Cat 5e vs. Cat 6 vs. Cat 6A - which should I choose?

[NickIrwin]

Now That's real pain deciding which one is the best. All of them use an RJ-45 end which plugs into the same Ethernet jack. I am facing a lag in Online gaming while playing Minecraft and other Heavy Games.

I am Using Asus RT-AC86U WIfi Router which is best in the market, but still, I am facing lag. I asked the digital guy regarding this and he advises me to use Ethernet Cable. But Wait - The Real Problem is there are many categories I am seeing on Amazon. I am Not Sure which one will work fine for my gaming Experience.

I have done the Research on Google Picking the Top Articles, The differentiation is done according to the Bandwidth. They are saying Cat6a Ethernet Cable is good.

Anyone here on this forum is a gamer and facing the same Issue of Lag while playing online Heavy Games? Please advice.

 

[degrub]

If you use a cable, any of the above (short length 5e works fine), your lag would drop to what the router is capable of. Wireless is slower than hardwired Gigabit lan connections, but it is getting closer if you have the latest chipsets in your device and AP.

6a would only help for long term and if you want to try slightly higher bandwidth - 2.5 Gb or perhaps 10 Gb.
The other issue is the ISP and internet lag over which you have no control.

What about the ISP's device - is it just a modem or is it a modem+router in bridge mode ? That can add to the lag as well.

 

[avtella]

Now That's real pain deciding which one is the best. All of them use an RJ-45 end which plugs into the same Ethernet jack. I am facing a lag in Online gaming while playing Minecraft and other Heavy Games.

I am Using Asus RT-AC86U WIfi Router which is best in the market, but still, I am facing lag. I asked the digital guy regarding this and he advises me to use Ethernet Cable. But Wait - The Real Problem is there are many categories I am seeing on Amazon. I am Not Sure which one will work fine for my gaming Experience.

I have done the Research on Google Picking the Top Articles, The differentiation is done according to the Bandwidth. They are saying Cat6a Ethernet Cable is good.

Anyone here on this forum is a gamer and facing the same Issue of Lag while playing online Heavy Games? Please advice.

I game on a laptop with a GTX1060 MQ (Inspiron 7577) on WiFi.

Now I don’t think it makes a difference what cable you use as when it comes to gaming that uses very little bandwidth like a few 100 kilobits per second at most. You might have something unrelated to the cable such as contention on the upload side with multiple devices/users where QoS would help to balance load between users/devices. For example one or more phones backing up photos/data online could cause latency spikes. Another thing is you might not have a good WiFi card which would cause latency issues as well. If 2.4 GHz is congested in your neighborhood 5Ghz would be better as there less interference, not to mention some microwaves cause interference with 2.4 GHz. Ethernet is always better but WiFi cards have gotten good enough these days, the Intel 8265ac and 9260ac are pretty good cards.

I agree with degrub. The cable differences are more important for higher bandwidths and better cabling is good for future proofing if your running whole home Ethernet or something. However if it’s just between the router and modem it doesn’t really matter unless your modem is like really far away from the modem. Cat 5e will do just fine.

What’s you internet speeds (Download/Upload)?

 

[coxhaus]

I don't see why bother with 6 at all. Go either CAT5e, good copper, or go CAT6a.

 

[Easy Rhino]

it doesn't matter.

the 86U has gigabit ethernet, and Cat5e and up can support that.

If you were talking about permanently wiring parts of your house, then you'd have to worry about a longer term investment.

For lag, work your way up the food chain from your router. How do you get your internet access? For instance, a lot of cable modems use an Intel Puma 6 chipset, which has lag problems. (I didn't believe it, but I tested a new Linsys CM3016 (with Puma) and an old Netgear CM400 (without) and the newer Puma was much worse on latency)

 

[coxhaus]

Yes I agree about lag. I switched from a Ubee modem to a SB8200 modem and I noticed less lag even on wireless. I would not run a Puma 6 modem. There is a big difference in modem lag which effects your whole network.

 

[Gewan]

I'm currently (two years later, yeah) in the same dilemma. I'm buying 10 meters of Cat6 and my local store suggested the slim cable. Salesman said there are no difference in performance between "old-school" thick Ethernet cable and this slim type. I find this hard to believe, though. Some forum suggested that everything up to 25 ft (7.5 m) is fine (no difference), but for longer routes you should go with conventional cable!

Thoughts?