Cat 5e vs Cat 6

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Limp Gawd
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I'm looking into wiring a new home for gigabit ethernet. I've been told that both Cat 5e and Cat 6 can support gigabyte ethernet, but I'm not sure what the differences are and whether I really should insist on Cat 6.

Apparently, the builder is including Cat 5e through the home, but is reluctant to do Cat 6.

Any advice is appreciated,
Thanks
 
For residential you will not need anything higher than Cat5e,

Cat6 will get you up to 10GbE however the equipment for it will not be affordable for a long time
 
k1pp3r said:
For residential you will not need anything higher than Cat5e,

Cat6 will get you up to 10GbE however the equipment for it will not be affordable for a long time
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Partly incorrect. Partly opinion.


Cat6 might run at 10GbE, but it is not certified to do so. You need Cat6a to be certified to run 10GbE.

Correction: For MOST residential installations you normally do not usually need anything better than Cat5e.

What's the difference?: Cat6 is tested to a higher standard and has more twists per square length that Cat5e.

Think of Cat6 as a premium high end Cat5e.

I would endorse you considering Cat6 on if:

  • You want something better and are willing to pay to have something that "theoretically" is better.
  • You have long runs...in excess of 300' (in this case cat6 may actually do something for you as it has a higher noise rejection at long distances)

If you want to future proof for 10GbE you need to wire with Cat6a AND use Cat6a end connectors and termination blocks. (those are quite expensive)

All my patch panel cables shorter than 15' are Cat6. That is my preference. For me, my experience is that it negotiates faster and the cable assemblies feel like their a higher quality with a thicker jacket.

I am wiring my house with Cat6a but only terminating the ends with Cat6 ends. When 10GbE comes down in cost....6-8 years from now. All I will have to do is change the end terminations.
 
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Re: Cat 6a required for 10Gbase-T:

The 10Gbase-t spec does call out Cat6a, however in practice cat6a is only required for 10Gbase-t at the maximum cable length (100m). If you want to be completely compliant with the letter of the 10Gbase-T spec then what is written above is correct. If you are working in a data center environment then I suggest staying complaint and using Cat6a (actually, in a data center you shouldn't be messing with 10Gbase-t at all - you should stick with fiber at that speed - but that is a different discussion entirely).

However, according to Intel's specs for their current 10Gbase-T NICs:
- For cable distances up to about 55m Cat6 is acceptable (YMMV)
- For cable distances up to about 20m Cat5e is acceptable (YMMV)
- For cable distances up to about 3m, plain old Cat5 is acceptable (YMMV)

Unless you live in quite the mansion, finding a single cable run >55m is highly unlikely. For most home installations Cat6 (not Cat6a) will suit just fine - even at 10Gbe. In many smaller homes, Cat5e would be suitable for 10Gbe

And yes - I have personally tested and run 10Gbase-t over cat5, 5e and 6 cables in my own home, with sustained high rates and 0 frame errors over a 48 hour continuous transmission test. Unlike Cat6a, Cat6 terminations are not materially different from cat5e (the spacing of the vampire taps is larger to accommodate the larger gauge wire of Cat6, but otherwise they are pretty much the same). And because of this, cat6 terminations (patch panel blocks, keystones, RJ45 connectors) are only nominally more expensive that Cat5, while Cat6a equipment is currently significantly more costly.
 
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Thanks for the responses. It seems that Cat 5e should be totally reasonable for my needs.
 
If you are going to do it, may as well go cat6, it's not like it's that much more expensive.

Don't make your own cat6 patch cords though, if you are going to make your own patch cords, you are actually better off with cat5e, at least that's my experience. But I after finding out about Monoprice.com I don't even make my own cables at all anymore since they cost pennies form that site. No idea how they even make a profit, but it's awesome.

If you need to cheap out somewhere, you are better off cheaping out on the patch cords. You can easily change those later, inwall wireing, not so much.
 
Cat6 also supports higher voltages and is much better at PoE and suppressing electrical interference. PigLover is also correct, I've had similar success with regular Cat5 and Cat5e as well.
 
Cat5e cables work fine on short runs even with 10gbe. I know because I've done it at home as well. You might as well go with the best you can if the price difference is negligible though.
 
Blue Fox said:
Cat5e cables work fine on short runs even with 10gbe. I know because I've done it at home as well. You might as well go with the best you can if the price difference is negligible though.
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+1

monoprice.com, Cat6 is only a few cents more than Cat5e per foot, totally worth the upgrade if you can afford it.
 
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