Bandwidth disparity and maintaining ratios.

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Originally Posted by s0nuvab|tch

I like the idea of building a dedicated box for filesharing. ;)

My rig has a power hungry p4@ 3.8Ghz and is loaded for bear.
Plus, I don't want to tie it up by running bittorrents 24/7.

The only problem is my internet connection, but the way it sounds, maintaining a good ratio should NOT be a problem if I have a dedicated server running 24/7.

...now I need some help on building a new box. :D

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Torrents don't need much processing power, but if your main rig is stuffed with fans you gonna have problems with noise at night.
Putting together dedicated fileserver is quite easy - any case with 120mm fans cooling drive cage, 350W PSU (FSP is a good brand), mobo with integrated video, 512 megs of RAM, low-end Intel Core CPU, hardware RAID card and as much HDDs as you can afford in RAID5. You can also buy a NAS or router with bittorent client if you need a silent and compact system, check smallnetbuilder.com

Sorry 'bout all that damn editing!
Having some serious problems figuring out the "quoting" ! :P

I don't understand why you'd want to build a dedicated server. If you want a faster connection and an always on connection on a seperate computer then pay for a seedbox!

There's no reason to build a seperate computer in your house just for seeding! Huge waste of money in my opinion!
Edit: and tbh your connection is going to be enough! So why would you want a seperate box?

@ Augusto, you never did explain the "leeching mode".

Were you just speaking in generality or is there some kind of settings that I'm unaware of?

Thanks for the tip on 'smallnetbuilder', I'll be exploring my options.
This is ALL new to me and I appreciate everyone's help.

There is no such thing as leeching mode. Switch the screen off? Turn everything else off and try and find ways to decrease processer usage?

One thing I noticed from your original post....why would you want to download a 4GB movie. I almost always download the xvid copy which is typically about 700MB and then convert it & burn it.

My connection is also slower than yours but I am a power user on most sites. Just got to be clever....take advantage of free leech and download something with tons of leechers....even if its something you don't particularly want. Or find something that's popular, that's rar'd, and just download say 50MB....you'll soon give it back ten times over.

Lots now use seedboxes but if you can afford that you may as well pay for usenet.

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Originally Posted by Hanz™

I don't understand why you'd want to build a dedicated server. If you want a faster connection and an always on connection on a seperate computer then pay for a seedbox!

There's no reason to build a seperate computer in your house just for seeding! Huge waste of money in my opinion!
Edit: and tbh your connection is going to be enough! So why would you want a seperate box?

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I don't know for sure, that's why I'm here. :unsure:
Sorry for the delay, having internet problems.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ghurka

One thing I noticed from your original post....why would you want to download a 4GB movie. I almost always download the xvid copy which is typically about 700MB and then convert it & burn it.

My connection is also slower than yours but I am a power user on most sites. Just got to be clever....take advantage of free leech and download something with tons of leechers....even if its something you don't particularly want. Or find something that's popular, that's rar'd, and just download say 50MB....you'll soon give it back ten times over.

Lots now use seedboxes but if you can afford that you may as well pay for usenet.

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I prefer all my sources to be in native formats if possible.
I don't listen to music at less that 192kbs, prefer 320 and I hate f*cking with all that video conversion nonsense.
I'm trying to learn, but between all the software/hardware and media and DRM issues, my damn head is spinning trying to make it all work.
Remember people, I'm a n00b!
I have mastered burning an .iso :P

It's not hard to maintain a good ratio if you upload only at first. For instance, one of the most popular torrents is Kayne West's new CD. You can grab that same release off a public tracker *cough mininova cough* and seed it until you build up a nice buffer. Grab a few big elearning DVDs or apps off usenet and seed. You just have to plan on giving for a while. Then when you have a safe buffer, you can grab and seed whatever you like.

Thank you everyone for the replies.

I'm understanding things better now.
All the input helped a lot with my google searching.
I thought having a file server would be a good idea because I also plan on building a home theater PC and tying everything together on a network. ;)
Friends and family need WiFi for all the laptops too. :P

s0nuvab|tch, I feel your pain. I too have a horrible upload speed (32kbps maxed). And it is not so much the actual speed that pains me, but the fact that the bittorrent protocol has leechers download from the seeders with the lowest upload bandwidth last.

It's like capitalism without regulation, and it sucks for people who are completely unable to get a faster bandwidth in their area.

If I may entertain a radical thought - even though it may be just a tad self-serving and affirmative action-esque - I think private trackers should give longer grace periods to people with low upload speeds. I'm not saying to let them (er... us) off-the-hook and relieve us of the responsibility to seed back what has been given; but just to give us a little extra time building our ratio, should we fall below the requirement.