Cables

Aphex8T3 · 10 Jan 2018 at 19:06

I am going to be running an Ethernet cable form my Virgin router to my pc and I wondered is there any type I need to buy to give me good speeds. I hear about cat5 , cat6 or cat6a.

Any advice most welcome.

ExRayTed · 10 Jan 2018 at 20:34

I use Cat6 to do the same thing.

Saffy · 10 Jan 2018 at 20:41

The different cable categories basically mean the amount of data each cable can transmit every second. E.g. my internet speed is 200MB/s so I'd go for a cable that can at least carry that much data. So in my case, I'd get a CAT5e.

Yours will be according to the speeds you receive or plan to receive.

http://www.firewall.cx/images/stories/cabling-utp-categories.png

Pocah · 11 Jan 2018 at 06:42

Cat5e is the most common and cheap so I would go with that. It is perfectly fast enough for you now and in the future. Just use black if you run it outside the house.

Aphex8T3 · 11 Jan 2018 at 07:13

I'm on virgin 200mb but pulling 130mb on the 5ghz network. Would it not be better to get a cat6.

P1Fanatic · 11 Jan 2018 at 07:21

Cat5e supports 1GB speeds so it will be fine.

Aphex8T3 · 11 Jan 2018 at 07:31

Am I right that on wireless it will only pick up 2.4ghz but wired I should get a better speed with the 5ghz

P1Fanatic · 11 Jan 2018 at 08:29

Not sure what you mean. 2.4 and 5ghz are wireless frequencies. Wired ethernet is a seperate thing and one does not affect the other.

Aphex8T3 · 11 Jan 2018 at 08:45

So on 200mb wired I should get a decent gaming speed.

P1Fanatic · 11 Jan 2018 at 08:52

Wired should definetly lower your latency/ping time but will also keep it stable as wireless signal fluctuates. How that translates into in game experience would depend on the game and also how good/bad your wifi signal is in comparison.

You will definetly notice a difference in max download speeds as well ie near or at the maximum rate Virgin quote for you.

Aphex8T3 · 11 Jan 2018 at 08:53

Wonderful.

bledd · 11 Jan 2018 at 09:32

Cat5e cable is perfect for this task. No need to get Cat6 or Cat6a.

foster grant · 11 Jan 2018 at 09:43

P1Fanatic said:
Not sure what you mean. 2.4 and 5ghz are wireless frequencies. Wired ethernet is a seperate thing and one does not affect the other.

This

ExRayTed · 11 Jan 2018 at 12:59

Aphex8T3 said:
So on 200mb wired I should get a decent gaming speed.

As already said, latency would be the biggest issue - you could game quite comfortably on a 20mb connection providing your latency (ping) is low enough. A wired connection should help without a doubt, depending on your area.

Aphex8T3 · 11 Jan 2018 at 20:19

Thanks for the advice.

Pocah · 12 Jan 2018 at 18:46

It will be awesome.

Aphex8T3 · 12 Jan 2018 at 21:37

I’m hoping so pal.

Aphex8T3 · 13 Jan 2018 at 14:23

I have now hard wired by pc to the router instead of using wireless as advice. The price between a cat5e and a cat6 were neither here or there so I opted for a cat6. I have ran a speed test on my pc and wow suck a different as other members on here pointed out. My results were. ( 8ms ping - 222.39mbps download & 11.99mbps upload. )

Many thanks again.