Cat 6 cables required?

[hotlips69]

I'm about to buy a gigabit router as all 3 of my home PCs support gigabit and I only have a standard 10/100 router at the moment.

Do I require cat 6 cables to get the best from my network?

I suppose I'm using cat 5 (or maybe cat 5e) at the moment.

 

[skyking]

Cat5E will work fine.

 

[hotlips69]

What is cat 6 for then?

Would cat 5 (not 5e) also be ok?

 

[skyking]

Cat5E is required for gigabit netorking, but I would not be surprised if plain old premade cat5 patch cables would do gigabit also. I've never tried it myself.

Cat6 is a new standard for wiring, with higher bandwidth than cat5e.
A certified cat6 cable plant can carry 10 gigabit ethernet for up to 55 meters. 10 gigabit is not here yet at a reasonable price, and it is intended for backbone traffic on large networks.

 

[cmetz]

Cat6 gives you additional signal quality headroom, to tolerate the bad effects of the real world. If it's not too much more expensive, it would be a good idea. If you already have cat5/5e, don't rip it out just to replace it with cat6, try it and if it works fine leave it alone.

 

[hotlips69]

I've been looking through lots of sites advertising cat 6 cables.

What is the difference between:
"Category 6 UTP moulded patch leads" &
"high performance Category 6 600Mhz stranded conductor 4 pair UTP booted patch leads"
"CCS FTP Category 6 Patch leads"

Do I need UTP or FTP?
Booted or moulded?

 

[hotlips69]

anyone?

 

[spidey07]

All you need is a categor 6 patch cable.

 

[hotlips69]

Originally posted by: spidey07
All you need is a categor 6 patch cable.

Yes, but UTP or FTP?

Booted or moulded?

 

[spidey07]

A category 6 patch cable. booted is your choice (I hate them). Just look at the pictures to see the difference.

you do NOT want FTP.

You want UTP.

aka, a patch cable.

 

[hotlips69]

Thanks spidey07, thats the answer I was looking for. :thumbsup:

 

[JackMDS]

If you have heavy electrical machinery in your environment, (Household appliances are Not heavy machinery) you do not need FTP cable.

UTP = Unshielded Twisted Pairs.

FTP = Foiled Twisted Pairs.

STP = Shielded Twisted Pairs.

I think that over 90% in Cat5e/6 in use is UTP.

Given the description that you gave above you would not gain any thing from CAT6.

So if you have working cable and extra money, give the money to the charity of your choice.

 

[spidey07]

Jack,

FTP and STP are rarely every used, and if they are they are used by people who don't know how to install it properly because they think it's a good idea. Avoid at all costs.

Robots welding bodies and huge machines stamping metal are about as harsh as it gets, UTP is fine if done according to spec.