Varying download speeds on different computers?

I have a win98 pentium 3 500mhz system connected to a 2mb adsl
broadband connection via a Netgear wireless modem/router this computer
is wired to the router.

Three months ago i built a brand new pentium 4 3000mhz system running
windows xp home which is located downstairs in the living room area,
this computer is connected wirelessly to the router using a belkin
wireless usb network adaptor.

What i notice is that when downloading files on the newer machine it
tends to download files quicker and the transfer rate is more steady,
on the older machine the transfer rate tends to start of high then
drops to a lower speed and stays there. For example if i download a
20mb file from gamespot.com on the older machine it is around
17-30kb/s on a 2mb conncetion, on the newer machine it tends to stay
around the 85kb/s mark.

I have been on the 2mb plusnet connection for a week now but prior to
that i was on 512k and noticed the varying speeds between the two
machines. Does anyone know why? is it because of a more powerful
machine or is it that windows xp is better for broadband?

Thanks in advance

du.

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:19:13 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>For example if i download a
>20mb file from gamespot.com on the older machine it is around
>17-30kb/s on a 2mb conncetion, on the newer machine it tends to stay
>around the 85kb/s mark.

should this not be >200 kbytes/s on a 2M link ??

>I have been on the 2mb plusnet connection for a week now but prior to
>that i was on 512k and noticed the varying speeds between the two
>machines. Does anyone know why? is it because of a more powerful
>machine or is it that windows xp is better for broadband?

CPU load and hard disk access speed could be an issue on the older
machine, especially if it is multitasking.

TCP/IP settings would be worth checking via
http://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php

is the MTU / MSS the same from both machines. Is the RWIN big enough ?
look at bandwidth * delay product which illustrates how small RWIN
values can limit throughput.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:19:13 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>>For example if i download a
>>20mb file from gamespot.com on the older machine it is around
>>17-30kb/s on a 2mb conncetion, on the newer machine it tends to stay
>>around the 85kb/s mark.
>
> should this not be >200 kbytes/s on a 2M link ??
>
>>I have been on the 2mb plusnet connection for a week now but prior to
>>that i was on 512k and noticed the varying speeds between the two
>>machines. Does anyone know why? is it because of a more powerful
>>machine or is it that windows xp is better for broadband?
>
> CPU load and hard disk access speed could be an issue on the older
> machine, especially if it is multitasking.
>
> TCP/IP settings would be worth checking via
> http://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php
>
> is the MTU / MSS the same from both machines. Is the RWIN big enough ?
> look at bandwidth * delay product which illustrates how small RWIN
> values can limit throughput.
>
> Phil
> --
> Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
> http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali
>
> AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

Thats well slow for 2Meg line ..... your not even getting 1Meg speed there.

1meg = 125kb/sec
2meg = 255kb/sec

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:31:39 GMT, "Just Me"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:19:13 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>>
>>>For example if i download a
>>>20mb file from gamespot.com on the older machine it is around
>>>17-30kb/s on a 2mb conncetion, on the newer machine it tends to stay
>>>around the 85kb/s mark.
>>
>> should this not be >200 kbytes/s on a 2M link ??
>>
>>>I have been on the 2mb plusnet connection for a week now but prior to
>>>that i was on 512k and noticed the varying speeds between the two
>>>machines. Does anyone know why? is it because of a more powerful
>>>machine or is it that windows xp is better for broadband?
>>
>> CPU load and hard disk access speed could be an issue on the older
>> machine, especially if it is multitasking.
>>
>> TCP/IP settings would be worth checking via
>> http://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php
>>
>> is the MTU / MSS the same from both machines. Is the RWIN big enough ?
>> look at bandwidth * delay product which illustrates how small RWIN
>> values can limit throughput.
>>
>> Phil
>> --
>> Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
>> http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali
>>
>> AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.
>
>Thats well slow for 2Meg line ..... your not even getting 1Meg speed there.
>
>1meg = 125kb/sec
>2meg = 255kb/sec
>
>
>

Thanks for the replies. Don't get me wrong if i download files from
say the panasonic website on my older machine i get transfer rates of
over 200kb/s but i don't know if it's the other websites that i
download from that are slowing me down on the older machine. i have
done the speed tests but i prefer actual downloads to see what speeds
i'am getting. anyone know any sites that i should download from to
test some more.

du.

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:50:25 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:31:39 GMT, "Just Me"
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>>> On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:19:13 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>>>
>>>>For example if i download a
>>>>20mb file from gamespot.com on the older machine it is around
>>>>17-30kb/s on a 2mb conncetion, on the newer machine it tends to stay
>>>>around the 85kb/s mark.
>>>
>>> should this not be >200 kbytes/s on a 2M link ??
>>>
>>>>I have been on the 2mb plusnet connection for a week now but prior to
>>>>that i was on 512k and noticed the varying speeds between the two
>>>>machines. Does anyone know why? is it because of a more powerful
>>>>machine or is it that windows xp is better for broadband?
>>>
>>> CPU load and hard disk access speed could be an issue on the older
>>> machine, especially if it is multitasking.
>>>
>>> TCP/IP settings would be worth checking via
>>> http://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php
>>>
>>> is the MTU / MSS the same from both machines. Is the RWIN big enough ?
>>> look at bandwidth * delay product which illustrates how small RWIN
>>> values can limit throughput.
>>>
>>> Phil
>>> --
>>> Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
>>> http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali
>>>
>>> AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.
>>
>>Thats well slow for 2Meg line ..... your not even getting 1Meg speed there.
>>
>>1meg = 125kb/sec
>>2meg = 255kb/sec
>>
>>
>>
>
>Thanks for the replies. Don't get me wrong if i download files from
>say the panasonic website on my older machine i get transfer rates of
>over 200kb/s but i don't know if it's the other websites that i
>download from that are slowing me down on the older machine. i have
>done the speed tests but i prefer actual downloads to see what speeds
>i'am getting. anyone know any sites that i should download from to
>test some more.
>
>du.


I have been to the broadband report site and used the drtcp.exe
utility and only adjusted the RWIN setting, my download speeds are now
consistently around or over 200kb/s on most of the downloads that i
have tested and im quite happy with the 2meg connection now.

On my windows 98 machine it was set at the default 8760 and the xp
system was at it's default 17520 as soon as i ran the tweak test i
realized why the xp machine was downloading quicker.

Thanks everyone.