TRENDnet TL2-F7080 Performance
This is going to look a bit strange to folks because it is going live out-of-order. For this, we are using a Keysight XGS2 chassis with the NOVUS10/1GE16DP card, and we are using eight of the sixteen dual PHY ports of the card for this. We are using an RFC2544 Quick Test for throughput with a few changes, for example, we extended the run times per iteration to 30 seconds and started at 10% of the full line rate, searching for frame loss up to 100% of the line rate. We also test the RFC2544 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 1280, and 1518 byte frame sizes, and then add the standard IMIX, the Cisco IMIX, and an IPSec IMIX, which introduces mixed frame sizes into the testing. What is slightly different here is that we also turned on the L1 rate counters since we are using a hardware-based custom testing solution, we have access to this without having to go far into software counters. You may see the L1 rates regress from a few future switches as there are 2-3 more that were supposed to build up to show this.
Why this matters is that we can now generate up to just over 1.7Tbps of network traffic and get awesome statistics. For example, we can use 64B frame sizes, as shown above, and we can see that we only get just under 61Gbps. That is because there is additional traffic happening at the L1 layer, and so the actual L1 throughput is 80Gbps, which matches what we would expect.
Just to see this in action, you can see the same 80Gbps L1 rate, but with 1518B frame sizes, the overheads are lower, so we get almost 79Gbps. At the same time, you can also see the latency jump.
The bar charts above start at 10% of the maximum theoretical line rate and then search for where frame loss happens as the links are scaled to 100% of the theoretical line rate. The above is testing a mix of frame sizes as part of an IPSec IMIX profile. We also get latency for the different frame sizes.
Here is a quick look at the loss and latency by the frame size or IMIX profile.
This is perhaps the first switch review where we can show that, even using high-end industry-standard test and measurement gear and IxNetwork, we are getting full line rate performance on these switches. A lot of folks have asked about whether something like the Realtek RTL9303 can actually handle high-speeds. This is a well-known type of test (albeit we did customize it a bit for our use), and using high-end gear where we can collect this low-level data. Somewhat to our surprise, even these sub $200 switches can now do 80Gbps of traffic across them.
TRENDnet TL2-F7080 Power Consumption and Noise
On the power consumption side, at idle, we were at 5.6W.
With a single SFP+ to 10Gbase-T module we were up to 7.0W.
Overall, the power consumption was about what we might expect at this level of switch. Some may say that it is higher than the 2.5GbE switches. It is, but that should also be expected since this offers more throughput. Just to give you some sense, our XGS2 chassis, which also had the 8x 100G NOVUS modules installed, was running at around 900W to test this ~17-22W switch.
When it comes to noise, this switch is far from silent. We are talking 42-44dba in normal operation when it is at idle. Frankly, this is too loud for a switch of this class. TRENDnet dropped the ball on the noise profile.
Note from Patrick: I wanted to double-check the noise and also update the firmware for the management section today. It is sitting on a desk with an AMD Threadripper system, three NVIDIA GB10 systems, the Minisforum MS-S1 Max and MS-02 Ultra, and both the QNAP QSW-M7308R-4X 8x 25GbE and 4x 100GbE Managed Switch, and QNAP QSW-M3216R-8S8T 16-port 10GbE Managed Switch. At 1 meter, all I can hear is this switch, and it is driving me nuts. I should not hear an 80Gbps switch over a 600Gbps switch. There is no reason for a device drawing 7.0W next to me to be this loud.
Final Words
All said, where are we on this one? To me, the biggest learning was that TRENDnet is a brand that has been around for some time, and a sub $200 8-port 10GbE switch is great. Some will prefer 10Gbase-T to SFP+, or perhaps a mix of the two. Just wait a bit, and we will have those reviews coming.
Still, the one item that really got to us was the fan. This should not need that much airflow, and a 42dba+ switch seems excessive when the device is operating at 7W. Some may think about a fan swap, but the other side is that this should be something that TRENDnet could just provide a better solution for. We review many of these switches, and the noise from this one would have us picking a different option if we wanted this next to a desk.
Overall, though, it worked well, and we were able to demonstrate, using high-end test equipment, that the Realtek RTL9303 solution is handling a lot of traffic without issue. That is a great finding for this TRENDnet.
If you were reading this page thinking, “What would happen if we looked at a Cisco Catalyst series switch? A Ubiquiti or MikroTik switch? Or others?” All I can say is stay tuned to STH. We are going to be filling out our The Ultimate Cheap 10GbE Switch Buyers Guide in 2026.
Where to Buy
Here is an Amazon Affiliate Link to what we purchased.
My understanding is that “web managed” means no console and no CLI. This switch apparently has both. So calling it that undersells it significantly.