Do I need a crossover cable?

Kyle

I'm planning on using my desktop's 2nd gigabit port to connect p2p to my new HTPC in the living room. Since I'm buying a long cord to go through the attic and hopefully last a long time, I've decided to go with Cat6.

My question is whether or not I actually need a crossover cable. According to the Cat6 wikipedia article, I don't:

All gigabit ethernet equipment, and most new 10/100Mb equipment, supports automatic crossover, meaning that either a straight-through or crossover cable may be used for any connection.

But the "automatic crossover" (or Auto-MDIX) article says:

For Auto-MDIX to operate correctly, the speed on the interface and duplex setting must be set to "auto"

My concern is that if I rely on this automatic crossover I might get decreased performance if I get a straight-through cable as opposed to a crossover. I would like to get a straight-through cable so that I could use it as a patch to a gigabit switch some day, but for now I just want a p2p connection.

Cyclonite

If it automatically determines crossover, then you should be fine with straight-through. However, I'd verify my hardware first. Also, if you're running the cable through the wall, why don't you punch it down to a wall-jack and just get a short patch-cable for each end?

BlackHawk

I don't think you'd have any problems but just in case, if it doesn't work you can change the cable to crossover by redoing the connections (crimping tool and connectors).

Kyle

I just checked my hardware. My desktop's LAN ports are Realtek 8110SC and 8111B, and my HTPC uses Realtek 8111C, all of which claim to feature "Automatic Crossover Detection"

I guess I'll just go with a straight-through cable and run some benchmarks to see if everything is good (before running it through the walls/attic, of course.

Shorty

As long as both interfaces are set to auto-negotiate, they will be fine