Patch cables for 1000BaseT Cat{5,5E}?

1000T is designed to run on CAT5, but 5E was designed around the standard. It's actually been run on barbed wire in a demonstration (don't try this at home), so it's a lot more robust than is generally realized. That said, if you have a vendor charging 40% more for CAT5E than for CAT5 patch cables they're gouging--the only real difference is passing a few tests and if their CAT5 cables don't pass 5E then they must really suck. Personally I'd find a different vendor--one that doesn't try to gouge you.

Fully agreed. I think the difference that gets the -E is an ACR and alienXT spec. Almost all Cat5 installs meet 5e.

??? I'd heard of 10baseT running over barbed wire, but not 100baseTX or 1000baseT. The barbs will act like chokes :)

Or inventory clearance. I can't see there being much difference between Cat5 & -5e patchcords. Yes, the cable will be 5e rated. Alien XT is irrelevant for patch, and the attenuation difference can't be significant.

-- Robert

CAT5E spec was developed specifically to support 1000BASE-T, so I would not attempt to save 40% by rendering your cabling system useless or slow-moving.

Actually, CAT5 vs. CAT5E is not even the point here. CAT5E was ratified as a standard back in 1999. Now, in 2004, there is no practical reason for a decent manufacturer to continue to make old CAT5 stuff that was removed from the standard. Therefore anyone still using the CAT5 designation (without "E") is just trying to mask the fact that this is either an old stock or just a poor quality part that did not make it through the CAT5E test. While there might be nothing wrong with an old stock CAT5 part from a decent manufacturer (in fact, it may very well pass CAT5E test), I would stay far away from any recent part that is still marked "CAT5" (without "E").