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Loudness: 3500xl vs. 2950

hypnotoad

Another newbie home lab question....

I have a 48-port 3500xl and it seems to be pretty loud. Not like fans are dying loud, but it pushes a lot of air. I'm planning on changing this out for a 2950 (12 or 24 port) but does anyone know if the 2950 is generally quieter than the 3500? Can you hear a difference?

Aside from putting my rack in another room, is there any way I can make my lab quieter? Has anyone tried?

Thanks...

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Comments

Empathy

I hear ya on the 3500XL series... I just powered my 3512XL on for the first time a few days ago and was amazed at how loud the thing was! I'd be curious to know if the 2950 is quieter myself... I'm hoping to pick one up.

mgeorge

I actually think the 3500XL's are pretty quite compared to some of my Cisco 3620 routers.

They sound like jet engines trying to spin up!!! Drives me insane, my Frame relay switch on my
ccie lab is a 3620 w/ nm-8a & nm-1fe-tx and its louder then the whole lab when its all running.

mwgood

It's difficult to know for sure - because I haven't heard your 3500XL.

But - I have a 2900XL series switch that is pretty loud compared to the 2950s I have. Compared to the 2900 - I barely know the 2950s are running - very quiet.

mgeorge

I do have to admit though the quietest switches ive worked with was the 3550 series.

They have a duct blower fan design, brushless & ball baring sleeve.

dtlokee

Yeah the 2950's are pretty quiet, basically about the same as a 2600. Back when the CCNA was using the 18 X 2950 and 18X 2600 we could keep the racks in the classrooms, now with 17 X 2811 and 19 X 2960 in the racks that is not possible becasue they are too loud. By far the worst are the ASA and IPS devices.

Darthn3ss

the 3600 is a loud router as well.

mikej412

I can always tell when I power up a 3500, even if all my 3640s and 3620s are running.

I swapped a 2950 from my lab with the 3524-XL-EN I was using to connect my study area/lab to my home network because of the noise.

I bought a 3500 on eBay that was advertised as being loud -- and it is -- but it turned out to be the quietest 3500 I own.

ITdude

I agree! The 2950 I have is pretty quiet. The 3548-XL sounds like a reciprocating aircraft engine when it starts and runs, my 3640s are loud too.

I hope that the 3550 that I am expecting today will be quiet because my rack is getting up there in the decibel range.

Darthn3ss

ITdude wrote:

I hope that the 3550 that I am expecting today will be quiet because my rack is getting up there in the decibel range.

seriously.. i may have to find some quieter fans for all my stuff...