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TCP/IP Stacks Restrict Download Speed?


Aegis

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Is it possible that all versions of Windows contain some sort of mechanism that will slowly drain the transfer speed of a download? I suspect this because Linux allows transfers way faster than Windows, and also because of when downloading a huge file off of my FTP server running on the same computer, the speed gradually dropped from 5.5MB transfer to a rate measured in KBs.

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Windows adds more overhead in tcp communications for error checking and session control. Ill see if I can dig up the article I found that explained it in detail. I saved it somewhere.

I noticed it too when me and a couple of guys from work were testing network bandwidth stuff. We were only able to max out winodws network utilization at arount 72% while we installed Solaris on the same box and received mid 80% network utilization transfering the same files on the same hardware.

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  • 3 months later...

wtf(!)

I'm ready to pull my hair out. Just did (yet another) clean install, but somethin' aint right. Been working on an unattended install, using nLite... SP2 slipstreamed, hotfixes, coupla registry tweaks, a few patched dll's...

Lotsa s***e changed (over and over again), but not so much between my last test build and this one. I just changed up to nLite 1.0 RC2 (from RC1), and I think that was it... aside from adding a WGA dll... anyway...

the freaking network throughput sux rocks! And I'm not figuring out why or what to do about it. I can DL files off the internet faster than I can on the LAN! WTF is up with that?!?! Less than 1%... we're talking about an average of around 30KB on the LAN, using sftp. Receiving. Sending a file, easy 10Mb or better. 100Mb LAN. So messed up...

Using pcattcp, I can send at about 83Mb. Sounds about right to me. Receiving is at about .75Mb. (!!!)

Fark!

What I don't know, obviously, is what the heck changed between my last build and this, if anything... something changed, somewhere, because I wasn't having this trouble on my last install, but golly- I wasn't keeping track of every last detail.

It's an A8N-SLI with the 6.70 NVIDIA UDA. That's the drivers used for the last 2-3 builds. They seemed to work fine before. Chipset set to 100/full. Static IP. I've checked my cables, I've reinstalled, I've tried various tweaks of the tcpip stack, I've tried kicking the computer and spitting on it, as well as swearing at it, I've even threatened it.

Anyway. Not that I'm truly expecting to find an answer here- but I thought I'd vent and hope that maybe, just maybe, someone might receive a premonition or something, about my problem, and be able to impart wisdom. :blink:

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Have you considered using a different NIC to see if the problem occurs there? The onboard nVidia network interface is not a 100% hardware NIC (it's a MAC talking to the chipset itself), so using a different NIC and drivers should tell us if the problem is in the IP stack, or the network interface you're using.

Yes, TCP communications in XP are usually slower than their *nix counterparts currently, but there is an overhead built into the Windows IP stack for error checking and QOS. If you've got the QOS agent enabled in your NIC's properties, you can obviously disable that for better throughput.

Note that Vista's IP stack is a complete rewrite, and from the betas that I've tested it does seem to network faster than previous versions of Windows. It's at least something to look forward to :).

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Note that Vista's IP stack is a complete rewrite, and from the betas that I've tested it does seem to network faster than previous versions of Windows. It's at least something to look forward to :).

:blink::lol:

Could be a painful wait! ROTFL

Took forever... shoulda known better... now I feel like a rooky. Guess it happens...

So... um... there's this high $ equipment out there selling under the brand name "Linksys"... and, uh... they say their hubs support full duplex, and... now I know you *still* get what you pay for. :lol:

That would be the 10/100 5-port hub, model# NH1005.V2. Heh... yup, it does support full duplex... got all my crap to link, send and receive.... with just a few errors.

I didn't check out all the various scenarios- one set for full duplex, one not, swapping the two- however, it would seem I end up with many checksum errors and retransmits on the receive side... I'd have to spend more time checking this out to better know what the scoop is.

See what happens when you buy your junk at wally-world because you need something *right now*, and then take it at face value that stuff is going to work as advertized?

I thought it sounded a little far-fetched, but hey- I don't keep up with *everything*. Heh...

My transfers are about 85Mb using pcattcp as the test.

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