cat5e or Cat 6

[dannaswolcott]

I have been thinking of going to Cat 6. Is it worth it? Or shall I stay with Cat5? I am not sure if its worth the upgrade.. Post what you think if its worth it or not. And where can I get Cat 6 cheep?.... I want to replace all the Ethernet cables in the house because they are old and pinched and some are broke.. I just want to replace them all with Cat 6 ( if its worth it ). I would need 2 50FT and about 10 different 6-10 FT pieces.

 

[brycematheson712]

In my opinion, Cat 6 isn't worth it. The Cat6 specification is better suited toward environments that are generally unfriendly to twisted pair cabling. This includes places and things that provide interference such as power lines, lights, and/or manufacturing equipment...which is most likely the exact opposite of what's happening in your home. Plus, the only major reason to using Cat 6 is that it is 'certified' for Gigabit use and not just 'rated' for use like Cat 5e. Keep in mind though, that if you're trying to achieve Gigabit speeds on a home network, EVERYTHING has to be rated for Gigabit. That means, Hubs, Network Cards, etc all have to support Gigabit.

Personally, I would go with Cat 5e. It's more economical, practical, and performs almost as well.

 

[fmw]

Just a matter of speed. If you are going to run gigabit speeds anywhere near the maximum wire runs for ethernet, you should use Cat 6. That is the specification. If you are going to run 100 mbits, then Cat 5 is just dandy.

 

[bomberboysk]

Stick with cat5e for now, it supports gigabit speeds and is quite a bit cheaper than cat6. Cat6 is best used where there is alot of interference or where you have alot of cables(10+) bundled together for long runs. I recently just got 100ft of cat5e for around $10 on sale at menards.

 

[Geoff]

Honestly the difference in price is so minimal unless you're buying hundreds to thousands of feet.

 

[Quiltface]

i wont say cat6 isn't worth it but in your case i would say that. like someone else said its handles gigabit a little better than 5e and has more bandwidth. I use it for my servers in the office and to uplink switches...but for a home network, nah.... it wont hurt getting it but i would just get 5e if its cheaper

 

[dannaswolcott]

Well I got a Server Rack hub that is gigabyte. I am planning on using it soon. I will slowly upgrade all the nic cards and other hubs in the house to GB.. but the main one will be gigabyte coming off my server. Thats why I think it might be worth going to cat6

 

[Geoff]

Well I got a Server Rack hub that is gigabyte. I am planning on using it soon. I will slowly upgrade all the nic cards and other hubs in the house to GB.. but the main one will be gigabyte coming off my server. Thats why I think it might be worth going to cat6

Gigabit hubs? Never heard of such a thing... Time you switch to switches my friend.

 

[dannaswolcott]

Lol... sorry I meant switches... Some times I get the hubs and switches confused.

 

[The Qban]

Like what was said, unless you plan on switching every nic, switch, etc to gb, pointless. Just becuase you have a GB server, but 100mb workstations, you will never transfer past 100mbs.

If you have alot of cables running together or lotta media interference, whether it be a server room ,cable room, cable runs, electrical currents, running the wires in the walls through attics where temp might change, next to other cables , and plan on acutally transfereing large files, then a good quality and good shielded cat5e is all you need

 

[Geoff]

Like what was said, unless you plan on switching every nic, switch, etc to gb, pointless. Just becuase you have a GB server, but 100mb workstations, you will never transfer past 100mbs.

Not if your switch has a gig port, then between the switch and the server you would have a gig connection, which helps when lots of 100 base-t clients are accessing your server at the same time and transferring large files.

 

[bomberboysk]

Not if your switch has a gig port, then between the switch and the server you would have a gig connection, which helps when lots of 100 base-t clients are accessing your server at the same time and transferring large files.

True, but on a small network like dannas's its not really going to matter. Plus hes gettin the cat6 for free lol.

 

[dannaswolcott]

True, but on a small network like dannas's its not really going to matter. Plus hes gettin the cat6 for free lol.

My network is small... but 12 computers can be a drag on the network ( yes there is times that all are in use at once, But not often )