Cabling for gigabit ethernet LAN

[Gerbil333]

I have about a five year old CAT 5 cable linking my K7S5A & gigabit NIC to the switch, and an unmarked cable on my A8N-E (probably CAT 5e).

Would CAT 6 cables improve performance for the gigabit computers on the network? They're managing about 20-30% network efficiency during large file transfers (25MB/s-37.5MB/s) between a 74GB Raptor and a 90% full Maxtor 120GB drive. I think these drives are capable of much more than that, at least according to HDTach.

Where can I buy cheap cables? Newegg's prices are high for cables and fans. Monarch is better, although I'll still have to spend about $21 shipped for one 3', one 7', and one 25' CAT 6 cable.

 

[Goosemaster]

Save your money and jsut get good quality cat5e.

Systems can't even max that out in many cases.

 

[Gerbil333]

Monarch only sells CAT 6. Where do you suggest I purchase my cabling?

 

[RebateMonger]

Computergeeks.com has a really good deal on15-foot Cat 5e cables. Their five-packs of 15-foot Cat 5e cables are $4.00 (for five cables)! I use these cables all the time. Their 25-footer is $2.25 right now. Your shipping cost will depend greatly on where you are located, though, but the cables are cheap enough, and ComputerGeeks has been a good retailer for me over the past five years. Cables almost always have somewhat high shipping costs associated with them, unfortunately.

All of their network cables.

 

[skyking]

http://www.deepsurplus.com
I have purchased several lots from them, it has all worked and tested fine.