CAT 5 and CAT 6

[gmartini]

Can I replace a current CAT 5 cable with a CAT 6 cable or do I need a different connection, switch and hub?

 

[alexoiu]

Yes, you can.

 

[Calculagator]

The cables are and connectors are basically identical. Unless your cat5e cable is broken, there is really no reason to upgrade to cat 6. Both can handle gigabit speeds just fine.

 

[arossetti]

You don't need different connections. They both use RJ-45 jacks. You just need to make sure that whatever you are plugging into supports Gigabit Ethernet. Though I would gather that you'd have to be running on a pretty old box not to support it.

Are you running Cat 5 or 5e? 5e is the same throughput as Cat 6 - Cat 6 is considered better performance. You can also find Cat 7 but that's not a recognized standard.

 

[Kewlx25]

Like Calculagator said, unless you have a need for CAT6, there's no real reason to replace. When I purchase new cables, I purchase CAT6, but I don't feel a need to replace CAT5e, which is good for 1gb at 100m, but CAT5 is only good for about 30' at 1gb.