Is it time for 1000mbps?

[E_tron]

I transfer alot of large files across my network (sometimes complete HDD images) and with the purchase of another new HDD, i've discovered what appears to be a bottleneck, my 10/100Mbps switches. Until now, it was difficult to peg my backplane (required many transfers in the past).

If i get 1000Mbps adaptors (fitted to PCI) and switches, will i see a significant speed boost or am i transfering at nearly the max speed of modern HDDs (like 80% or something making the upgrade negligible)? Will 1000Mbps even work on about 220 feet of cat5e cable? Can old PCI even handle 1000Mbps?

thanks.

[Jon]

I transfer alot of video I encode to my HTPCs and I did the jump from 10/100 to Gbit. I went from around 6MBps (48Mbps) to 30MBps (240Mbps).

Considering Gbit PCI cards are around $10 and a Gbit 5-port switch can be had for $25, it's a pretty good upgrade.

[CGR]

With a 220 ft cable you may not see the increase Jon got, but will be a lot faster than 10/100 and as Jon said its cheap to upgrade to 1000.