Steam Link Cat5 or Cat6

[saulveloz]

I've ordered my Steam Link but i'm missing the ethernet cable, which do i buy and why?
-Cat6
-Cat5

[firmak]

cat5e

cat6 is overkill

[saulveloz]

Thank You Very Much, I'll buy Cat5e

[ErrantChaosie]

Actually the steam link comes with an ethernet cable.

(and an hdmi cable)

[saulveloz]

Thanks Flying, but my router is 10 meters away :(

[Ghostwolf]

Does it come with a cat5e or a cat6? Does it matter?

[Sicris]

Use Cat 6 or above. It works at a higher frequency than Cat 5e and there is less packet loss from internal crosstalk so you should have less latancy. Besides it's only costs slightly more than cat 5e.

I have some Cat 5e and some Cat 7 cables. I can tell you right now I have less issues with the Cat 7 Cables compared to the 5e ones. I even use steam link over wifi with no issues with nothing but the streaming PC hooked up to the router with the Cat 7 cables.

[Sicris]

Originally posted by Davoc:

Does it come with a cat5e or a cat6? Does it matter?

Am 99% sure the cable valve gives you is Cat 5e.

[Passatuner]

I used the cheapest cat 5e cable i could find at my local dealer, 20 meters from router to the link. No issues at all, wonderful latency, no packet loss, great speed.

[hup]

Steam link are 100 megabit only

[Jynx]

You're going to want the new exclusive Cat-OVER9000! Cat5e and above will work, I believe cat5e can do up to 100 meter runs before an active repearter needs to be present.

[toidi]

Cat 6 is great if you can find one cheaply and readily available. 5e works fine for my network, given that I found a 10m one in my 'big box of computery bits' as the wife likes to call it.

[Zidrean]

I had problems with lag now and then with my cat 5 cables that was supposed to be sufficient. After ruling out most things (steam link settings, router settings, router) i finally bought cat6 cables and everything was solved and now it works like a dream. So get cat6!

[hup]

Originally posted by Zidrean:

I had problems with lag now and then with my cat 5 cables that was supposed to be sufficient. After ruling out most things (steam link settings, router settings, router) i finally bought cat6 cables and everything was solved and now it works like a dream. So get cat6!

Bad cable quality
Can happen for all cable

[Sicris]

Originally posted by hup:

Originally posted by Zidrean:

I had problems with lag now and then with my cat 5 cables that was supposed to be sufficient. After ruling out most things (steam link settings, router settings, router) i finally bought cat6 cables and everything was solved and now it works like a dream. So get cat6!

Bad cable quality
Can happen for all cable

True but it's much more prevalent in Cat 5e cables. Cat 5e is the bare minimum you can get for gigabit, but the minimum like with anything else will usually give out bad performance. However, while Cat 5e can support gigabit, it's not certified for it. And while steam link by itself does not need gigabit to function, when it's on a network connected to a bunch of other devices that are also eating up the bandwidth, Cat 6 is the safer option.