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Finding a cable for fibre

NormalGuy
Go to solution Solved by Levent,
Just now, Billbill said:

He was looking for a 15-meter cable.  Some areas are getting up to 2,000 Mbps via cable internet.  Some very limited areas are getting 5,000 Mbps via telephone company internet.  But that's not really the point.  The overall quality of the cable is what matters.  Good shielding too. 

Yeah lets assume OP is getting 2Gbit to 5Gbit connection and is part of the %1 I was talking about. Then it would make sense for them to get a Cat6, still not "cat7" like you recommended because it will be due for upgrade in few years.

 

48 minutes ago, Billbill said:

Might as well buy cat7 and not have to upgrade in a few years. 

IF OP is going to be running ethernet cables zip tied to power cables then sure getting a STP cable would be the way to go. In any other case regular UTP Cat5e is more than sufficient upto 100 meters. If their network setup and their internet bandwidth is going to be more than 1GbE, and the cable is going to be run over the distance of 100 meters, Cat6 is the way to go.

So, I got fiber today so I want to buy a good cable for it. Should I buy a cat6 cable (15m) or a cat 7 cable (15m)? Will the cat6 cable be enough?

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Just because you got "fiber" doesnt make it necessary for you to get cat7. Even cat5e would be fine, dont waste your money.

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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15 minutes ago, Levent said:

Just because you got "fiber" doesnt make it necessary for you to get cat7. Even cat5e would be fine, dont waste your money.

In this Case, i strongly disagree. 

 but first a question: is it as a Mounted Cable in the house or like a loose Patchcable?

15m is a lot for a normal Patchcable. I would strongly recommend the Cat7. I have expirienced all kind of Issues with long connections like this at work and in many cases, a better cable solves the problem because the cat7 are better insulated and stronger.

I dont really know if the Price Difference is that big, but personally i would recommend the higher tier cable.

CPU: AMD R7 5800X3D GPU: Powercolor 6950XT Liquid Devil Board: MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge Wifi Ram: 64GB Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4-3200 CL16 PSU: Seasonic Prime PX-1000 Case: BeQuiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Rev. 2 Cooling: Aquacomputer OCTO-Fancontroller, Custom loop with a 420 45mm Alphacool Radiator in the case, one external. D5 Pump, 9x BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm High Speed PWM

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CAT5e supports up to 5Gbps at 100 meters. CAT6e supports 10Gbps up to 100 meters. CAT7 can operate at 40Gbps up to 50 meters.

 

Also note that a lot of 'CAT7' cables sold on non-network specific sites i.e. (amazon) are really just CAT6 and do not comply with the CAT7 spec (which includes shielding for each twisted pair as well as and outer shielding).

 

As said above, don't waste your money! Unless you have a 40Gb/s fibre connection, CAT6 will be fine. 

 

After deploying hundreds of runs of cat6 up to around 80 meters in length, I've never come across any EMI issues even in situations where cables have to run parallel across 240v mains.

 

{
    "PC": [
        {
            "Part": "CPU",
            "Spec": "i7-2600k @ 4.4GHz"
        },
        {
            "Part": "RAM",
            "Spec": "32GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance Pro CL9 9-9-9-24"
        },
        {
            "Part": "GPU",
            "Spec": "inno3d 980Ti"
        },
        {
            "Part": "Motherboard",
            "Spec": "Asus P8Z68-v Pro"
        },
        {
            "Part": "Storage",
            "Spec": "1x 500GB 860 EVO, 2x MX500"
        },
        {
            "Part": "PSU",
            "Spec": "Corsair GS800"
        }
    ]
}

 

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3 minutes ago, alphatessi said:

In this Case, i strongly disagree. 

 but first a question: is it as a Mounted Cable in the house or like a loose Patchcable?

15m is a lot for a normal Patchcable. I would strongly recommend the Cat7. I have expirienced all kind of Issues with long connections like this at work and in many cases, a better cable solves the problem because the cat7 are better insulated and stronger.

I dont really know if the Price Difference is that big, but personally i would recommend the higher tier cable.

I am running a shitty old cat5e over 110meters hanging in the air between three buildings for the last 8 years. Not a single issue with gigabit transfer speeds. OP is just asking for a cable recommendation from their router to their PC, we are not talking about rewiring an entire building for datacenter internet connection.

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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31 minutes ago, NormalGuy said:

So, I got fiber today so I want to buy a good cable for it. Should I buy a cat6 cable (15m) or a cat 7 cable (15m)? Will the cat6 cable be enough?

The only difference between cat 6. and cat7 is a bit more shield for less crosstalk. So if you want to run 10gig ethernet over 55m you need 7. If it’s just 1gig cat5e is good for 100m (or a bit more in certain circumstances it seems) 

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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I looked up the Pricing:

I got 15m cat5e for around 10€ and cat 7 for 15-20€.

4 minutes ago, Levent said:

I am running a shitty old cat5e over 110meters hanging in the air between three buildings for the last 8 years. Not a single issue with gigabit transfer speeds. OP is just asking for a cable recommendation from their router to their PC, we are not talking about rewiring an entire building.

I wont say cat 5e does not work. I just can tell that I solved some strange network problems (industrial tho) by just switching to a better cable.

Thus my personal opinion is to take the better ones.

CPU: AMD R7 5800X3D GPU: Powercolor 6950XT Liquid Devil Board: MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge Wifi Ram: 64GB Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4-3200 CL16 PSU: Seasonic Prime PX-1000 Case: BeQuiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Rev. 2 Cooling: Aquacomputer OCTO-Fancontroller, Custom loop with a 420 45mm Alphacool Radiator in the case, one external. D5 Pump, 9x BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm High Speed PWM

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7 minutes ago, alphatessi said:

I got 15m cat5e for around 10€ and cat 7 for 15-20€.

Hence why:

16 minutes ago, Remarkable_Day said:

Also note that a lot of 'CAT7' cables sold on non-network specific sites i.e. (amazon) are really just CAT6 and do not comply with the CAT7 spec (which includes shielding for each twisted pair as well as and outer shielding).

It might be priced around the same, because it is most likely the same. %99 of the cat7 cable buyers wont be running at the speeds where it might show its not actually rated for cat7.

 

I used the cheapest roll of 300 meter cat5 for the last 11 years with zero issues. Never had any issues where my problem was the cable.

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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24 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

The only difference between cat 6. and cat7 is a bit more shield for less crosstalk. So if you want to run 10gig ethernet over 55m you need 7. If it’s just 1gig cat5e is good for 100m (or a bit more in certain circumstances it seems) 

Actually you only need 6A for 10g at 100m but yah otherwise it's just shielding for the most part. Cat7 does call for a TERA connector which isn't compatible with RJ-45 at all and since almost nobody on the market actually follows the shielding or connector requirements it's best to just avoid the hassle of trying to weed out the junk cables by sticking to what's slightly less likely to be junk 😄

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31 minutes ago, Remarkable_Day said:

CAT5e supports up to 5Gbps at 100 meters. CAT6e supports 10Gbps up to 100 meters. CAT7 can operate at 40Gbps up to 50 meters.

 

Also note that a lot of 'CAT7' cables sold on non-network specific sites i.e. (amazon) are really just CAT6 and do not comply with the CAT7 spec (which includes shielding for each twisted pair as well as and outer shielding).

 

As said above, don't waste your money! Unless you have a 40Gb/s fibre connection, CAT6 will be fine. 

 

After deploying hundreds of runs of cat6 up to around 80 meters in length, I've never come across any EMI issues even in situations where cables have to run parallel across 240v mains.

 

I don't think Cat7 can do above 10. 8.1 and 8.2 exist for 25 and 40 respectively though if I remember correctly but the biggest thing is nobody has copper RJ45 or TERA based equipment on the market. 10gig is hot as heck as is, I'm sure 25g copper will come eventually (although not SFP28 variants any time soon) but still that's going to be mega expensive over some DACs or existing fiber plants.

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15 minutes ago, Lurick said:

nobody has copper RJ45 or TERA based equipment on the market

This is true, the 40Gb quoted on CAT7 is just 'claimed' and is still in lab-test stage rather than real life yet... 

{
    "PC": [
        {
            "Part": "CPU",
            "Spec": "i7-2600k @ 4.4GHz"
        },
        {
            "Part": "RAM",
            "Spec": "32GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance Pro CL9 9-9-9-24"
        },
        {
            "Part": "GPU",
            "Spec": "inno3d 980Ti"
        },
        {
            "Part": "Motherboard",
            "Spec": "Asus P8Z68-v Pro"
        },
        {
            "Part": "Storage",
            "Spec": "1x 500GB 860 EVO, 2x MX500"
        },
        {
            "Part": "PSU",
            "Spec": "Corsair GS800"
        }
    ]
}

 

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3 minutes ago, Billbill said:

Might as well buy cat7 and not have to upgrade in a few years. 

This argument doesnt work in the context of network cables.

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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27 minutes ago, Billbill said:

Might as well buy cat7 and not have to upgrade in a few years. 

I personally go even farther and say put in large nm conduit for through the wall stuff because whatever cable you have will eventually have to change.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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10 minutes ago, Billbill said:

I guess it really depends on the quality of the cable itself.  

Not just that, no consumer internet connection gotten to a point where networking main bottleneck was the LAN wiring. We are barely getting gigabit rollout to homes let alone 10gbit or above.

 

1000BASE-T was officially released in 1999. We are in 2022 and it is still more than enough to handle %99 of the home internet connection speeds.

 

OP is strictly asking for a cable between modem/router to their device, seems like that aspect is not understood by many here. OP is not looking for a 10GbE LAN, or has a 100GbE LAN upgrade in mind. They are just asking to see if getting a "fiber" internet means they have to get better cable.

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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Just now, Billbill said:

He was looking for a 15-meter cable.  Some areas are getting up to 2,000 Mbps via cable internet.  Some very limited areas are getting 5,000 Mbps via telephone company internet.  But that's not really the point.  The overall quality of the cable is what matters.  Good shielding too. 

Yeah lets assume OP is getting 2Gbit to 5Gbit connection and is part of the %1 I was talking about. Then it would make sense for them to get a Cat6, still not "cat7" like you recommended because it will be due for upgrade in few years.

 

48 minutes ago, Billbill said:

Might as well buy cat7 and not have to upgrade in a few years. 

IF OP is going to be running ethernet cables zip tied to power cables then sure getting a STP cable would be the way to go. In any other case regular UTP Cat5e is more than sufficient upto 100 meters. If their network setup and their internet bandwidth is going to be more than 1GbE, and the cable is going to be run over the distance of 100 meters, Cat6 is the way to go.

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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2 hours ago, Billbill said:

Might as well buy cat7 and not have to upgrade in a few years. 

Having tried a CAT7 cable that completely failed to work at 10Gbit, I strongly disagree.  CAT7 was never designed for this kind of cabling as mentioned above, its supposed to use a different connector.

 

Besides, if you're wanting to be "future proof", there are CAT8 cables now.  I have one from Amazon and that one DOES actually work great.  But honestly, CAT6A is more than enough if you need a new cable, but any old CAT5e is absolutely fine if you already have one knocking around.

This is definitely a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Router:  Intel N100 (pfSense) WiFi6: Zyxel NWA210AX (1.7Gbit peak at 160Mhz)
WiFi5: Ubiquiti NanoHD OpenWRT (~500Mbit at 80Mhz) Switches: Netgear MS510TXUP, MS510TXPP, GS110EMX
ISPs: Zen Full Fibre 900 (~930Mbit down, 115Mbit up) + Three 5G (~800Mbit down, 115Mbit up)
Upgrading Laptop/Desktop CNVIo WiFi 5 cards to PCIe WiFi6e/7

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I guess cat6 would be fine, Cat7 is a lot more expensive than cat6 in our country. Thanx for everyone's recommendations 

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