simple SMB Network design question

I am taking over a Small business network which has six work stations, one server, and two printers. This network only consist of one DSL modem and one Gigabit switch. The printers are connected to the server via USB and all other equipment go into the switch including the server.

current network performance is not that greaat escpecially when accessing shared drives off the server.

I feel the network woul be better off with a router and having the server and printers connected to the router to help segment network traffic better. does anyone agree with me on this? :lol:

I would have thought that such a small network with only eight nodes on a gigabit switch ought to fly. Before changing things and probably spending money I suggest you do some diagnostics on what you already have. Firstly check the duplex and speed settings for each port on the switch and compare them with the settings on the PCs , server and DSL box. Check for mismatches. Then assuming your switch is manageable have a look for any indications of errors. It might be worth resetting all the statistics counters to zero then watching for a day or so. Finally check the general health of the PCs and server. It might be worth gathering some basic performance stats on the server to see if there are any bottlenecks there

I have not checked the switch port speed settings yet but i do know that the workstation are set to autonegotiate. I feel the NIC's on the workstations should all be set to 100 full