If I'm not mistaken Cat5e will run if not just as good as Cat6 between gigabit ports, however it is of course unshielded, so you'll want to be cautious of the proximity of electrical interference. Cat5 will only run at the 100Mbit although it is shielded.
I picked up two gigabit 8 port switches during Xmas for cheapy cheap.
Im currently running 15m Cat6 cable from inside computer to outside laptop near mount and remote desktop and file transfers are much better!
