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I replaced the original post as on reflection, it was a poor article.
https://www.firefold.com/blogs/news/what-are-the-differences-between-cat5-and-cat5e-cables
My network was cat 5. It manages about 60 megabytes a second with large file transfers, and it's worked fine with a Broadcom Gigabit network card for years.
Recently, I've been trying Ubuntu Studio on an Acer desktop with 1 Gb capability using a similar run of cable, yet it defaults to 100 Megabit. I thought It could be driver related as the Acer uses a Realtek LAN chip and Realtek are not generally held in high esteem in Linux circles, with Intel being the champ. Anyway, I verified it was the cable, by using a cat5e patch lead, which connected at 1Gb. Just goes to show.
I now replaced the cabling with cat 5e solid core, only because I got loads for free. It made little difference, then again the server has an old Realtek and a core solo 420
I guess the Broadcom can make the best of a poor setup, the Realtek, not. Plus the Broadcom can offload everything except the kitchen sink, and has bigger buffers. My experiments with jumbo frames caused blue screens using Realtek.
I won't be using the Realtek for the DAWs as I want to use 2 machines in network MIDI/VST host config, which means low latency is paramount. Intel and Broadcom are industry stalwarts, Realtek is low end, and will load the CPU more.
Anyone who has spent a considerable time working in the IT industry knows that there is no such thing as one right answer to any question. The answer will always be some variation of “it depends,” taking multiple variables into account.
https://www.firefold.com/blogs/news/what-are-the-differences-between-cat5-and-cat5e-cables
My network was cat 5. It manages about 60 megabytes a second with large file transfers, and it's worked fine with a Broadcom Gigabit network card for years.
Recently, I've been trying Ubuntu Studio on an Acer desktop with 1 Gb capability using a similar run of cable, yet it defaults to 100 Megabit. I thought It could be driver related as the Acer uses a Realtek LAN chip and Realtek are not generally held in high esteem in Linux circles, with Intel being the champ. Anyway, I verified it was the cable, by using a cat5e patch lead, which connected at 1Gb. Just goes to show.
I now replaced the cabling with cat 5e solid core, only because I got loads for free. It made little difference, then again the server has an old Realtek and a core solo 420
I guess the Broadcom can make the best of a poor setup, the Realtek, not. Plus the Broadcom can offload everything except the kitchen sink, and has bigger buffers. My experiments with jumbo frames caused blue screens using Realtek.
I won't be using the Realtek for the DAWs as I want to use 2 machines in network MIDI/VST host config, which means low latency is paramount. Intel and Broadcom are industry stalwarts, Realtek is low end, and will load the CPU more.
