FS S5850

The FS S5850-48T4Q is a 10Gbase-T switch with 40GbE ports as well. It is meant for connecting edge devices at higher speeds. In this review, we are going to take a look at the switch but also at some of the cost optimizations FS is using to deliver a lower-cost switch.

Looking at the front of the switch, we see that this is a 1U unit with all front I/O and 1.72″x17.32″x16.54″ or 43.6x440x420mm size. This is not a deep switch by any means, but it is also much deeper than some of the short-depth units we review.

On the left, we have a COM port as well as our out-of-band management port. This is also where we have the reset button and the FS branding.

On the right side, we get four QSFP+ ports. These can break-out into 4x 10GbE ports. In 2022, this feels like we would expect 100GbE ports here, but this is based on an older generation switch chip. As a result, these are a bit more limited.

The star of the switch is not the 40GbE ports, though. Instead, it is this array of 48x 10Gbase-T ports. We were able to get 10Gbase-T speeds and 1Gbase-T speeds working perfectly, but we did not see devices connect at 2.5GbE/ 5GbE speeds.

Moving to the rear, there are only fans and power supplies. The fan modules on this one are a bit different. The fans themselves are 4-pin PWM fans. Where things are a bit different is that these fan modules have two side-by-side fans. If one fails, then the action is two remove both fans. This is lower-cost than making independent fan modules, but we wish that were a place where FS spent the money to do so.

The power supplies are redundant 550W units. These say "Platinum" and are standard CRPS form factor power supplies. They also have more regulatory markings than some other PSUs we have seen in FS switches.

Our unit actually came with a blanking plate over the rightmost PSU spot. We had to remove this to add the second PSU. One item we wish was a bit easier is that the thumb screws are a bit harder to operate. These are retained thumbscrews, but there is a gap in usability between these and OCP-style thumbscrews we see on other switches.

Next, let us get inside the switch and take a look at what powers this unit.