Techy Speccies

Raven

Raven

Annoying SOB
Can you use a CAT5 twisted pair cable to link two 100Mb NICs? Realtek is the NIC manufacturer if thats any help
 
Cat5 isn't a twisted pair by definition. You can do it with a crossover cable (or even a standard patch lead if the NICs have dual-mode ports). I think you'll need Cat5e for 100Mbps though.

MuFu.
 
in english? home networking only here. Never built a LAN so any hints for inreasing speed (general gaming and filesharing only) would be appreciated :)
 
Or, just buy a cat5e crossover cable. Even Staples has them here in the US. I keep one in my computer repair kit for emergencies. Regular cat5 does support 100Mbps, BTW. It says so in this Network+ book I'm studying, anyway.
 
chcr said:
Or, just buy a cat5e crossover cable. Even Staples has them here in the US. I keep one in my computer repair kit for emergencies. Regular cat5 does support 100Mbps, BTW. It says so in this Network+ book I'm studying, anyway.
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It does, CAT5E is enhanced though, so might provide more stability etc.. ohhh ohh :D
 
Isn't the cat5e standard for supporting gigabit over copper wire? I don't have the book here and I'm getting ready for the second A+ test this afternoon (well, I would be if I weren't wasting time here), so i'm not going to Google it.
 
can't remember for sure, but yea i think CAT 6 is just a fancy name for CAT5E :D Which test? Hardware or software? if software i suggest you do a quicky windows 95 and DOS crash browse, they tend to pop some oldies on you but its dead easy.
 
cheers peeps I was gonna buy a CAT5 from dabs.com but I thought it better to ask. Im up on my tech stuff but dont know jack about networking
 
Cat5e is recomended for a wiring closet, where Gig over copper may be used. Cat5 is just fine for 100 mbps. Cat6 has more twists per inc than Cat5e, if I recall correctly.

In a 10/100 mbps ethernet setup, 2 pair are used to transmit data (out of 4 pair available), usually the orange and green pair, but it matters not which colors you use, just be sure to use two colored pairs (the colored pairs are twisted, and for a reason. The twists reduce crosstalk caused by skin effect).

A 10/100 ethernet port uses pins 1 and 2 to transmit, pins 3 and 6 to receive. Here's the layout for both ends of a standard cable...

1 - White Orange (Tx+)
2 - Orange (Tx-)
3 - White Green (Rx+)
4 - Blue (unused)
5 - White Blue (unused)
6 - Green (Rx-)
7 - White Brown (unused)
8 - Brown (unused)

To create a crossover cable, on one end you simply reverse the transmit and receive pins. 1 swaps with 3, 2 swaps with 6.

One end remains the same as above, but the opposite end becomes....

1 - White Green
2 - Green
3 - White Orange
4 - Blue
5 - White Blue
6 - Orange
7 - White Brown
8 - Brown

This kind of cable can be used to connect two PCs together with out a hub/switch.

In most situations, the colors and using pairs don't really matter, just make sure the pins match up. 1 swaps with 3, 2 swaps with 6.

Or you could by a cable for $6 and not worry about anything :)

rrfield
 
steweygrrrr, if your gonna use it for gaming,
you might want to brush-up on several protocols
like tcp/ip, ipx, and I'm not sure what others because
I'm not a big gamer, but I do know that some use more
than just the standard tcp/ip.;)
 
cat6 is not synonymous with cat5e, it has a foil sheath around each pair and a second foil layer covering the entire bundle, surrounded by a fire resistant insulation. it's a newer technology and most equipment can't utilize it's increased bandwidth, or properly ground the foil layers.
 
catocom said:
steweygrrrr, if your gonna use it for gaming,
you might want to brush-up on several protocols
like tcp/ip, ipx, and I'm not sure what others because
I'm not a big gamer, but I do know that some use more
than just the standard tcp/ip.;)
Click to expand...

Most of the ones I have are TCP/IP and IPX for direct peer to peer LANnage. I did have a small LAN game of Diablo II going with my friend but he set it all up and that was on my old PC which only had a 10Mb ethernet card and a 2m crossover cable
 
Cat5 = allows 100Mbps over 2 pairs
Cat5e = allows 1Gigabit over 4 pairs
Cat6 and 7 = not a standard yet, AFAIK
 
Luis G said:
Cat5 = allows 100Mbps over 2 pairs
Cat5e = allows 1Gigabit over 4 pairs
Cat6 and 7 = not a standard yet, AFAIK
Click to expand...

you can run 1gbps on cat5 over short distances. I've done it before with a 10 ft. (3m) cable. Measured the throughput with a NMS and everything.

rrfield
 
rrfield said:
you can run 1gbps on cat5 over short distances. I've done it before with a 10 ft. (3m) cable. Measured the throughput with a NMS and everything.

rrfield
Click to expand...

You can do a lot of things, but most of the time there's no certainty about wether it will work right constantly or not, then is when you have to take a look at the standards ;)
 
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