Are their different qualities of Cat5 Cable?

[jasoneduke]

Hey All-

I'm about to replace some old Cat5 cables that I have setup my home network with. My buddy has been lagging a bit because he is wirelessly connected to the network. I want to purchase about a 25ft piece of Cat5 for him so he can plug into the Verizon Fios router.

My Question is:

Are their different qualities of cable I should be looking for... I've seen 50ft on ebay for a buck... a buck.. something smells fishy there.

Im looking for the best performing cable for gaming. We play starcraft2.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[someone19]

There are several different types of cat5, but in general cat5 is cat5 to the network adapters that they are connected to. The types of cable more specify the type and construction of the outer layer and what kind of environment its designed to exist in. This doesn't change the internal construction of the twisted pair however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable

 

[thendershot]

some cheap cable (the ones that are under 70$ for 1000 feet) are more then likely not to UL spec in the US and Canada and should not bear or reference UL on the box/cable. just like everything in the world there are cheap versions and more expensive higher quality ones.