Budget gigabit Home Network Project

im planning on wiring up my own gigabit home network ( mainly for my own enjoyment of having a project to do) , in wall wiring into keystone wall jacks in my office, living room, bedroom, and my soon to be server room which is a small walk in closet where i will soon put a home built free Nas file server, and sometime down the line a VPN / DHCP caching server along with my switch modem and router , but the problem, is that my budget is about $100 not including the servers or internet modem, i think i have come up with a decent list of components to stay in my budget and still have a semi high performance network 

Component List: 

Cat 6 Ethernet: 250 feet with patch cable connectors and cheap crimpers $29 on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Aurum-Cables-pair-CAT6-Kit/dp/B00HS2AKVW/ref=sr_1_24?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1396775084&sr=1-24&keywords=cat+6

8 Port gigabit switch: $23 on monoprice....., all the reviews on all the sites iv looked at are 100%, this price is amazing if it acctually performs reliably, and im ok taking a chance with only $23 on the line  http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=105&cp_id=10521&cs_id=1052104&p_id=10927&seq=1&format=2

Various connectors etc... keystone punch down connectors and wall plates $20 again from monoprice 

seeing as this is a fair amount below my budget, would anyone suggest anything different ? , or add a few components to a similar setup ? , any input is appreciated since i am fairly new to networking 

 

 

 

I have a similar setup to what you are wanting to run and going by that it looks like it will work. Prices on the wall plates and connectors can add up fast. If you are patient, Newegg will have deals on switches pretty regular. I bought a spare just in case. Try to get a larger switch than you think you need so you have room to add later on. I went to Home Depot and got one of those metal and wood shelving racks to put all of my stuff on. I know you said it was going in a closet so if you have the space that is something you could consider later on. With the rack I can have my printer, pfsense router computer, and server together and store all my other spare parts. Just to save money I just put the rack in front of the hole that all the cat5 is coming out of. I didn't bother with a patch panel. Oh yea, try to label them as you pull to keep things organized. It looks like your cat6 kit has a toner just in case. I'm not a networking pro but mine is working :) Have fun.

I moved into my house last year and I knew nothing about networking. I started off planning out the whole setup but I am still adding cool network things to my network.

I would highly suggest you invest in a larger switch. 8 port is really not much at all. I have a 24 port and its almost full. I have a Netgear 24 port prosafe switch (decent budget Layer 2 switch) and im starting to play around with VLANs and Link aggregation. Right now my home server and my workstation has dual intel NICs each, the transfer speeds when Lightroom is accessing multiple photos is noticeable. I also suggest running more lines to wherever you need them if you are thinking of running 2 lines run 4! I ran 3 CAT 6 lines to my living room and now I need one more because Im relocating the HTPC to the server cabinet (yeah I got a 24U server cabinet too) to clean up the appearance in the living room (less visible electronics) For me to relocate it I am using HDMI over CAT 6 so that takes two lines out. I am also using 1 CAT 6 for USB (for the remote IR). The reason ill want another CAT 6 run is ill need it for my receiver. 

Monoprice is great and would suggest most things from them for a home environment I actually just got things from them today so im pretty excited to go home and install them. 

I too can vouch for monoprice. I am using their 8 port gig nic in my server room and lab. Would Def suggest a larger one for a whole house tho. I can also vouch for all of their cables.

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