Gigabit ethernet - wiring etc.

It looks like I'll need a new ethernet switch soon and prices have
dropped so much that it would seem to make sense to buy a Gigabit one.
The Netgear 5 port GS605 is £42 and the 8 port GS608 is £72 (oh, and
NICs cost from only £12 or so).

Having said that will my existing (mostly) cat5e wiring work in
general and give me full Gigabit speed? There aren't any long runs, a
maximum of 5 metres I would guess and most are less than that.

Is there anything else to catch me out if I go for 1000Mb/s?

--
Chris Green

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> It looks like I'll need a new ethernet switch soon and prices have
> dropped so much that it would seem to make sense to buy a Gigabit one.
> The Netgear 5 port GS605 is £42 and the 8 port GS608 is £72 (oh, and
> NICs cost from only £12 or so).
>
> Having said that will my existing (mostly) cat5e wiring work in
> general and give me full Gigabit speed? There aren't any long runs, a
> maximum of 5 metres I would guess and most are less than that.
>
> Is there anything else to catch me out if I go for 1000Mb/s?
>


1000Base-TX uses 4 twisted pairs to enable 1Gbit/sec data transmission
rates on the same 125Mbaud signaling as 100Base-TX so you shouldn't have
much of a problem with 5M.

http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.asp
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/jc_gigabit.asp

--
Chris

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
> It looks like I'll need a new ethernet switch soon and prices have
> dropped so much that it would seem to make sense to buy a Gigabit one.
> The Netgear 5 port GS605 is £42 and the 8 port GS608 is £72 (oh, and
> NICs cost from only £12 or so).
>
> Having said that will my existing (mostly) cat5e wiring work in
> general and give me full Gigabit speed? There aren't any long runs, a
> maximum of 5 metres I would guess and most are less than that.
>
> Is there anything else to catch me out if I go for 1000Mb/s?
>
> --
> Chris Green

You need Cat7 cables.

Anyone telling you that you can achieve GB speeds on Cat5 or 5e or 6 has
never tried it themselves.

Even then, you are going to be really pressed to get above 800Mb/sec.


Odie
--

RetroData
Data Recovery Experts
www.retrodata.co.uk

Odie Ferrous wrote:
> You need Cat7 cables.
>
> Anyone telling you that you can achieve GB speeds on Cat5 or 5e or 6 has
> never tried it themselves.
>
> Even then, you are going to be really pressed to get above 800Mb/sec.
>

It looks like Odie is in cable sales. Even Cisco don't think cat 6 or 7
is necessary for gigabit!

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk38...080091a86.html
# 1000BASE-T specifies Gigabit Ethernet operation over the Category 5
# cabling systems installed according to the specifications of
# ANSI/TIA/EIA-568A (1995). 1000BASE-T also supports 1000 Mbps operation
# over the newest emerging EIA/TIA cabling specifications Category 5e.

And here's some guys that have done some benchmarking.
http://www.cs.uni.edu/~gray/gig-over-copper

--
Chris

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 06:39:35 +0100, Odie Ferrous wrote:

> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>>
>> It looks like I'll need a new ethernet switch soon and prices have
>> dropped so much that it would seem to make sense to buy a Gigabit one.
>> The Netgear 5 port GS605 is £42 and the 8 port GS608 is £72 (oh, and
>> NICs cost from only £12 or so).
>>
>> Having said that will my existing (mostly) cat5e wiring work in general
>> and give me full Gigabit speed? There aren't any long runs, a maximum
>> of 5 metres I would guess and most are less than that.
>>
>> Is there anything else to catch me out if I go for 1000Mb/s?
>>
>> --
>> Chris Green
>
> You need Cat7 cables.

No, CAT5e is adequate. CAT5 is not.

> Anyone telling you that you can achieve GB speeds on Cat5 or 5e or 6 has
> never tried it themselves.

Yes I have.

> Even then, you are going to be really pressed to get above 800Mb/sec.

I have seen 120Mbyte/s which is a full 1000Mb/s but admittedly only under
contrived circumstances (two fast Linux boxes with lots of memory
connected to the same switch). Agreed, in the real world you are going to
see a fair bit less most of the time, especially if you use systems with
inefficient networking code like Windows.

Regards, Ian

Hi Chris
I am using Gbit Ethernet over Cat5E copper cables no problems. Depending on
what it going over the network, I get about 55 to 60% utilisation. It starts
to drop down depending on files etc as the limiting factor seems to be disc
accessing the data. Even at these speeds it is still about 8 times faster
that standard 10/100.
Go for it

Mike


"Chris Lawson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4166bb50$0$15104$(E-Mail Removed)...
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
> > It looks like I'll need a new ethernet switch soon and prices have
> > dropped so much that it would seem to make sense to buy a Gigabit one.
> > The Netgear 5 port GS605 is £42 and the 8 port GS608 is £72 (oh, and
> > NICs cost from only £12 or so).
> >
> > Having said that will my existing (mostly) cat5e wiring work in
> > general and give me full Gigabit speed? There aren't any long runs, a
> > maximum of 5 metres I would guess and most are less than that.
> >
> > Is there anything else to catch me out if I go for 1000Mb/s?
> >
>
>
> 1000Base-TX uses 4 twisted pairs to enable 1Gbit/sec data transmission
> rates on the same 125Mbaud signaling as 100Base-TX so you shouldn't have
> much of a problem with 5M.
>
> http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.asp
> http://www.sql-server-performance.com/jc_gigabit.asp
>
> --
> Chris

Chris Lawson wrote:
>
> Odie Ferrous wrote:
> > You need Cat7 cables.
> >
> > Anyone telling you that you can achieve GB speeds on Cat5 or 5e or 6 has
> > never tried it themselves.
> >
> > Even then, you are going to be really pressed to get above 800Mb/sec.
> >
>
> It looks like Odie is in cable sales. Even Cisco don't think cat 6 or 7
> is necessary for gigabit!
>
> http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk38...080091a86.html
> # 1000BASE-T specifies Gigabit Ethernet operation over the Category 5
> # cabling systems installed according to the specifications of
> # ANSI/TIA/EIA-568A (1995). 1000BASE-T also supports 1000 Mbps operation
> # over the newest emerging EIA/TIA cabling specifications Category 5e.
>
> And here's some guys that have done some benchmarking.
> http://www.cs.uni.edu/~gray/gig-over-copper
>
> --
> Chris

Chris,

You CLEARLY did not read the article.

"Supports" Gigabit and "runs at Gigabit speeds" are two entirely
different concepts.

As I said previously on occasion, Cat5e DOES work on Gigabit - but you
will only get 100Mbit speeds. If you peruse the Cicso link you posted,
you will see a table near the bottom of the page that CLEARLY shows
this.

Also bear in mind that the article is fairly old - but I think you need
to admit that my argument is correct, and that yours is not.

Next time, read the salient points. And posting a link that contradicts
your own argument is a step in the wrong direction.

I rest my case.


Odie
--

RetroData
Data Recovery Experts
www.retrodata.co.uk

Odie Ferrous wrote:
>
> Chris Lawson wrote:
> >

> > And here's some guys that have done some benchmarking.
> > http://www.cs.uni.edu/~gray/gig-over-copper
> >

....and the other thing - these "guys" don't even mention the type of
cable they are using.

I can tell you for a fact it is not your average Cat5 stuff.


Odie
--

RetroData
Data Recovery Experts
www.retrodata.co.uk

Chris Lawson wrote:
>
newest emerging EIA/TIA cabling specifications Category 5e


....is misleading in the extreme!!!

Hope to post the response of someone from IEEE later today.


Odie
--

RetroData
Data Recovery Experts
www.retrodata.co.uk

Odie Ferrous wrote:

.....something that may be fairly earth shattering....

Chris, I take back everything I said. For time time being.

It appears someone else (reputable) is telling me thay have a Gigabit
LAN in place with Cat5e.

I am hopefully going to see more of this later today.

Of course, he could be talking out of his nether regions, but I know him
to be reliable.

It should be very, very interesting and good for business as a cable
salesman.....


Odie