Can I use crossover with a gigabit switch to play games over LAN?

I was wondering if it was possible to use a switch to play games that use a LAN connection with my family. I know that the game I want to play works with a standard Ethernet cable from one Intel NIC to the other on another PC. Would it still work if I used a switch and connected multiple PCs?

Beyond that, is this a viable / reliable solution for playing lightweight games and doing filesharing between multiple PCs that don't need internet access?

Thanks!

Chad Q

Posted 2015-05-20T19:29:59.037

Reputation: 13

Are you asking if a network switch will work if not connected to the Internet? – Steven – 2015-05-20T19:41:35.703

More or less, yes. More specifically, I'm wondering if a switch will still let my standard Cat5 cable still act like a crossover cable and give me the same type of connectivity that I'm getting by running the cable from one NIC to another, only with 4 or more PCs simultaneously. – Chad Q – 2015-05-20T20:06:20.123

There is almost no conceivable circumstance where you would use a crossover cable with a Gigabit connection. – David Schwartz – 2016-07-21T17:56:45.750

Answers

There should not be any difference for your game between direct connection and connection through the switch. All differences are on physical layer only which is much lower than your game, fileshare, or any other software cares.

How ever, crossover is a special type of cable which is intended to be used for direct connections, and for switch you need patchcord. But modern NICs and switches support both types of cable through so-called "Auto MDI-X" feature.

The difference between cables is order of pairs (patch cord has same order on both ends and crossover has different. So, I am almost sure it will work.

user996142

Posted 2015-05-20T19:29:59.037

Reputation: 1 205

Thanks! This is the answer I was looking for. I know about the different types of cables and I'm familiar with the OSI model, but I wasn't sure if I got the same "crossover" capability through a switch. – Chad Q – 2015-05-20T20:26:31.157

Note: Far from all switches have Auto MDI-X. However, you will not destroy anything by trying. Worst case scenario: It doesn't work – Jarmund – 2015-05-20T21:20:17.690