Flat vs Round Etherner Cables

[PhantomICEMAN]

Hi, im pretty sure i will probably open a debate with this one but in terms of performance is there a difference between a flat or round ethernet cable aside from the fact that the round cables have better sheilding around them. Im planning to do a 30 meter run which will will involve taking the cable up some Hot Pipe Trunking in the front room where the router is located into the upstairs bedroom and then from there to my office which will involve taking over a few door frames as well.Im on a 1 gig internet connection and im hoping to get a 10 gb switch to connect my main machine and unraid server to and use the ethernet feed to connect to the internet as well as the router network.Some sources are saying that the flat cables are no where as good as the round ones where as  others say they work perfectly fine.Obviously flat ones will be more malleable and easier to conceal and take under doors etc so that would be my prefered choice, but is  it the right choice?

[_cjd_]

You're going to need plenum grade (assuming "hot pipe" is carrying air you breathe), cat6 at a minimum... I have a similar length run and it's solid at 10gb (iperf verified). You're not going to find flat cable which meets spec. 6e is going to be more appropriate for 10g and more future-proof but may not work so well in the tight spots. Be attentive to bend radius still if you want 10gbe.

[PhantomICEMAN]

On 2/4/2024 at 7:36 PM, _cjd_ said:

You're going to need plenum grade (assuming "hot pipe" is carrying air you breathe), cat6 at a minimum... I have a similar length run and it's solid at 10gb (iperf verified). You're not going to find flat cable which meets spec. 6e is going to be more appropriate for 10g and more future-proof but may not work so well in the tight spots. Be attentive to bend radius still if you want 10gbe.

Thanks looking within the pipe trunking ive realised the isnt adequate space within it to keep the externet cable at a reasonable distance from the hot pipes which will no doubt lead to either damage to the cable over time or degradation of its peformance. Ive therefore considered taking it up its own dedicated trunking however Im undecided what type of sheilding i will require. Im most likely going to go cat 6 over 6A as in terms of speed theres not much of a difference only that its able to get 10gb to a further distance but aside from that its supposed to be easier to work with. As i have nothing capable of using 10gb ethernet (tv,firstick,ps5 and xbox) where the router (which also only supports 2.5gbs) is located having 10gb is not really a big issue i could most likely get away with Cat 5E but id rather have the extra bandwidth should it become the norm in the future.I will be getting 10gb nics for my server and pc so im able to transfer files at  10gbs however both of these will be connected to their own dedicated switch.Im unsure what route the cable will take wether it will go under the carpets and over door frames or under the floorboards alongside the electrical wiring. Id personally perfer the latter as then its not visibile and its out of tte way however im not sure what type of cable i need. Im probably inclined to think sftp since it has maximum protection but will  it be too stiff to work with or is overkill for my specific scenario.

[_cjd_]

Standard cat6 should be a reasonable balance between speed capability/shielding and cable flexibility. It still does not want to do hard 90 degree bends (over a door frame, or around an inside corner under baseboard) but you can get close; I'd also choose the baseboard approach. You just may get noise and lose speed if you DO introduce a hard bend.

Plenum grade is there for when heat released VOCs can get into the air supply. Not sure what kind of construction you're dealing with so it's hard to say what you'll have the best luck with.

Probably easier to dig in a little more yourself; I've found this series to be useful.