2026-09-04

MikroTik has quietly become the go-to brand for homelabbers who want bleeding-edge networking without enterprise pricing. Their latest, the CRS804-4DDQ-hRM, is a fanless desktop switch with four 400GbE QSFP-DD ports, and ServeTheHome has just published a full review.

The headline number: this is the cheapest 400GbE switch you can actually buy. It's built around a Marvell (Annapurna Labs) switching ASIC and sits in a compact, passively-cooled enclosure that wouldn't look out of place on a desk. Each QSFP-DD port can be broken out to lower speeds — 100GbE, 40GbE, even 25GbE — using standard breakout cables, giving you flexibility as you upgrade your lab over time.

Why should a homelabber care?

Honestly, most of us aren't running 400GbE today. But the breakout capability is the real story here. A single unit can give you up to 16 ports of 100GbE or a mix of speeds, all from a silent box drawing modest power. If you're building a storage cluster with NVMe-oF, doing AI/ML training across multiple nodes, or just futureproofing a 10/25GbE backbone, this is worth knowing about.

Caveats

This is a Layer 2 switch — don't expect full routing features. MikroTik's RouterOS/SwitchOS can be quirky compared to Cumulus or SONiC, and 400GbE optics and DACs are still pricey. The switch itself is affordable relative to the competition, but the total cost including transceivers adds up fast. Also, UK availability can lag — check MikroTik's distributor list or MikroTik CRS804-4DDQ on Amazon, though stock may be spotty.

For those running high-speed homelab storage over something like an M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure – USB-C 10Gbps with Magnetic Closure for portable transfers, this is the kind of backbone switch that makes NVMe-over-Fabric setups genuinely viable at home.

Bottom line: not an impulse buy, but if you've been eyeing 100GbE+ networking, this is the most accessible way in.