# CAT6, CAT5e and the Gigabit NIC



## tazinlwfl (Dec 16, 2007)

I have a quick question.
I'm looking for a good quality NIC for my workstation turned SBS (no PCI-X, unfortunately)

I am afraid of "bottlenecking" with 15-25 users accessing the server at once (for a databse program)

I'm looking for a PCIe x1, x4, or x8 Gigabit NIC (I was reading that you'll almost never get the full potential from a PCI 10/100/1000 NIC, especially if you're sharing the bus load with something else, but I have a spare PCIe x16 and a PCIe x1 I can utilize, which I heard is even better than a PCI-X)

but then I noticed that even with a better card (i was looking at a Intel pro 1000 PT) my network cables (CAT5e) dont "really" have the capacity for more than, like, 780Mb/s... and only about 350mb/s using a PCI card...

I was looking into CAT6 for the link from my Server to the switch (NETGEAR 24 port Gigabit SmartSwitch) and keep the rest of the workstations using CAT5e

I dont need to make that jump to fiberoptics for about... 10 years... but if they start making CAT6 NICs or even CAT7 NICs (for like 10Gb/s) I might look into that...

Any advice?
(I'm not routing internet THROUGH the server, but the server does provide DHCP service)

i know that my HDD can only write at max 300mbs, so I'm only worrying about total bandwidth...
(newbie to the networking side of things)


THANKS!
Tim


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## krishananda (Jul 26, 2008)

If your switch support ether channel, that would be great, you can use two cat6 cables running to your dual NIC on server to the switch.
with this you should have two - 1gig bandwidth running simultaneously.


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## tazinlwfl (Dec 16, 2007)

That's an idea...

and, since my 24-port switch is all 10/100/1000 RJ-45s, doesnt that mean I can use a CAT6? (or is the backwards capability of a CAT6 only mean that it can use the same bandwidth as a CAT5e, thus making it a waste of $$$)

and, the NIC I was looking at is actually only 1-port, but since it is on a PCIe, it's in/out bandwidth is as if there are two gigabit ports (benefit of having a higer bus, i guess)


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## krishananda (Jul 26, 2008)

yes you can use cat6 and set the bandwidth to 1000 on the switch, the cable would adapt the bandwidth to cat5e if the switch doesn't support 1gig connection.
actually you can use 2 NIC for the server, but make sure you contact the vendor and ask whether the NIC support ether channel.


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