Got a quick question about cat 5

[Cowboyk56]

I'm moving down stairs that gives me the ability to use cat 5. But I looked it up and said that it maxes out to 100mbps. My family as 1gb speed, and I'm currently running sketchy speeds with Wi-Fi upstairs where it can get up to 300mbps, but can drop to 10mbps before. I'm planning on setting up a Minecraft and ark server downstairs too. so i need some advice if I should use the cat 5, maybe could upgrade connection, best possible way of get more stable, but high speed connection. Thank you

[Guest]

Not an expert on networking, but CAT5e or CAT6 are both able to handle higher speeds than CAT5. 

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, Cowboyk56 said:

I'm moving down stairs that gives me the ability to use cat 5. But I looked it up and said that it maxes out to 100mbps. My family as 1gb speed, and I'm currently running sketchy speeds with Wi-Fi upstairs where it can get up to 300mbps, but can drop to 10mbps before. I'm planning on setting up a Minecraft and ark server downstairs too. so i need some advice if I should use the cat 5, maybe could upgrade connection, best possible way of get more stable, but high speed connection. Thank you

• Cat 5 is rated for 100 Mbps up to 100m
• Cat 5e is rated for 2.5 Gbps up to 100m
• Cat6 is rated for 5 Gbps up to 100m or 10 Gbps up to like 55m
• Cat6a is rated for 10 Gbps up to 100m

If you want the full connection speed Id suggest going for Cat 6. Only because its a newer standard and should serve you well for a long time. 

[mariushm]

The answer is not as simple. 

 

If we go by the standards, cat5 should be used up to 100  mbps and for 1 gbps connections, one should use cat5e (cat5 enhanced).

 

However, the same standards said that for more than 1 gbps, one should use Cat6, but with the advances in digital signal processing and error correction in modern hardware they now manage to guarantee 2.5 gbps on cat5e cable and 5 gbps up to 100 meters on Cat6 cable. 

 

The standards that defined these limitations were made decades ago, when we had slower processors, the hardware was not as evolved and could not process and clean signals as well as modern hardware can. 

 

Back then, with the hardware that could be manufactured (processors, digital signal processors, analogue to digital converters etc), they determined that you could reliably do 100 mbps up to 100 meters on cat5 cable, which has certain properties and bandwidth. 

Cat5e is "enhanced bandwidth" , it basically means better quality wires, so the signal can travel better and arrive at the destination cleaner, with less distortions, easier to decode back into bits. With this slightly better wires, it was possible to transmit 10 times the data and still be able to decode it properly at up to 100 meters. 

 

Cat6 is slightly different construction than Cat5 and Cat5e, if my memory is correct there's more twists in the pairs of wires and the pairs of wires are better insulated from each other, and this reduced signal degradation over long distances, making it possible to achieve higher speeds.

 

Anyway, so what I'm trying to say is that while "officially" cat5 should only be used for 100 mbps connections, because modern network cards are so "clever" and have much better signal processing, chances are that especially with short lengths of cable, the network card would be able to use that cable at 1 gbps speeds. 

Worst case scenario, it wouldn't stay connected, or it would drop to 100 mbps maximum speed, or some data packets will be lost (and you get automatic re-transfer so you don't lose anything, but these losses will be seen as higher pings in online games or hiccups if you do voice chat or live streaming)

 

 

[Needfuldoer]

Just get a Cat6 patch cable and don't worry about it. You won't run into the limitations of that spec in a residential setting any time soon.

[PyCCo_TyPuCTo]

cat6 or 5e will be just fine if you're getting a pre-terminated patch cable

cat5e if you're going to terminate the ends, as it's easier than terminating cat6.