Wiring Cat5/6?

[stealth]

So I recently moved into a new house.

The house was pre-wired with Cat5 for telephone wiring. Shaw came to the house and wired them up for telephone use.

I am thinking of putting Cat6 wiring in throughout the house in all rooms and especially the living room.

Would it be worth it to wire this all in, or should I just use the existing Cat5 and wire them for "Network" use? If I went this route, I would only have to wire in the living room, and I would leave the house as is with one outlet in each room.

If I were to go Cat6 I would make two connections in each room. And leave the existing wiring as telephone lines.

Any input?

[Khyron]

Cat5 is fine for GB network assuming none of the pairs are being used for phone.

Just use the wires that are there, and use a switch if you happen to have 2+ devices in a room. Not worth the cost of running cat6.

[stealth]

I just want to make sure the Cat5e is sufficient enough for online gaming, and having Skype at the same time. Right now I use wifi and it is terrible at the same time.

Also Cat6 is pretty cheap from monoprice. I believe 1000 ft is about $100-$150.

[Khyron]

1GB network is fine for 100s of users gaming and skyping at the same time - your internet on the other hand... Wireless is usually crap as well for anything other than web surfing so you'll find the difference night and day just using the existing cat5.

cat6 is exactly the same wire, just better shielding and so you can get away with 10GB network and longer runs. Not needed.

[black_2.5RS]

I did CAT6 on the basis that it's not that much more expensive and i'm too lazy to run wire again - so might as well do it with the best there is right now. I run CAT6 with skype, streaming video and online gaming all at once....sometimes over multiple computers (some of it over wireless) and it's pretty good - no hiccups what so ever. If it fits the budget - I would run 6 over 5 or 5e.

The bigger problem you'll have to consider is that if you want full benefit - you'll have to upgrade all your stuff to GB (that means all of your network cards, wireless, etc.). Cost me a few extra bucks to do it - but it's worth it.

[revelations]

Go with 6 if you have the option. It is markedly improved over 5. However, the benefits of 6 can be lost with a bad wiring job (kinks in cable, bad splice, etc).

[Recca168]

Re-wiring the whole house with cat6 is probably a lot of work. My current place I wired up with cat5 to one outlet in each room. Now I kind of wish I two outlets per room instead.

Performance wise i'm not seeing any issues with Cat5. We've been doing online gaming and running a ton or torrents and everything is running fine. Like Khyron said, Cat5 is fine for a GB network

[Tik-Tok]

Yeah, no point in rewiring it, unless everything is very open already, and easily switchable.

I ran 5e (2 ports per room, 4 in Living room, and family room), and it'll be good for another decade of normal family usage, I'm sure.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Yeah, no point in rewiring it, unless everything is very open already, and easily switchable.

[Thaco]

cat5 is more then sufficient for today's current use home demands.

[codetrap]

I too pulled 5e through the house, and then put in GigE switches to handle the throughput. No issues at all pulling 700Mb+ over the network now. There's no point in doing 6, unless you feel like wasting money.

[benyl]

Originally posted by codetrap
I too pulled 5e through the house, and then put in GigE switches to handle the throughput. No issues at all pulling 700Mb+ over the network now. There's no point in doing 6, unless you feel like wasting money.

6 or 6STP is only worth it if you are planning on streaming 1080p video.

I ran a pair of 6STP to all the rooms and TV locations in my house. Turns out, you can now run 1080p over 1 cat6STP.

Oh well, I guess you can't have too much wiring... haha

[codetrap]

Originally posted by benyl


6 or 6STP is only worth it if you are planning on streaming 1080p video.

I ran a pair of 6STP to all the rooms and TV locations in my house. Turns out, you can now run 1080p over 1 cat6STP.

Oh well, I guess you can't have too much wiring... haha

Yeah.. I'm streaming 1080p just fine over Cat5e. Watched Real Steel in full 1080p on Saturday through the Boxee. Worked just fine.

If I recall correctly, isn't the datarate on BluRay only in the 40-50Mbps range?

[Anomaly]

Originally posted by Thaco
cat5 is more then sufficient for today's current use home demands.

Word. Doesn't matter what you're streaming..

[rage2]

benyl's referring to HDMI over CAT6. Not talking about network streaming.

[Xtrema]

CAT5e is fast enough if they are ran right, cable shielding are good and distance isn't that long. Signal degradation is your enemy for throughput in most cases.

There are very few devices that requires CAT6. If 10Gbps ever get popular, you'll need CAT6A to get any meaningful distance.

But really, BD 1080p is going up to only 40Mbps (And I guess 2x that for 3D?). 1000Mbps should be enough for a quite awhile. Even if you count whatever TCPIP overhead on top.

Now if we ever go to 4K which is 4x 1080p, that may get a bit more interesting on quality of wiring.

Originally posted by rage2
benyl's referring to HDMI over CAT6. Not talking about network streaming.

Now that make more sense. Anyone tried HDMI over CAT5/5e?

[Mibz]

Originally posted by Xtrema
Anyone tried HDMI over CAT5/5e?

They make baluns that will do HDMI 1.3 over 2x Cat5e. I'm sure over small distances Cat5 would work as well. I ran a shit ton of Cat6 through my new house in anticipation of running HDMI over it. Turns out that it was cheaper to just buy extra cable boxes for each TV, and I only play video games and watch the HTPC on my biggest TV so the usefulness just isn't there for me.

Yet.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Mibz
They make baluns that will do HDMI 1.3 over 2x Cat5e. I'm sure over small distances Cat5 would work as well. I ran a shit ton of Cat6 through my new house in anticipation of running HDMI over it. Turns out that it was cheaper to just buy extra cable boxes for each TV, and I only play video games and watch the HTPC on my biggest TV so the usefulness just isn't there for me.

Yet.

I always had a vision of routing everything thru a central media room but changing tech and the close nature of cable system has been making it financially not feasible.

[Mibz]

Yeah, I had big dreams to have an HDMI matrix in the basement, 2 cable boxes, 2 HTPCs and all my game systems down there with IR/RF receivers in each room going to everything. Just some straight ballin' shit.

But yeah, turns out being baller costs baller money. So I spent the $140 on an extra Shaw Portal and, when the time comes, I'll spend another $50 to turn one of my old PCs into another HTPC.

[stealth]

OK, so most of you are saying not to bother with the Cat6.

I am still planning on adding an extra connection in each room. And multiple in the living room. Would you not recommend to go Cat6 for $20-30 more?