Need advice on Gigabit home networking and structured wiring

[H1HID]

We bought a new house back in June and to my suprise it came with structured wiring of Cat5e to all the rooms. Right now I have a cable modem, router and wireless access point all running my home network of course at 10/100mbps. Ive been doing alot of media sharing either between my PS3 and laptop/desktop or between desktop and laptop and I noticed that MKV high def video files were not keeping up when running through VLC player between desktop and laptop (laptop was plugged into cat5e jack not via wireless)

Now I want a gigabit connection which I know I can do over my Cat5e. So with this theoretical setup I am about to propose, will it give me gigabit media sharing?

1. my cable modem plugs into my theoretical wireless N router with 4 port gigabit switch
2. then my computer (which has gigabit ports) plugs into the router,
3. then the router is plugged into the wall which is then sent to a central box in a distant room
4. that cable running to the central box is then hooked up to a gigabit switch,
5. Then the remaining Cat5e cables from around the house are then plugged into the gigabit switch along with the cable that basically came from the router back in a distant room.
6. Now all the jacks should be receiving signal and in one room on the opposite side of the house from the router I will place a wireless access point (which I know cannot do gigabit) to cover some dead spots

Anyone following me?

Question 1: Will I get gigabit media sharing with the proposed setup?
Question 2: Will having a 10/100mpbs cable modem plugged into the entire setup downregulate the entire setup to run at that speed?

Thanks!

 

[dan__wright]

1) the slowest part will probably be the hard drive in your laptop / desktop.
2) it wont affect it.

 

[computadorka]

bottleneck being the HDD

get scsi

 

[Madwand]

Yes, you will get gigabit networking with this setup despite a few 10/100 nodes here and there -- when transferring from a server to a client on the same switch or multiple switches each linked at gigabit, the transfers will go at (up to) gigabit speeds directly though the switches, and not through the 10/100 parts.

You can even use a 10/100 router, provided that you have an available gigabit switch port for every device you wish to network at gigabit speeds. The router doesn't really matter, because your modem and Internet service aren't gigabit. However, the switch on the router would matter when you're connecting your desktop there. You could get around this by connecting your desktop to the main gigabit switch, or by getting another add-on gigabit switch behind the existing 10/100 router (this would be cheaper than replacing the router entirely).

 

[H1HID]

Yes, you will get gigabit networking with this setup despite a few 10/100 nodes here and there -- when transferring from a server to a client on the same switch or multiple switches each linked at gigabit, the transfers will go at (up to) gigabit speeds directly though the switches, and not through the 10/100 parts.

You can even use a 10/100 router, provided that you have an available gigabit switch port for every device you wish to network at gigabit speeds. The router doesn't really matter, because your modem and Internet service aren't gigabit. However, the switch on the router would matter when you're connecting your desktop there. You could get around this by connecting your desktop to the main gigabit switch, or by getting another add-on gigabit switch behind the existing 10/100 router (this would be cheaper than replacing the router entirely).

Thanks for the great advice. I dont understand what you mean by "getting another add-on gigabit switch behind the existing 10/100 router". And once I do this will I still get internet around the house and gigabit sharing capability. thanks!

bottleneck being the HDD

get scsi

how does a WD raptor compare with a scsi as far reducing bottleneck?

 

[Madwand]

Thanks for the great advice. I dont understand what you mean by "getting another add-on gigabit switch behind the existing 10/100 router". And once I do this will I still get internet around the house and gigabit sharing capability.

It's pretty simple -- instead of getting a router with a built-in gigabit switch, you could continue using your existing router with its built-in 10/100 switch, buy a new gigabit switch (e.g. D-Link DGS-2205). You'd connect that switch to the router and everything to the gigabit switch (your desktop and the main gigabit switch).

This way, there'd be a gigabit path from your desktop to the main switch, and you'd still be linked to the router.