Hi, new to Mikrotik, I am going to try and ask my question as clearly as possible having read the forum guidelines, lets hope I succeed

Background
This is my home setup, currently I have:
BT vDSL Modem <=> Draytek Router/Wifi <=> Netgear 24 port GbE <=> 3Com 10/100 PoE switch (16w total provision) with GbE uplink used only for PoE camera.
Internet connection is vDSL (FTTC) 38/6 on a good day (UK, so no fast Gigabit connections here)
House is wired Cat6 back to patch panel where the switch is located.

Requirement
Draytek is old and no longer support, WiFi is 54g only
ESXi server is currently LACP to Netgear, as is a Synology NAS and main desktop. I now have 10GbE card for ESXI and would like to 10GbE connect if possible (came in through CSS326 door).
Wireless clients are mostly tablets and phones, occasionally laptops and I want to upgrade to AC. Full 3x3 radio not required, not enough traffic.

Routing
So replacing the Draytek with a hEX, and adding a hAP AC Lite (or AC^2 when available) solves my immediate problem, but I have started to think bigger with my 10GbE ESXI requirement.

The hEX is more than adequate for my connection speed, looking at the performance tests:
https://mikrotik.com/product/RB750Gr3#fndtn-testresults

Then comparing with those of the CRS 326/CRS328 (same chip I noticed):
https://mikrotik.com/product/CRS326-24G ... estresults
https://mikrotik.com/product/crs328_24p ... ifications

The Question: It looks like the CRS326/328 would be acceptable performance for routing for my network given my max downlink speed is 38Mbit/s? Can anyone confirm or advise if not suitable and why I would need a hEX/RB750gr3? (ignoring separation of routing and switching into two devices is philosophically a good design concept)

I have omitted approx 300 small side questions to try and not clutter the big question, if I missed some relevant detail please let me know!

Yes. Those switches will handle to route /NAT / firewall your Internet connection fine. You do not need 750Gr3 as a separate router just for that.

Hello,

CRS326 will route that for you, on a CRS125 I managed to route a Virgin Media connection through it at 130(ish) Mb with minimal to no firewall rules. The CRS326 is a better spec model so should easily handle what you have. The Hex R3 is regarded so well because of it's price, decent CPU but a huge part of that is that it can offload encrypted traffic which gives it so much performance.

The CRS328 I have noticed has a lesser chipset than the 326 though, it only has single core CPU however again the CRS125 was only a 600Mhz single core doing 100+ so again you should be fine. I wouldn't advise going super heavy on the firewall rules, mangle rules, Queue trees and VPN services though.

Feel free to ask your other 300 questions

The CRS326 and CRS328 have identical chipsets.

Thanks for feedback, that's what I thought.

I realised that the 750gr3 has better VPN support, but my VPN requirements are very limited to the odd troubleshooting connection - no big throughput requirement.

Interesting comment on the 326/328 chipset though, I thought they were the same?
CRS326 - 98DX3236A1-BTD4C000 - 1 core - https://mikrotik.com/product/CRS326-24G ... ifications
CRS328 - 98DX3236A1-BTD4C000 - 1 core - https://mikrotik.com/product/crs328_24p ... ifications

The Ethernet tests results are 100% identical for the two products on the website, although the CRS328 pure switching results are faster, I was considering them as the same for routing?
EDIT: While i was posting nz_monkey confirmed identical chipsets.

The CRS328 is the best solution because of the PoE capability and the 4 SFP+ cages, but it has two major issues (1) can't buy them yet (2) its 305mm deep, measured my wall rack with the patch panels in and its 305mm from front rails to the wall... so clearly the answer is to cut a hole in the wall for the power cord? I could slam the front rails to the front of the cabinet, but then the door has to go as I can't get the patch leads in and door closed. This is not a massive issue provided the 328 is not too noisy - but no reviews yet. The netgear I have is 724 v3 and so has a fan, but I already pulled out the jet fighter engine fan and replaced it with a Noctua, but the door does help.

Seems like best solution as I only have 1 PoE device today and am adding 2 more shortly would be to add a CRS112-8P-4S-IN with a CRS326, the CRS112 can then power the CRS326, my IP camera and the WAP am going to add, and extra ports would be handy longer term even with loosing a few to interconnects.

Switching speed is pure "wire speed". The difference is because of different number of ports.

For some reason I was under the impression the CRS326 had a quad core CPU. Apologies for that misinformation. That does make life easier though, same CPU and it will cope with a 40/10 without any problems.

My friend recently bought a CRS112-8P-4S, it powers 3 IP cameras and 2 wAP ac. so the topology is modem - CRS - wAP ac. He also has a RB750Gr3. But since the CRS can configure as a router , he took away the RB750. But he felt the speed got slower compared to Modem- RB750- CRS - wap ac. He has a 150Mb/10Mb internet to home. So my question is that is CRS good enough as a router for home application ?

This CRS has only 400Mhz old Misbe CPU, look at the official test result:

https://mikrotik.com/product/crs112_8p_ ... estresults

It will work without Queues or Firewall but not with them

From my research the CRS112-8P-4S is not a viable router for a main connection, in my original post here I was looking to use the CRS326 as my router as well as a switch, CRS326 has a much higher performance over the CRS112 for routing. I was planning to add 112 just as a switch for the PoE alongside the CRS326. In summary for performance:
RB750Gr3 > CRS326 > CRS112

euro dk got some hAP AC2's which I was waiting for to replace the 54G wireless on my existing Draytek router, I have ordered one and having seen their routing speed I plan to swap out my Draytek with this as router and AP now to get to grips with Mikrotik interface, and change the main switch later. I can then wait to see more about the CRS328 which would be a better option that CRS326+CRS112P because it would give me 4 SFP+ cages... IF... I can make it fit in my wall rack which is the problem, and its not super-loud as it must have fans in to cool POE parts. 24 ports POE over 8 ports originally looked like overkill, but I am starting to wonder if actually it would be a wise investment in future capacity. Raspberry Pi just got official 48v support with an official POE hat for instance...

Since this switch has the same chip set as the CR326, does that mean it has the same limitations in Router OS: no port isolation and only 1 bridge with hardware off-load?