Recommended switch?

[thehorse13]

What IS the difference between CAT3/5/6 etc? is it just quality of manufacture or what?

Data transfer rates is the key difference. Have a look at the IEEE standards page for more info.

Gigabit for normal workstations is overkill as a machine doesnt have enough throughput to saturate the link. In addition you need at least 5e for 100mb. You should try to isolate the bottlenecks before throwing gear at the problem.

Exactly my point. Invest some time with a fluke meter to determine what's going on before throwing money at expensive gear.

--TH13

[r3b00+]

Im learning as i go here. This is my first admin job.
Ive decided to have a look at ethereal to try and isolate the bottleneck(s).
Ive never used it so doing a lot of cramming on the documentation.
Theres an old 10mbps switch in the closet that i know isnt doing the network any good, so im gonna replace this with a 100mbps switch with a few 1000mbps ports for heavily used servers.
I used a program called netcps and found the transfer rate on the network range from 1-3mbps.

Thanks all for the advice again, priceless!