Switches that support 10Gb over cat. 5e cables

[sovking]

Hi guys here I'm starting a thread to find how many switches with 10Gb ports are able to keep this speed over cat. 5e cables and how many meters. That could be useful when you cannot overhaul your already cabled network.
If any of you had some experience, write it here.

I report here some contributed value from STH user experience:

• HPE 1850 : 50 feet ~15 m
• Netgear XS708T, S3300: 50 feet ~ 15 m
• Brocade ICX 6610 with Marvell/Acquantia SFP+: 100 feet ~ 30 m
• ZyXEL XS1930-10 and Netgear MS510TX: 127 feet ~ 39 m

 

[VMman]

Hi OP, it depends on many factors including electromagnetic interference (EMI) Not all cables are equal so it would be a guess, my personal experience is Cat5e with 10Gbit only worked short distances like less than 10m although your experience may vary.

 

[TXAG26]

With decent quality Cat5e, most sources I've seen quote 10Gbe over Cat5e works for distances of 30-45m. For a lot of SOHO installs, 10Gbe over existing Cat5e is a very viable solution and one that I'm using. My house had existing Cat5e that I am running a couple of 10Gbe connections on and my longest run is about 50 feet and it works just fine. Using a HPE 1850 switch.

 

[acquacow]

I have several switches and nics doing 10gige over cat5 up to 50ft with no issues. My main 10gige switch is a netgear XS708T, and then I have a netgear S3300 with 10gige uplinks to the 10gig switch. I'm using a variety of aquantia, intel x540, and x550 nics.

 

[turns2stone]

You can add Netgear M5300-28G3 to the list. That’s what I had connected to my Netgear XS708T with about 5m of Cat5e (the longest I could dig up).

 

[hmw]

I have the ICX-6610 - the 10Gb SFP ports will do 10GbE over Cat5E without problems if you use 10Gbase-T SFP modules. If you can get your hands on Aquantia SFP modules, you can do 2.5G and 5G without problems as well. With other SFP modules - YMMV but 10G seems fine

 

[sovking]

I have the ICX-6610 - the 10Gb SFP ports will do 10GbE over Cat5E without problems if you use 10Gbase-T SFP modules. If you can get your hands on Aquantia SFP modules, you can do 2.5G and 5G without problems as well. With other SFP modules - YMMV but 10G seems fine

Have you tested how many meters you can reach at 10G ?
When using Aqquantia SFP modules, ICX-6610 adapt its port to these speed without complain ?
I'm wondering if it would work also in sx6036 with QSFP+ to SFP+ adaptor... but here these speed are not listed as available.

 

[hmw]

Have you tested how many meters you can reach at 10G ?
When using Aqquantia SFP modules, ICX-6610 adapt its port to these speed without complain ?
I'm wondering if it would work also in sx6036 with QSFP+ to SFP+ adaptor... but here these speed are not listed as available.

The runs are 30 ft and 100ft

When using Aquantia SFP modules I can do 10G bi-directionally and 2.5G/5G as well

When using Marvell 88x33X0 modules (Ipolex, Wiitek, Ubiquiti etc) I can do 10G bi-directionally and 2.5G/5G with varying levels of success

The Aquantia SFP modules are rarer than hen's teeth. But Marvell purchased Aquantia so I am sure that the newer Marvell PHYs will all be based on Aquantia AQRate chips

 

[hmw]

I'm wondering if it would work also in sx6036 with QSFP+ to SFP+ adaptor... but here these speed are not listed as available.

Don't you need a Gateway license or similar for the SX6036? Isn't this an Infiniband switch?

 

[sovking]

It's VPI Infiniband/Ethernet Switch, but it's loaded with license for Ethernet up to 56gbps and Gateway.
I tested working at 56Gbps Ethernet from Connectx-3 QCBT converted to FCBT with FDR Mellanox calble (after forcing this speed on the switch and waiting some seconds to leave it to set). In this way this each nic + cable is around 90 - 120 Euro, not bad for this speed.

Anyway... 100ft ~ 33m at 10G with cat5e, is good: it cover most home enviroments and office with limited distance from 10G switches.

 

[randman]

I have a CAT 5e outdoor rated cable, the majority of which is wired on the outside of the home (long story, but for the particular room that it was going to, there was no way to route the cable indoors). This cable was 127'. I was extremely surprised that my ZyXEL XS1930-10 and Netgear MS510TX negotiated 10GbE with this cable.The 10GbE speed has been consistent. I suspect that (a) this particular outdoor-rated CAT 5e cable was well made and (b) the fact that it is mostly outdoors minimizes any electrical interference.

I do have some other CAT 5e indoor cables that was installed many years ago before CAT 6 was available, most less than 50' and they've negotiated 10GbE just fine. All my newer CAT 6 indoor cables all do 10GbE just fine.

Of course, YMMV, but so far, I've been pretty lucky with my old CAT 5e cables.

 

[sovking]

127 feet that's a lot!
I put a look on both ZyXEL XS1930-10 and Netgear MS510TX: how they compare ? What is your feeling with them ?

 

[randman]

The Zyxel has 10 GbE ports, while the Netgear only has 2 GbE ports (plus a combination of 2.5, 5, and 1 GbE ports). I prefer the Zyxel, but it's also more expensive than the Netgear. So, which one to get depends on your needs.