LAN Efficiency

[bucpound]

I have an Actiontec MI424WR Rev. I (wireless N and gigabit) modem/router for Verizon FiOS and the 4 provided ports on the back are not enough for my home network. I also have an 8 port unmanaged gigabit switch to to give the network more ethernet ports.

My question is:
What is the most efficient way to do this?

Should I fill up the 3 remaining router ports before connecting to the switch or should I only connect the switch to the router and make all other connections from the switch?

Or am I over thinking this and it really doesn't matter?

Also, one of the "other" connections will be another MI424WR to act as a range extender for the wireless signal in another part of the house.

 

[bill001g]

It mostly does not matter.

Since you only have a single 1g connection between the router and the switch the 3 machines on the router would be limited to 1g total. If you put all the machines on the 8 port switch all machines can run at 1g at the same time.......but how likely is it that you exceed 1g on multiple machines

So technically all your machine on the 8 port switch is the best design.