CAT 5e cabling choices

[BarryS]

This one may be a no-brainer, but I thought I get some feedback from the group anyway. I have a contractor bidding on a network cabling project for me in a new office suite. There are currently 12 workstations using a mix of Windows 2000 and Windows 98 SE. I have 3 servers all running NT 4.0: PDC, Exchange 5.5, and SQL 7.0.

The contractor has given me the option to install Amp Cat 5e cable rated at 350MHz or Cat 5e 100MHz by either Amp or General Cable. With an overall project cost estimated at $10k, a difference of $600 seems nominal for the higher rated cable. However, there may be some issues I'm not aware of. I would rather over-equip my office than get by with today's standards and have to recable the office down the road to keep up with technology.

For routing, I will be using a 3Com SuperStack III 4400 Managed Switch.

Thanks,

Barry

[skuz]

I'd say either cable will do. I have never heard of "ratings" though...

[BarryS]

Maybe "ratings" was the wrong word. How about transfer speed?

[DougM]

You might try loking at information on the Anixter website, I don't know if I would call them completely unbiased but they have some interesting information.

http://www.anixter.com/home.htm

in particulat you might want to look at:
http://www.anixter.com/ind/pdf/9B0026X0.pdf

[kwebb]

350 and 100 is the frequency, not the speed. Both Cat5 and Cat5E will transfer data at 100Mb. Get Cat5E. Rated up to gigabit speeds. Better quality cable. Worth the money if for nothing more than the upgrade path. No Cat5E at 100Mhz that I have heard of but I am not really a cable jockey, or a purchaser so maybe there is.

Here's some reading material.

http://www.csp.com/html/tech_library/cable_cat_def/cablecat_def.html

[BarryS]

Thanks everyone! Good reading material.

Barry