Improving uTorrent Download Speeds

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if you can help me review my uTorrent settings to see what I could do to improve my Torrent speeds.

I recently built a new computer from scratch, and the first couple months my speeds were steady, but then one day I've noticed a drop in speeds using uTorrent. I started messing with settings, following different guides, enabling / disabling things, and this has been going on for close to 1 month now.

I even had a cable guy come check everything to make sure things were working correctly, cuz I just can't seem to get steady speeds when downloading Torrents.

I am running the latest version of uTorrent, my ports are properly forwarded with my router.

Below I will provide a screenshot of ALL my uTorrent settings, perhaps a fresh set of eyes can help.

You'll notice at the top I downloaded Nvidia's latest drivers today @ 1224 KB/s, which is what uTorrent used to download at steadily. Now, I'm lucky if I get past 500 KB/s, it usually fluctuates between 100 KB/s - 300 KB/s.

I download from RTT, TL, SCC, HDBits, bitmetv, there are almost always seedboxes to download from, and in the past my connection would immediately max out.

I hope that covers all the info you may need, and I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Here are my computer specs in case that makes a difference, I really doubt it's the computer, since you'll notice in the screenshot that I'm able to max out my speeds quite easily.

Windows 7 Ultimate ( Windows Firewall )
i7 - 930 overclocked to 4.0 GHZ
6 GB Ram
1 80 GB SSD
1 TB Internal Drive
2 x 1 TB External Hard Drives
GTX 460

I've tried downloading to ALL 3 hard drives including the SSD drive to see if that would make a difference, and it doesn't.

Below is a screenshot of my settings, which I have tested and played with so much that I've lost track over the past month.

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4...rentspeeds.png

Any and all feedback is welcomed, thanks in advance!

bt transp disposition 255 or 31, doesn't matter; utp bandwidth management on. global connections... i just use 10000 no point of limiting them if you have a wide chan, peer/upload slots - make them the same

have u try setup guide on ur nearest location? it can up ur speed..

here my setup guide and never disappoint me :P

http://i51.tinypic.com/4t3qqd.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/dwfjn8.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2diouuc.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/156eh69.jpg

btw dont forget red FAQ( how can i improve my download speed )on ur private tracker :D

hopes this help.. :)

br

sam45, before you begin tinkering with the settings, some ISPs are known to shape BitTorrent traffic to save bandwidth. Did you try searching your provider's name plus "shaping" or "throttling" to see what others have to say?

Thanks for those settings, I've tested them, and still no difference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anon-sbi

sam45, before you begin tinkering with the settings, some ISPs are known to shape BitTorrent traffic to save bandwidth. Did you try searching your provider's name plus "shaping" or "throttling" to see what others have to say?

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This has been my suspicion anon-sbi, I ran some tests and it claimed it wasn't being throttled.

However, I've come across some articles that suggest that my ISP does in fact throttle bitorrent traffic.

This article is 5 years old
http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-isp...rrent-traffic/

In the last 5 years, I've always had MAX speeds, so perhaps Rogers implemented something new recently.

First I had unlimited bandwidth, then they limited us to 90GB / month, which I ALWAYS go over.

Any tricks to bypassing their throttling?

thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sam45

Any tricks to bypassing their throttling?

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My ISP shapes BitTorrent traffic, too. bt.transp_disposition 10 and a restart did the trick.

I tried that, and still no difference. :(

In fact, speeds may be slower now

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Update, I've kept tinkering with settings, and I'm actually over 600kb/s now

I'll keep messing with it until I can get back to 1mb/s downloads again

Thanks again

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@Anon-sbi - after setting bt.transp_disposition 10 when I restarted the computer - all my uTorrent settings were messed up - is it supposed to do that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sam45

Update, I've kept tinkering with settings, and I'm actually over 600kb/s now

I'll keep messing with it until I can get back to 1mb/s downloads again

Thanks again

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Good to know, do tell us which settings let you reach 1MB/s if you manage that.

Quote:

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@Anon-sbi - after setting bt.transp_disposition 10 when I restarted the computer - all my uTorrent settings were messed up - is it supposed to do that?

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Not at all... :mellow:

I'm getting closer - I'm now over 900 kb/s - I won't stop until it downloads @ 1.1mb/s like it's supposed to ;)

when I finally get it steady, I'll post those settings!

Thanks for the help

Try setting bt connect speed to 5, disabling local peer discovery, forcing outgoing encryption, (leaving allow incoming legacy connectiond UNchecked) and possible changing global # of connections to a number that corresponds with your private tracker/s userbase.

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Originally Posted by KushBlow

changing global # of connections to a number that corresponds with your private tracker/s userbase.

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I'd make that a last resort, specially if he has a router. Opening many connections will do nothing in the best cases, and slow you down in the worst ones. :)

Ok I will try that

Something interesting happened today which I discovered by a fluke, but may point me in the right direction.

I normally have about 50-100 torrents active at any given time. ( Doesn't mean they are actively seeding )

I checked to see what would happen if I stopped all torrents except for the one downloading.

In time speeds increased, and eventually got to 1.0 MB/s though it wasn't steady

I then checked to see what would happen if I activated 25 torrents, and immediately the speeds dropped to below 300KB/s

I don't have any active torrents now, except for a test download, but that one is only at 300kb/s or so

I've also tested another torrent client Deluge and that one averages about 500KB/s

So that's my update, I'm not really sure what to make of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anon-sbi

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KushBlow

changing global # of connections to a number that corresponds with your private tracker/s userbase.

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I'd make that a last resort, specially if he has a router. Opening many connections will do nothing in the best cases, and slow you down in the worst ones. :)

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Sorry, let me rephrase that. What I meant was putting around 20-40 if your tracker's userbase is ~6000, and 60-80 if ~20000, etc. Sorry :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sam45

I checked to see what would happen if I stopped all torrents except for the one downloading.

In time speeds increased, and eventually got to 1.0 MB/s though it wasn't steady

I then checked to see what would happen if I activated 25 torrents, and immediately the speeds dropped to below 300KB/s

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I see you've changed the net.max_halfopen value to 50, but is your TCPIP.SYS file patched to allow that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KushBlow

Sorry, let me rephrase that. What I meant was putting around 20-40 if your tracker's userbase is ~6000, and 60-80 if ~20000, etc. Sorry :)

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No worries! The values you mention are quite rational. :)

[QUOTE=anon-sbi;3522583]I see you've changed the net.max_halfopen value to 50, but is your TCPIP.SYS file patched to allow that?

No it isn't :ermm:

As this is a new computer, I haven't done any of those things.

What should be the default value?

btw - thanks for the help

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sam45

No it isn't :ermm:

As this is a new computer, I haven't done any of those things.

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Then you could try either patching the file or setting net.max_halfopen to its default value of 8. :happy:

Ok cool, I will set it to 8 for now.

Also, is there something that could be modified here?

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/8259/diskcache.png

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Also, is there something that could be modified here?

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Personally, I've changed a few of those settings to reduce long-term disk wear-tear, but for the average user yours are just fine.

I think you should set Seed While Ratio is <= 150% to -1. Don't know if this option even is working (i always have -1) but who knows, some of your torrents may stop seeding

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Originally Posted by CleverMan

I think you should set Seed While Ratio is <= 150% to -1.

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That probably makes torrents immediately jump to the "When uTorrent reaches the seeding goal" condition, which is either limiting your upload speed or stopping them entirely. Automated hit & runs aren't really a good idea. :dabs:

When you set '-1' it means unlimited upload, on the other hand, 150% means that after reaching 1,5:1 ratio on a torrent, it will stop seeding :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CleverMan

When you set '-1' it means unlimited upload

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Mmm, I see. Never tried that.

Setting the amount of upload slots to a negative number stopped uploading entirely on older builds, so I had my suspicions...

Whoa, i wasn't talking about upload slots, but about parameter in Queueing section of settings - Seed While !

Yeah, I know, just making a comment.