OK one more: Does Gigabit ethernet connect like 10/100?

[MrMungus]

In other words, if I get a new motherboard with Gigabit Ethernet built-in, can I just hook it right up to my existing 10/100 LAN?

[mujahid7ia]

yea, but it wont be gigabit ethernet, itll be fast _100mbps) ethernet

[MrMungus]

yea, but it wont be gigabit ethernet, itll be fast _100mbps) ethernet

That's fine. I was reading the motherboard reviews and someone mentioned something about having to upgrade their whole network. Does it require an adapter or does it use cat 5/6?

[bluntman72]

The only way to take full advantage of gigabit ethernet is to have a full gigabit connection between the computers - gigabit NICs and a router/hub/switch with gigabit ports.

To paraphrase an old saying:

"You're only as fast as your slowest link"

[MrMungus]

The only way to take full advantage of gigabit ethernet is to have a full gigabit connection between the computers - gigabit NICs and a router/hub/switch with gigabit ports.

To paraphrase an old saying:

"You're only as fast as your slowest link"

Which, as I learned today, is the hard drive, making Gigabit for a home LAN kinda pointless, doesn't it?

[sterno]

Not all data goes through your hard drive, there's more to network servers than file sharing. But yes, gigabit is pretty pointless for home networks. Most on-board NICs (gigabit or otherwise) are of poor quality - they aren't meant to be good, they're meant to be good enough. Even with high-end hardware conventional PC architecture has proven incapable of saturating a gigabit link.