[X4U] Network Cables and Speed

[Stroller]

On 5 Apr 2008, at 21:30, Ken Schneider wrote:

> There is so much different advice about ethernet cables that I am  
> confused. Some people say that to get gigabit speeds you need to  
> use Cat6 cables. Some say Cat5e is OK and some say Cat5 is OK for  
> short runs. I want to get the fastest speeds possible. My longest  
> cable run is 25 feet. Do I need Cat6? If I need to get Cat6 cables  
> I will since they will be fairly short.

I'm pretty sure that Cat 5 is within specification for gigabit - the  
differences between the 3 aren't really that significant.

My laptop has definitely configured itself to gigabit when connected  
to 25' - and probably 25m - runs.

You're unlikely to notice any difference between the three.

> Also, how can I tell how fast my network is running? I've looked  
> for applications that measure this but haven't found any. Is there  
> any software that will tell me the speed of my data transfers?

Honestly, this is unlikely to be important.

When I was at uni - perhaps 7 years ago? - I had a friend who still  
had a 10mBit card. Instead of transferring in less than 2 minutes, as  
I had come to expect - CD images took over 20 minutes (and perhaps  
nearer to 30).

Based on that back-of-a-fag-packet maths you can expect a CD image to  
transfer in under 12 seconds using gigabit, only for a DVD's worth of  
data are you up to 2 minutes again.

You're pretty much maxing out a fast hard-drive at gigabit, so -  
overlooking any thing else going on in your computer - you're  
probably not going to be able to wrap TCP header information around  
it & still get it down the wire at the same speed. I think I've read  
of people being quite happy getting c 600mbps or 700mbps out of  
gigabit in the real world, although I don't know the details or if  
that's current.

Stroller.