Running new ethernet should i use cat5, 5e, or 6?

[Sounds Good]

like the title says, i want to ditch wifi in my house. so i am going to run a hard line to my pc. id like to usa gigbit stuff but not sure if its worth the money. i currently have time warner rr turbo, i am pretty sure my pc doesent have a gigabit card but i can buy one if speeds are faster. id link to also have a 1TB nas too, hence the upgrade to 1000base/t.

so in short, should i run cat5e or 6?

 

[krzywica]

like the title says, i want to ditch wifi in my house. so i am going to run a hard line to my pc. id like to usa gigbit stuff but not sure if its worth the money. i currently have time warner rr turbo, i am pretty sure my pc doesent have a gigabit card but i can buy one if speeds are faster. id link to also have a 1TB nas too, hence the upgrade to 1000base/t.

so in short, should i run cat5e or 6?

Certainly don't run CAT5. I would save the money you would spend on CAT6 and put it towards shielded CAT5e. You will have a lot less issues down the road on you use good shielded cable. CAT5e has more than enough throughput for a home network and its what I have my house wired with and it works great!

 

[MDS]

I agree with krzywica because Cat5e is suitable for Gigabit Ethernet and is what is currently used to wire most houses (like mine). If Cat6 isn't too much more money it certainly won't hurt to use it but it is not necessary. Any 'future' that will require more bandwidth than Cat5e can provide is a long way off.

Using a Gigabit card will buy you nothing except for speed between machines in the house. The WAN interface from the modem to the internet is 10 Mbs. I don't exactly keep up with the Docsis specifications but I know the industry was working towards supporting 50 Mbs - still way below the 100 Mbs limit for 100BaseT.

 

[jinjuku]

CAT6 will have about a 20% price premium over CAT5e. CAT5e spec is rated at 100Mhz, CAT6 is 200Mhz. With that said there is CAT5e where the manufacturer has rated it for 350Mhz.

CAT6 is little tougher to work with as it tends to be stiffer. The last job I did we ran almost 5000 foot of CAT5e. We didn't bother with CAT6.

With all the above said, what you really need to consider with Gigabit Ethernet is getting a switch and Ethernet cards with Jumbo Frame Support. A frame is an entire packetized piece of data. On a normal 10/100 network your packet size is generally 1500 bytes. The problem with a 1000 network is that packets at that transmission rate will increase your CPU utilization. So if you have 4k or 9k packet vs 1.5k, your processor is working 3-6 times less pulling that packet apart.

 

[gmichael]

I used this http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10232&cs_id=1023213&p_id=2118&seq=1&format=2

It may be overkill, but for $6.00, who cares?

 

[ChunkyDark]

Ask 10 geeks and get 10 different answers

Looking at monoprice the difference for 1000' 5e and 6 is ~25$. So I'm going to say go for the 6. Yes it's overkill now, but at that price it's almost a non-issue.
Plus if/when you sell your house think how impressive it'll sound

 

[Sounds Good]

lol... the tech specs are a little over my head but i think i get it. being that i am going to have to find some kind of adapter for my laptop (expresscard that is compatible with linux) i think ill save the money and run 5e. i dont have any gigabit devices right now anyhow, i just had plans of adding a nas but after reading reviews of the consumer marketed nas sounds like they all suck (sub 300 price range) and id be better of with a full blown server.

 

[krzywica]

lol... the tech specs are a little over my head but i think i get it. being that i am going to have to find some kind of adapter for my laptop (expresscard that is compatible with linux) i think ill save the money and run 5e. i dont have any gigabit devices right now anyhow, i just had plans of adding a nas but after reading reviews of the consumer marketed nas sounds like they all suck (sub 300 price range) and id be better of with a full blown server.

I think that would be a good choice. I'm not sure what Linux kernel/distro you are running but they should have a home page with an HCL that could point you in the right direction when it comes time to buy a gigabit NIC. http://freshmeat.net/ is a good source if you have general Linux questions.

As far as NAS's go I would start a dedicated thread in the same section here so it will get more views and keep the forum more organized. There are a few good options for cheap NAS devices and quite a few DIY options as well.

 

[Nemo128]

Buy the cheapest 5e or 6 you can find. The cheapest crap I've used has maxed Gb connections at 100ft runs, even through server rooms.

 

[Sounds Good]

I'm not sure what Linux kernel/distro you are running

i am running ubuntu

 

[Sounds Good]

just a quick update. i went to my local computer store (microcenter) and was looking at 50' 5e ($38.00).... i was wanting a 100' bout couldnt find it... so in the process of looking for an employee i walked by the clearance shelf and found a 100' cat6 fully shielded for $48.00 woo hoo...

now i just have to find a gigabit switch... any recommendations... lol

 

[jinjuku]

just a quick update. i went to my local computer store (microcenter) and was looking at 50' 5e ($38.00).... i was wanting a 100' bout couldnt find it... so in the process of looking for an employee i walked by the clearance shelf and found a 100' cat6 fully shielded for $48.00 woo hoo...

now i just have to find a gigabit switch... any recommendations... lol

Nice find on the shielded stuff. I know a 1000' box of CAT5e is ~$70. I would look at SMC/D-link/LinkSys/Netgear for an affordable gigabit switch.

 

[Sounds Good]

yeah i currently have all netgear stuff, i have had no problems with it so i guess i have no problem getting a new gigabit netgear switch...

is there a diff between their "business grade" equipment and standard consumer equipment... and whats the diff between managed and unmanaged?

consumer...

"business grade"

 

[jinjuku]

What you really need to pay attention to is whether it is a layer 2 (unmanaged) or Layer 3 (managed).

You most likely need only a layer 2 switch. Layer 3 allows for traffic shaping/prioritization, VLANs, MAC address block/allow etc...

 

[Sounds Good]

oh cool... ok.. what about full/half duplex? or is that only WiFi stuff?

here is another Q that blows my mind....

when i plug my network like this... RR modem --cat5e-->netgear switch(fs605 10/100) --cat6--> laptop it wont link up, if i try a shorter cat 5 cord (7') it will work... its almost like the switch doesnt like the 100' run of cat6.... strange... so for now, i have no wifi in the house because i have to go cat6 straight to the RR modem.... :-(

here is the specs for the netgear switch...

Network Ports

* 5 auto-speed sensing 10/100 Mbps ports; Auto Uplink™ (MDI-MDIX) for connection to other hubs and switches without special cables

Standards Compliance

* IEEE 802.3i 10BASE-T Ethernet
* IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet
* IEEE 802.3x Flow Control
* Compatible with Microsoft® Windows®, Mac® OS, NetWare®, Linux®

LED Interfaces

* System power
* Link, speed and activity indicators for each port

Safety Agency Approvals for Power Adapter

* C-Tick, CE mark

Environmental Specifications

* Operating temperature: 0° to 40°C (32° to 104°F)
* Operating relative humidity: 10%-90% non-condensing

Emissions Compliance

* CE mark, commercial FCC Part 15 Class B, VCCI Class B, C-Tick, EN 55022, CISPR 22


System Requirements
* UTP Cat 3 (10 Mbps), Cat 5 (100 Mbps) <--------------Surprises me, i would would think cat6 is backwards compatible....
* Network card for each PC
* Network software (i.e. Windows®, Mac® OS, Linux®)

 

[jinjuku]

You most likely have a bad CAT 6 cable. You could plug both ends into the NetGear and see if the link lights come on for the ports you have the cable plugged into.

 

[Sounds Good]

You most likely have a bad CAT 6 cable.

cant be, it workd perfectly when going straight into the modem... i think the switch cant do cat 6 (doenst make sense to me)

 

[jinjuku]

CAT 6 should work just like CAT 5... Hmmm

It could be that it is a cross-over cable. But most switches will have ports that are Auto-MDI. That means it doesn't matter what kind of cable you have (568A/568B) the port will configure.

You need to compare the ends of the cable and see if the ends have the same color combination layout of the individual conductors.

It would look something like this:

White/Orange, Orange. White Green, Blue. White Blue, Green. White Brown, Brown. This is TIA 568B and most common. 568A is pins 1,2,3,6 reversed.

 

[Sounds Good]

i dont really stay up on cable technologies... but the lable on the pacage says...

"100' augmented Cat 6 A"
"10 Gigabit Eathernet RG45 UTP"

 

[split0101]

I am doing a new construction and the price difference from running Cat5e and Cat6 was about $150. This is for the cable, patch panel, jacks, a keystone ports (thank you monoprice).

Cat6 is a little stiffer due to the "coffee stirrer" in the center but it is not so horrible that it makes running the cable that much harder.

In my opinion Cat5e will get the job done, but if your budget allows it, I would go with Cat6. For me running cables in the walls and terminating them in my server closet was worth it. Id hate to have to upgrade my data wiring in the future since sheetrock costs more then wire itself so it was a no brainer for me.

As far as a switch is concerned, it depends on how many ports you need. If you just need a 4 port switch then go with one of the name brand consumer devices. If you need a 12/24/etc port, then those will cost you a pretty penny since that will most likely by "business" grade.

At the end of the day it all comes down to budget and your needs.