What’s the difference between each type of ethernet cord and what’s are their applications? Which is best for gaming?
In: Technology
CAT3: Rarely used today, CAT3 is usually deployed in phone lines. It supports 10 Mbps for up to 100 meters.
CAT4: Typically used in token ring networks, CAT4 supports 16 Mbps for up to 100 meters.
CAT5: Used in Ethernet-based LANs, CAT5 contains two twisted pairs. It supports 100 Mbps for up to 100 meters.
CAT5e: Used in Ethernet-based LANs, CAT5e contains four twisted pairs. It supports 1 Gbps for 100 meters.
CAT6: Used in Ethernet-based LANs and data center networks, CAT6 contains four tightly wound twisted pairs. It supports 1 Gbps for up to 100 meters and 10 Gbps for up to 50 meters
What do you mean exactly? Shielded vs non shielded? Cat 5 vs Cat 6???
“Best for gaming” isn’t really a thing. Either a cable will work correctly or it will not. A cable that does not work correctly is either being used for a purpose it is not suited (eg: gigabit over cat5) or is defective and needs replacing. Cat5 will do you just fine if your internet connection is 100 megabits or slower and you don’t need the speed for local LAN stuff either.
The higher the category of the cable, the higher the quality and the cable for the purpose of sending quality electrical signals over long distances. Generally increases in specifications will involve the numbers of twists per inch (and this can vary for each individual pair of cables), separation of the cables, thickness and types of the wires, etc. Obviously there are more differences but if you were to take apart cables this is what you would notice.
Others have already listed other types of network cable that exist and their usefulness. There is a CAT6a spec that is used for 10 Gigabits/second up to 100 meters (~328 feet). Still that doesn’t see much use because as you get to that point fiber-optic cables make a lot of sense in their place.
You should use STP cable for gaming to reduce as much electromagnetic interference (EMI) as possible. Packet drops produce lag, so minimizing packet drops is of utmost importance.
Most games don’t actually use that much bandwidth. For most residential applications, CAT5e is good enough.
But for gaming you want STP cables, not UTP. UTP is just cable without additional EMI shielding.
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