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Thread ID: 146217	2018-05-25 04:51:00	Networking question	Jayess64 (8703)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1449871	2018-05-25 04:51:00	A question for the networking gurus: if I have two gigabit/sec-capable devices separated by 15 metres, is there a significant difference in maximum transmission speeds between Cat 5 & Cat 5e (or 6) cables? Most of the references I've seen talk about distances of 100m or more but don't mention shorter distances.	Jayess64 (8703)
1449872	2018-05-25 05:17:00	Cat5 I think isn't officially rated for gigabit, although it will often work OK over shorter distances . Cat5e and CAT6 are fine for up to 100m in normal conditions and should perform identically at Gigabit speeds . CAT5e has a tighter twist in the cables and cuts down on crosstalk . CAT6 takes this further with a physical separator in the cable .	wratterus (105)
1449873	2018-05-25 05:21:00	Max cable length is 100m before you would consider using a repeater. You do lose speed the longer the cable is but 15m may not be that noticeable. cat5 is rare nowadays, cat5e and cat6 would be more common and cost difference is marginal that you really should go for cat6. If you make up your own cables, cat5e connectors and cat6 connectors are slightly different, think it's just wire sizes. If networking speeds is important, cat6 handles up to 10Gbps while cat5e handles up to 1Gbps. You should prefer going for the higher outputs for better performance.	Kame (312)
1449874	2018-05-25 06:12:00	Thanks to wratterus & Kame for those replies. My situation is that I am trying to decide whether to replace a Cat 5 run that I put in over 10 years ago. It works OK at the moment, but if I want to sqeeze a bit more speed in the future it would seem that I should upgrade to at least 5e. I take the point about Cat 6 for proper "future proofing", but I already have some Cat 5e on hand. The only disincentive now is the physical work required to thread the new cable from & to inaccessible points among the house's foundations. Still, I did it once before.	Jayess64 (8703)
1449875	2018-05-25 06:27:00	but if I want to sqeeze a bit more speed in the future it would seem that I should upgrade to at least 5e. You can test it if you want. Copy a file from computer 1 to computer 2 assuming they both have SSDs. Under a 1Gbps network with Cat6, for me the max I have managed is ~800Mbps. Or 800 divide by 8 = 100MB/sec. If you have traditional HDDs they generally vary cos some are slower than others, esp the older ones. They might transfer under 500Mbps or up to 600'ish. Most networking now is just 1Gbps. You can get higher like 10Gbps PCI Express cards. Cat 6a for example. Cat6 I think it does 5Gbbps under a max length of 55m. Also it means what are you actually doing with that speed? For us we just do normal things so doesn't make a diff at all. Are you regularly copying GBs of data between the 2 computers?	Nomad (952)
1449876	2018-05-25 08:27:00	You can test it if you want. Copy a file from computer 1 to computer 2 assuming they both have SSDs. Under a 1Gbps network with Cat6, for me the max I have managed is ~800Mbps. Or 800 divide by 8 = 100MB/sec. If you have traditional HDDs they generally vary cos some are slower than others, esp the older ones. They might transfer under 500Mbps or up to 600'ish. Most networking now is just 1Gbps. You can get higher like 10Gbps PCI Express cards. Cat 6a for example. Cat6 I think it does 5Gbbps under a max length of 55m. Also it means what are you actually doing with that speed? For us we just do normal things so doesn't make a diff at all. Are you regularly copying GBs of data between the 2 computers? This part of the network is used mainly to stream media. For years I have been piping music files (mp3 & flac, mostly) with no trouble at all. Recently we have been viewing Stuffpix movies and very occasionally experienced the odd frame hesitation. This made me wonder if the Cat 5 cable was limiting things. Based on what people are telling me, it looks as though upgrading the cable would be advisable.	Jayess64 (8703)
1449877	2018-05-25 08:53:00	Cat 5 is well outdated at this time. Cat 5e will do what you want without breaking a sweat. If you want to be sure of satisfactory performance for the next 10 years or so go for Cat 6. Cat 6 will cost almost double than for Cat 5e cable but for the distance you have described that is probably not a significant barrier.	CliveM (6007)
1449878	2018-05-25 09:34:00	Cat 6 will cost almost double than for Cat 5e cable but for the distance you have described that is probably not a significant barrier. Who told ya that ?? Just looked up Cat5e and Cat6 cable (305Mtr Rolls) the exact same price. Fibre optic patch cable is more expensive.	wainuitech (129)
1449879	2018-05-25 10:08:00	Who told ya that ?? Just looked up Cat5e and Cat6 cable (305Mtr Rolls) the exact same price. Fibre optic patch cable is more expensive. Jaycar prices Wai. @ sold by the metre prices. You obviously have a better supply source than I :)	CliveM (6007)
1449880	2018-05-25 22:32:00	Well I'm going to be the one that disagrees. With a 15M run and a 1Gb network you are not going to notice any difference between any of them. I wouldn't bother changing it, at least until something like 10G becomes common. I'm in a similar situation, around 2002 I ran a CAT5 cable under my house and split it into 2 100M connections (which only need half the wires to work), since then it has been moved to a different room and re wired to a single connection for gigabit speeds and works flawlessly at full speed. With a short run like that the limitations of CAT5 don't really matter unless you are running it in a bundle with other cables. Sure for any new wiring you should absolutely use 5e or 6, but there's no reason to re-run what's already there and working. CAT5e is only a minor improvement over CAT5 designed to improve long distance performance and reduce crosstalk, with a single short run these don't really come into it. CAT6 is quite a bit better but not necessary for this situation either.	dugimodo (138)
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