Is a home router with 1Gbit ethernet likely to be the limiting factor to network performance in a house wired with Cat6?

We have wired parts of our house with Cat6 which is rated at 10 Gbps. However our 4-port modem/router supports only 1Gbps ethernet.

In theory that means it's a huge bottleneck - 10Gbps means you could (again in theory) have network-attached storage performance on a par with a local USB3 drive. But often theoretical speeds are unattainable in real life, is this one of them?

For practical purposes, is my router/modem likely to be a significant bottleneck for network-attached storage? We can assume all cabling is Cat6 and all network machines have 10Gbit network. Is adding a Cat6-rated hub in its place (with the hub connected to the modem) likely to make much difference?

Solution 1:

If your devices are all connected to a 10 gigabit switch which in turn connects to the router it wont be a bottlenect, however if you are connecting all the devices to the router directly then yes, it will slow everything down - in fact you would likely be better off with a gigabit switch which will offload the processing of LAN lackets from the router. Many SOHO routers bridge the ports in software and dont have enough CPU to do it well.

Solution 2:

It would be the bottleneck however I wouldn't say it's a significant one. The router is an easy appliance to upgrade unlike the wiring in your walls. Most premium consumer electronics are only using 1Gb NICs, even the newest ones are only using 2.5Gb NICS, so unless you're hosting enterprise level storage or inserting your own NICs. It will likely be unnoticeable for at least the next 3 years if not longer.