Optimum Connection Settings

[Arjento]

Hi,

I'm currently using Utorrent at the moment. I've recently bought a new PC. My old one was a P3 1000, windows ME, meh RAM.

My internet connection is 2MB. My upload speed is 30kb/s max (I stop it at 20kb/s to get the max download speed. My max download speed is 200kb/s.

On the old PC, I had to put the Global Max no. of connections at 100 and for the max number of connected peers per torrent at 50 (2 simultaneous upload/download). I had to do this because my Internet kept cutting off if I put it higher (something to do with windows ME).

Now my new PC is a WinXP P4 3.0 2Gigs of RAM.

How much should I raise the Global and connected no. of peers per torrent please?

I'll still keep the 2 max download/upload variable (due to low upload rate).

Thanks.

[Firon]

Press Ctrl G and choose xx/256kbit from the list.

[kurahashi]

Hm, excuse me *raises hand*

What should be my setup, when my ISP is giving me 192k upload for day, and 384 for night?

[Firon]

Hmm... Which one to choose is up to you, since the connection counts are different. You can always pick an in-between value.

You should use the scheduler to specify different upload speeds at different times of day, though.

[Switeck]

So the 'default' upload speed would be no more than 40 KB/sec (and probably only around 30-36 KB/sec) -- that's the 384kilobits/sec nighttime upload speeds.

...While your Scheduler LIMITED upload speed would be no more than 20 KB/sec (and probably best around 12-16 KB/sec) for your daytime upload speeds.

Make sure to check all the time boxes in scheduler so 'daytime' is limited!

[Firon]

It actually doesn't matter which one you do. You could do your default upload at 16 and the "limited" at 40, since the scheduler overrides no matter what.

[kurahashi]

Firon, Switeck, setting correct upload in sheduler is easy, but not the upload is problem here *sigh*

As for other settings there is no good solution, what is working good in day is working worse at night and vice versa. And setting in between values means it will work mediocre all the time.

[Switeck]

There is no need to raise the global max connections or max connections PER torrent from the previous values of 100 and 50...unless you want to download/seed more than 2 torrents at a time. 20+ peers is almost always enough to max out your upload unless your upload speed is in excess of 20 mbps! 30 seeds+peers on a torrent is generally enough on a well-seeded torrent to get download speeds over 100 KB/sec.

Even if your hardware + connection can handle faster speeds...increasing max connections per torrent past 50 will only help marginally for every additional 50 you add. Each increase will in fact reduce max upload you can use -- as well as reduce max download, assuming you actually reach it.

Also, even during the slow times (day in your case), the number of connections aren't so excessive that they will likely overload your connection.

[kurahashi]

Ok, as for number of connections I agree, this is secondary issue.

But what about upload slots, max active torrents and max active downloads?

[Switeck]

You're right, there is a problem with upload slots spread over multiple torrents. Your daytime upload speed is lower so the upload slots average speed falls to a point where many peers won't return 'tit-for-tat' with you.

How about:

3 upload slots, 3 max active torrents, 2 max active downloads.

Even if your upload during the day is set to 18 KB/sec, 3 torrents with 3 upload slots each is 9 total upload slots...that means each upload slot would be running about 2 KB/sec on average. That's just barely high enough that most peers would return some of their upload to you.

At night, you could probably increase upload slots to 4, max active torrents to 4-5, and max active downloads to 3-5. Just try to do things that will finish by morning so there's fewer upload slots in use when day conditions kick in.

For better results, you really WILL have to micromanage µTorrent to get the last 10% of performance.

I'd be pausing torrents during the day or lowering their upload slots manually. I often have slow seeding on a few torrents with low priority and only 1 or 2 upload slots each while I have other download/s going.

[kurahashi]

How about:

3 upload slots, 3 max active torrents, 2 max active downloads

Even if your upload during the day is set to 18 KB/sec, 3 torrents with 3 upload slots each is 9 total upload slots...that means each upload slot would be running about 2 KB/sec on average. That's just barely high enough that most peers would return some of their upload to you.

Sounds reasonable (for a daytime)

At night, you could probably increase upload slots to 4, max active torrents to 4-5, and max active downloads to 3-5. Just try to do things that will finish by morning so there's fewer upload slots in use when day conditions kick in.

For better results, you really WILL have to micromanage uTorrent to get the last 10% of performance.

But this is exactly what I don't want I mean: I want to have one, optimal setup and simply use it. All this changing options every evening hell of micromanagement... yuck :/

uTorrent definitely need an real, extended and powerfull scheduler. It's the second most needed feature right now IMHO.