Cat 5 or Cat 6 CABLE from my older router to my new TV?

[Sir_Viver]

Yesterday I purchased a brand new 4K Roku TV that offers an ethernet connection.

The 4K TV will be just 6 feet from my 8 year old NETGEAR N300 router, so I want to connect them with an ethernet cable instead of WI-FI.

Should I use a Cat 6 cable or a Cat 5 cable?

Because they will be ethernet connected, will the performance be GREAT regardless of the age of the router and the type of cable?

Would purchasing a newer, faster router make any difference at all since they are ethernet connected?

Thank you!

[antinode]

> Should I use a Cat 6 cable or a Cat 5 cable?

   Assuming that your "Cat 5" would actually be "Cat5e", and especially
for a short run, you would very probably see no difference.

> Because they will be ethernet connected, will the performance be GREAT
> regardless of the age of the router and the type of cable?

   Not really.  Total network performance depends on every link in the
chain.  If your ISP service or your old router is the bottleneck in your
system, then the best Ethernet cable in the world to the TV won't help
you.

> Would purchasing a newer, faster router make any difference at all
> since they are ethernet connected?

   See above.  Is your router your bottleneck?  I'd run the experiment
with your current router before engaging in whimsical upgrades.  If your
ISP service is slow, then the fastest router in the world won't help
you.

[antinode]

   Also, if your "8 year old NETGEAR N300 router" is the WNR2000v3 shown
after your posting, then its Ethernet ports operate at 100MHz (maximum),
so you might be hard pressed to find a cable which is old/poor enough to
make any difference.  But that still doesn't tell us where your
bottleneck lies.