FASTer Ethernet

Fast Ethernet (100BaseT) is the current popular standard. It has a fat 100Mbps pipe, ten times faster that plain vanilla Ethernet. The extra speed isn't necessary for gaming, but it does come in handy. On a regular Ethernet network, a single computer can saturate the entire network with something as simple as a large file transfer. On 100BaseT, no single computer can fill the entire 100Mbps (10MB/s) bandwidth, guaranteeing that you won't be interrupting a critical deathmatch session while you copy files off of another friend's computer.

Fast Ethernet only supports RJ45 Twisted Pair networks. Setting up a 100BaseT network is exactly like setting up a 10BaseT network. The only difference is that the hub and network cards have to support the 100Mbps speed. Many Fast Ethernet hubs also support Ethernet connections that allow 10Mbps network cards to communicate with 100Mbps cards. If you plan on implementing an RJ45/hub based network, we recommend Fast Ethernet over normal Ethernet because it's faster, just as easy to install, can be compatible with 10BaseT network cards, and is only slightly more expensive, if at all.

Basically, this leaves you with three networking options: 10Base2, 10BaseT, and 100BaseT. Unless you already own a 10BaseT hub, Fast Ethernet is a better option than standard Ethernet. That makes it a choice between Ethernet w/coax or Fast Ethernet. 10Base2 Ethernet is cheap and simple, but it only runs at 10Mbps, and removing or adding computers to the chain will disrupt network operations. Fast Ethernet is more complicated and more expensive, but it's ten times faster and can offer compatibility with 10Mbps network cards.