuring out how to direct the file transfers from those two PCs to the 2.5 Gbps port on the server. Usually, when I connect to the server, I use the server name, but I tested setting up shared folders on one of my big PCs using both IPs (.251 and .252). What I learned is that no matter which folder I copied, the traffic split evenly between those two ports. My PC ethernet was at 990 MB/s and the two server ports were at 440-450 MB/s.

The question (finally!) is: if I add a router with 2.5 Gbps ports to my home network (since both PCs already have them), would I get about 2 Gbps transfers to the server because the system splits the data over those two 1 Gbps ethernet ports? There is basically no other traffic happening when I do this, so all of my network and switch bandwidth is available during file transfers. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

I have already tested how fast my RAID 6 array can go and found it to support sustained writes close to 400 MB/s - it looks like the 1 Gbps network connection is just one thing stopping me from doubling my transfer speed.
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D
DailyGamer24_7
09-04-2026, 07:31 AM #1

I have a question that experts in networking can probably answer, but I know there are some basic rules before you read this... I run a home media server with Windows Server 2012R2 on a basic Xeon computer. This computer has two ethernet ports, both are 1 gigabit (1 Gbps) and they look like this: .251 and .252. There is no special teaming or weird settings on the server or the switch. From my point of view as a media server, there is plenty of speed. I can run three 4k videos at once without any trouble.

I am doing a lot of re-encoding video files which usually are between 10 GB and 70 GB big. On my current network, I see speeds like 115 MB/s - that basically uses up the full 1 Gbps speed. I want to find a faster way and think 2.5 gigabit (2.5 Gbps) is possible without too much money. I was wondering if I could add a 2.5 Gbps adapter directly to my server so my two big PCs can transfer these large files faster.

I know that I will need a switch with 2.5 Gbps ports as well. I tried figuring out how to direct the file transfers from those two PCs to the 2.5 Gbps port on the server. Usually, when I connect to the server, I use the server name, but I tested setting up shared folders on one of my big PCs using both IPs (.251 and .252). What I learned is that no matter which folder I copied, the traffic split evenly between those two ports. My PC ethernet was at 990 MB/s and the two server ports were at 440-450 MB/s.

The question (finally!) is: if I add a router with 2.5 Gbps ports to my home network (since both PCs already have them), would I get about 2 Gbps transfers to the server because the system splits the data over those two 1 Gbps ethernet ports? There is basically no other traffic happening when I do this, so all of my network and switch bandwidth is available during file transfers. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

I have already tested how fast my RAID 6 array can go and found it to support sustained writes close to 400 MB/s - it looks like the 1 Gbps network connection is just one thing stopping me from doubling my transfer speed.

Reply
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