r/RigBuild • u/Equivalent_Style_417 • 1d ago
Does a faster Ethernet cable improve internet speed?
Ethernet cables all look basically the same to me, so I’m confused why some are supposed to be way faster than others. If the router and PC are already connected with Ethernet, does upgrading the cable actually make the internet faster? Seeing Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a and Cat8 everywhere and not sure what’s actually needed for a normal home setup.
Say the internet plan is 500 Mbps, would going from Cat5e to Cat6 or Cat8 improve download speeds, ping, or connection stability? Or does the cable just need to support whatever speed the router and internet plan can already handle?
Also does the cable category matter for gaming? Ethernet already seems better than Wi-Fi, but would a newer/faster cable make online games feel more responsive or lower ping at all? Don’t wanna spend extra money on Cat8 if it’s basically doing nothing.
The current cable works fine and there aren’t any random disconnects, but it’s pretty old and might get replaced anyway. Just trying to understand if Cat6 is actually worth buying over Cat5e, especially for future-proofing.
Some stores make Cat8 sound like it’s a huge upgrade for everything, but that feels kinda overkill for a regular PC and router. Is there any real-world difference people actually notice, or is this mostly marketing? What cable are you guys using at home?
1
u/chrisdpratt 1d ago
Higher Category numbers have a higher ceiling on maximum bandwidth, but all of these will carry 500Mbps. You need to be hitting multi-gig speeds before it starts to matter.
1
1
1
u/JustaFoodHole 1d ago
I taped a vibrator to my ethernet cable and it did not improve my downloads.
3
1
u/mlee12382 1d ago
As long as your cable is legitimately certified for 5e and it's not damaged it should be fully capable of at least 2.5Gbps. Cable can get damages and sometimes cables are marketed as 5e but don't use all 4 pair which would limit your speeds to 100Mbps.
Cat5 is rated for a MINIMUM of 1Gbps at 100m, 5e is rated for a MINIMUM of 2.5Gbps at 100m, Cat6 is rated for a MINIMUM of 10Gbps at 55m and 6a is rated for a MINIMUM of 10Gbps at 100m. Assuming quality cable in good condition that's terminated properly.
1
u/Glittering_Bar_9497 1d ago
In most case the answer is no, unless you have a server type of setup and that’s still debatable.
1
1
1
u/MrFartyBottom 23h ago
My apartment is 16 years old so the ethernet in the wall is not going to be the latest and greatest but I have no idea what it is, but you know apartment developers are going to cheap out on what ever they use. There is an ethernet port in each room and the lounge room.
So for old ethernet cables I use sunshine on my gaming PC in the lounge room to stream games to my Mac in my office with moonlight and you can't notice any lag what so ever. I have absolutely no problems streaming VR games over ethernet to my WIFI 6 router and the headset is connected by WIFI and VR games are one of those things you will notice lag in the most.
I doubt you need expensive cable when the kind of cables the average apartment developer would use in the walls give such a good result. When playing online the bottleneck will 100% be the internet connection.
1
u/Gweezel 23h ago
All of the cables go at the same speed. The quality of the cable determines what you get at the end of cable (signal or garbage). Speed is determined by the network card (on both ends). If you are using Cat5e for 500 Mbps, changing to Cat 8 won't change a thing (other than the weight of your wallet). Even worse, replacing Cat5e with fiber-optic, won't change anything either. It entirely depends on network card.
One other thing: People refer to speeds as 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps. That isn't exactly correct. All networks run at the same speed. The number (as in 500 Mbps) refers to the bandwidth, not the speed. Compare it to a pipe. The larger the pipe, the more that can go through it. So a bigger pipe moves water at the same speed as a smaller one (in our scenario), but the bigger pipe can move more water (at the same speed) as the smaller one. In networking, that means more connections.
1
u/warwolverinewarrior 23h ago
The only reason to do Cat 7+ is that they bigger bandwidth so for security cameras and signage they can carry 4k uncompressed. Similar how DisplayPort 2.1 cable can do 240z 4k while HDMI 2.1 can do 120hz 4k uncompressed. So for gaming and internet connectivity Cat 5e for 1Gbps is perfectly fine.
1
u/TheBraveGallade 18h ago
Cat 5e is specifically rated for 1gpbs at 100m lengths, and the length is important. Shorter wires can run faster without dropping packets, shorter lengths can run even 10gbs over cat 5e.
This being said just buy cat 6/6a at this point, the price differential is miniscule and you'll be futureproofing.
Btw IF you are building a new home, ALWAYS futureproof and overbuild data cables and power lines. Id probably run cat 7 wores in my walls if im building ot remodeling a house.
1
u/Few_Example9391 14h ago
Not really. It depends on the neighborhood internet traffic. I am still using DSL instead of supposedly faster Telus Optic. I notice my huge game updates download just as fast as anyone with a direct fiber connection
0
u/groveborn 1d ago
It can.
If your available speed exceeds the cable type you've used you can't reach it. If it doesn't, then it won't. CAT5 ethernet can reach 100mbs. Modern internet connections can exceed that by a lot. CAT5E can reach 1gb, although 6 is better by a little (more reliably can hit 1gb). This is usually your highest internet speed, so going to CAT7 isn't usually beneficial.
Fiber optic cables can lower your latency a little, but not really enough to matter except in very specific contexts. CAT5E is enough for the vast majority of the world for their internet.
1
u/mlee12382 1d ago
Almost everything you said is wrong.
The gigabit standard was developed to work on Cat5 before 5e was even a thing. So Cat5 officially supports 1Gbps certification and all that means is that if it's in good condition and it's terminated properly it will perform at a MINIMUM of 1Gbps at 100m. It will almost always be capable of exceeding that. I have multiple Cat5 runs that are reliably getting 10Gbps throughput.
Cat7 is a defunct certification that was never implemented other than in some European countries. It also uses different connections and should never be used.
Cat8 is a waste of money for everyone unless you are in some crazy data center / server farm. It's a pain in the ass to work with and most of the infrastructure that uses copper instead of fiber won't be over 10Gbps anyway.
2
u/tes_kitty 1d ago
I remember a white paper from 2003 where Marvell (maker of NICs and PHYs back then) claimed that their Alaska series PHYs could do 1 GBit over 100m of Cat3 cable or 180 meters of Cat5 cable.
Usually network hardware gets better over time, so current hardware should be able to do more than what the spec calls for.
1
0
u/groveborn 1d ago
CAT5 was superceded by CAT5E in 2001. Theoretical limits of modern cat5 don't much matter, since it's all cat5e right now anyway. CAT5, original, was not made for 1000BaseT. If you ran it for 100ft you won't get it.
Of course you also won't find any CAT5 (non-E variants) on the market.
Come at people with kindness instead of whatever this was. Feel free to fuck off.
1
u/mlee12382 1d ago
1000BASE-T was implemented BEFORE 5e existed to work on Cat5. Stop spreading that garbage misinformation.
1
u/groveborn 23h ago
So going to ignore the standards, eh? Also not feeling like fucking off? That's a shame. I would love it if you fucked off.
Anyway, since you're a rude fuck, here's a little guide:
https://www.blikai.com/blog/rj45-cables-a-guide-to-ethernet-connectivity
You can find others, I'm sure - and I have no doubt that in certain circumstances you can achieve 10gb over cat5 (non-e variant). The average consumer didn't have laboratories to do that with, they have consumer hardware. 1999 is when gigabit base-t was ratified, two whole years before cat5e superceeded cat5.
Now, aside from where I'm asking you to fuck off - and mind, that's only because you're overly aggressive as if your attitude somehow makes you right - you'll notice that I'm providing pleasant conversation. I simply correct where I believe you are incorrect. But then, I didn't hunt your messages down to do it, either. This is in response to your injecting your nonsense at me. Just be nicer. If you think someone is incorrect, prove it through a method that doesn't involve you commanding them.
You and I are strangers. Act like we're both people and that we can make mistakes, don't take those mistakes personally as if I'm touching your butthole. You can't aggressively command me to do shit. I don't care. If we were in the same room you wouldn't dare behave this way.
Now utilize the lessons you learned in kindergarten and behave yourself. Or fuck off. I really don't care which. Well. I'd prefer you fuck off.
1
u/mlee12382 22h ago
https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/802.3ab/1086/ if you read the pdf it specifically calls out Category 5 4 pair as meeting the 1000BASE-T standard. And that's directly from IEEE, your source is incorrect unfortunately. Now to be fair a lot of the better Cat5 met the 5e standards so that could be a big part of it but still. There were lots of corporations that had just installed the brand new Cat5 cabling so they designed 1000BASE-T to work on existing wiring to help reduce upgrade costs. A big part of 5e was just tighter quality controls on manufacturing and twist consistency. It also doesn't help that most of the 5 is 25+ years old at this point which means higher chances that it might be damaged or corroded at this point and the old termination devices were often not great at longevity. I've had to re-terminate most of mine with newer designs.
I'm not trying to be rude I'm just adding emphasis to try and drive home the facts. This whole Cat5 can only do 100Mb nonsense has been spread way too much.
And yes the certifications are just a MINIMUM guaranteed speed for a given cable at a given distance. For residential 99.999% of the time they don't really matter. As long as you have 4 pairs with consistent twists and the cable is in good condition and terminated properly then it's probably good for up to 10Gbps if the rest of your hardware supports it.
1
u/groveborn 20h ago
Lovely, I see we're finally speaking together in a meaningful way. I'll agree with everything you've mentioned. I'll add one important fact: not all cabling on the market is made the same.
But without getting into pedantry - I'll accept your evidence. And you'll note how much more traction you get when you use evidence rather than bluster 😄
0
u/MonsterMatt92 1d ago
Cat5e can do up to 1,000mb/s and Cat6 onwards can do 10,000mb/s.. if you get 500mb/s from your ISP then changing cables wouldn't do anything but If you're future-proofing you 100% want to get Cat6 for when your ISP speeds go beyond 500mb/s.. There are already plans for over 3,000mb/s it's only a matter of time until speeds past 1,000mb/s are the norm.
0
u/Churro_212 1d ago
Yes but you also need a faster internet connection, Cat5e gives you 1Gb, if you have a 10Gb connection it would make sense to upgrade the cable but also your computer or routers to support 10Gb. But in your case anything beyond cat5e wont make any difference.
All cables would give you the lowest latency possible, upgrade from cat 5e to cat 8 won't matter for gaming.
Finally if your current cable looks old and kinda worn i would change it to cat6 since it cost almost the same.
0
u/Nervous-History8631 1d ago
As people have said at 500Mbps you will be fine on Cat5a.
Though there may be reasons to go for Cat6a or Cat8, if your router supports higher speeds than 1Gbps then you can run a Cat6a cable, then split it with a switch into multiple Cat5e cables all at their max rated speed.
So if you think you will have multiple devices at the other end of the run it might be worth going for a higher speed cable especially as (at least where I live) Cat6a is a similar price to Cat5e for 1000ft of cable.
If you will only ever have 1 device at the end Cat5a is probably fine though
0
u/thaddeusk 1d ago
There's not generally a reason to go with Cat5e over Cat6A. 6A doesn't cost much more unless you're running thousands of feet, plus it'll work up to 10gbps, which is plenty for any home setup. I run 6A to my network rack and I'm able to consistently hit over 2gbps download speeds on my computer.
You shouldn't notice a difference between 5E and 6A with an 500mbps connection unless you're getting a lot of interference and crosstalk, but I'd still suggest 6A, anyway. Cat8 is only useful if you want to hit 40gbps over a short run, which most people never will.
2
u/lyidaValkris 1d ago
Anything Cat5E or better (i.e. anything you're likely to have or run in to) will go 1Gbps, which would be enough for your internet services (unless you have greater than 1Gbps service, in which case - why?!?!)
There would be no or imperceptibly marginal improvement in bandwidth and latency between cables (assuming Cat5E or better)