Does performance matter for downloads?

[E-Bear]

Hi.

Been a while I did not come I had to cut internet for a while.

Does the general performance of a rig matters for downloading stuff?
I know download speed matters but im on 30/10 so its not much.
I have an older 775 rig with 3gb ddr2-800 and a 160gigs hdd. Just added a HD4550 to it. Would like to set it as download machine.
What do you think of that?

Thanks

 

[Regeneration]

This was a big deal on old hardware. Network adapters using too many cycles and interrupts.

775 should be able to handle 100 Mbps and even 1000 Mbps with no problem.

You still need proper hardware for big networks or extreme performance like 0ms latency or media streaming.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Does the general performance of a rig matters for downloading stuff?

It could but usually it is the service agreement with the ISP that is the bottleneck. Next would probably be the hard drive performance since downloads generally are saved to disk first. Having only 3GB isn't helping, but unless you are doing a lot of other stuff at the same time, probably isn't hurting much either.

 

[hat]

Not for 30/10, no. Outside of disk performance, you would have to have some seriously fast internet and seriously slow hardware for this to be a concern. It's also worth mentioning the performance of your router... but any old 10/100 router from 20 years ago would keep up with 30/10 internet.

 

[E-Bear]

Thank you all. My modem router is Docsis 3.1 from ISP so no problem on that side. No I wont be doing other things with that rig. I will just start downloads and torrents then let it go all day.

 

[E-Bear]

So I will probably upgrade the old hdd for a 320gigs from a laptop and install it with an adapter. Less heat and less power demand on the 230w psu.

 

[Bill_Bright]

So I will probably upgrade the old hdd for a 320gigs from a laptop and install it with an adapter.

You can certainly do that but I would not expect better performance. Even fast hard drives tend to be the slowest components in data paths. And notebook hard drives tend to be some of the slowest hard drives. This is because many notebook drives run at 5400RPM (or even 4200RPM) and are used because they don't consume as much power (or generate as much heat) as 7200RPM drives.

 

[E-Bear]

I have found a small "upgrade" for this setup. Just dismantled a TV recorder with a Seagate 1 terabyte disk inside. Marked as model 24h Video 5900rpm.
Will surely be better and will leave it overnight to download.

 

[Jetster]

Sometimes hardware matters like modems but not for 30/10

 

[heky]

@E-Bear
That 1Tb Seagate should be a lot better for torrenting than both the old 160Gb and the laptop 320Gb drives. It is meant for 24h video surveillance, so 24/7 operation, just like your "download machine".

 

[E-Bear]

@E-Bear
That 1Tb Seagate should be a lot better for torrenting than both the old 160Gb and the laptop 320Gb drives. It is meant for 24h video surveillance, so 24/7 operation, just like your "download machine".

Thats exactly why I will input it and start torrents
Anyway I dont care to leave that machine 24/7 open electricity is really cheap where I am.