Cat5 or 6 cable?

Jed Shields

Jed Shields

Jed Shields

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Joined
23 Apr 2007
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Cardiff-ish, Wales
Hi guys,

I need to run a 10m cable from my computer room up through the attic and down to my bedroom to get ready for when I either sort out a media PC in the bedroom, or use the cable with an HDMI extender to connect to my server in the computer room and use this as my media PC.

Either way, should I go for Cat 5 or Cat 6? I'm running a 1Gb network.
 
cat5e is more than capable and a damn sight easier to work with than cat6.
 
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like they said, a Cat5e cable run at that distance will handle 10gb/s perfectly never mind 1gb/s, Cat6 would be a waste of money as by the time 10gb/s is surpassed Cat5/6 will be as obsolete as Coax was when 10mb/s was surpassed
 
TBH though there aint much difference in price anyway. I wired up cat 6. First time ever done it and was easy :)
Shame i don't have a gigabit router yet.
I'm sure it won't be long until 10gbit routers come out, especially as SSDs get cheaper and faster.
 
seekdestroy said:
TBH though there aint much difference in price anyway. I wired up cat 6. First time ever done it and was easy :)
Shame i don't have a gigabit router yet.
I'm sure it won't be long until 10gbit routers come out, especially as SSDs get cheaper and faster.
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So you don't know if you have done it right . . . . . :p

I have Cat5e running Gigabit easily. Maximum run is around 20m though!
 
Agreed. Assuming you're buying a pre made cable, as opposed to making your own, the difference is only a couple quid (literally). Shouldn't even cost you a tenner if you ordered online.
 
PhillyDee said:
I have Cat5e running Gigabit easily. Maximum run is around 20m though!
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Not sure i'd agree there, we've got runs in our office over 50m and they're running gigabit no prob (in fact i tested it with our fluke network analyser) - and some of that is plain old Cat5 not even 'e' (it was left by the previous occupants, it works for us so can't see the point in replacing it)
 
dave-lew99 said:
Not sure i'd agree there, we've got runs in our office over 50m and they're running gigabit no prob (in fact i tested it with our fluke network analyser) - and some of that is plain old Cat5 not even 'e' (it was left by the previous occupants, it works for us so can't see the point in replacing it)
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I meant my maximum run is 20m. :p
I can see how it reads though!
 
If you buy cat6e unmade from a competitor its the same price as good cat5e. That said I have never had such a pain from trying to put plugs on to cat5e as I have with this stuff.
 
If you're installing cabling into a building, it doesn't make sense to do Cat5e.

The price difference is negligable (20%) and you're planning it wrong if you find it harder to work with frankly.

You can't do 90 degree corners as easily, but if you plan to drop it into rooms directly it's fine, which the OP is.
 
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