Utorrent Optimization

[jonathan1107]

I've recently upgraded my FIBER internet speed to 195mbps download speed

I've been doing a lot of research and tweaking to improve my download speed in utorrent and would like to hear your opinion on the matter.

Food for thought:

• Of course seed vs Leecher ratio affects speeds
• Utorrent settings affect speeds and can be tweaked
• I've got an "AC capable" router, a rather good one and a decent computer. Are utorrent speeds (I'm talking 15-20mb/s) affected by stuff like the router/network card in the computer ?
• Does the utorrent port change anything at all? Should I be "port forwarding" in my router settings to improve speeds?
• Is there a way to know whether my ISP is throttling my p2p traffic? I've read that they don't (my provider being BELL FIBE)
• any other suggestions?

 

[natr0n]

In options under bitorrent make sure to set protocol encryption outgoing to forced.

 

[hat]

The first utorrent optimization is to uninstall it and install qbittorrent instead. After that, set an uncommon port unlikely to be used by other applications (like... 62344 for example) and forward it to the pc you're running torrents on. The router will make a difference here, if you don't have a gigabit router the best you can hope for theoretically is 12.5MB/s. After that, ensure you have enough slots available to accept numerous uploaders. I use 90 globally, 15 per torrent. That's enough (for me) to get good speeds without hammering the router with a shitload of connections. After that, it's up to how well the tracker is working, how good the seeds and peers are... stuff outside of your control. Sometimes people just upload 5kbs, sometimes there's some guy who uploads crazy amounts...

 

[hat]

An afterthought: your router can actually make a difference in your speeds. If you pay attention to router specs, you'd know that the processor clockspeeds have been increasing. The Linksys WRT54GL is a prime example of this. People with that router and really fast internet noticed an improvement in speed after overclocking the router. If you have an AC router though, I'm sure it's got a fairly robust chipset and should be able to handle your internet just fine. I, for one, actually underclocked my RTN66R to 300MHz to save on heat and power draw (however insignificant) and it didn't hurt my performance at all (50/5 speed).

 

[NdMk2o1o]

I've recently upgraded my FIBER internet speed to 195mbps download speed

I've been doing a lot of research and tweaking to improve my download speed in utorrent and would like to hear your opinion on the matter.

Food for thought:

• Of course seed vs Leecher ratio affects speeds
• Utorrent settings affect speeds and can be tweaked
• I've got an "AC capable" router, a rather good one and a decent computer. Are utorrent speeds (I'm talking 15-20mb/s) affected by stuff like the router/network card in the computer ?
• Does the utorrent port change anything at all? Should I be "port forwarding" in my router settings to improve speeds?
• Is there a way to know whether my ISP is throttling my p2p traffic? I've read that they don't (my provider being BELL FIBE)
• any other suggestions?

I'm a leacher I only ever open up about 5-10 upload slots and limit the bandwidth to 100kbps...
I also enable a global max of about 500 connections for DL's and 400 per torrent ( I only ever really DL 1 torrent at a time, most of the time) even when I DL multiple these settings seem to work and they "play nice" together.
uTorrent speeds and vice versa router/PC speeds are all interconnected, if you set the wrong values for either one your DL's will suffer.
If they were throttling p2p you would see a big difference between that and downloading over HTTP and it's normally something ridiculous like 125/250KB/s they tend to throttle P2P
You shouldn't ever need to forward any ports manually upnp works pretty well and should take care of all of that for you

I also now use qBittorrent as utorrent is full of adware these days, very similar layout and options but without all the added crap.

Anyone remember Bearshare and Kazaa? good ol' days

 

[AlienIsGOD]

remember using Limewire to give your computer viruses ?

 

[redundantslurs]

When I was stationed in South Korea in the early 2000s it was all about DC++

 

[timta2]

In options under bitorrent make sure to set protocol encryption outgoing to forced.

Forcing your peers to use encryption will only lower your speeds/number of peers and is, in most cases, unnecessary.

 

[Recon-UK]

I use Bit Torrent without any hassle, but my internet DL speed is 18 down... so.... yes i'm peasant.

 

[natr0n]

Forcing your peers to use encryption will only lower your speeds/number of peers and is, in most cases, unnecessary.

I've never had an issue with it honestly always full speed as well.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

When uTorrent started showing ads, even after I donated $$$ to not have them, I made the swtich to QBtorrent. Nearly identical to the early uTorrent.

 

[jaggerwild]

remember using Limewire to give your computer viruses ?

Only virus I ever get, old girl friend put it on my computer never asked or nothing. Smmh WOMAN!

 

[Mussels]

The first utorrent optimization is to uninstall it and install qbittorrent instead. After that, set an uncommon port unlikely to be used by other applications (like... 62344 for example) and forward it to the pc you're running torrents on. The router will make a difference here, if you don't have a gigabit router the best you can hope for theoretically is 12.5MB/s. After that, ensure you have enough slots available to accept numerous uploaders. I use 90 globally, 15 per torrent. That's enough (for me) to get good speeds without hammering the router with a shitload of connections. After that, it's up to how well the tracker is working, how good the seeds and peers are... stuff outside of your control. Sometimes people just upload 5kbs, sometimes there's some guy who uploads crazy amounts...

^ what he said, and in his other posts here. utorrent is one of the worst clients these days, its too bloated. Just remember that less connections in torrent clients can result in better speeds, because much as hat already said you can overload your router, or even your ISP's network equipment with too many and hinder yourself. 100KB/s more is not worth 50ms of jitter if you try and game while downloading.

 

[RejZoR]

uTorrent used to be nice, then makers of Bittorrent bought it and fucked it up.

TransmissionQT or Vuze Leap. These two are properly minimalistic and fast.

 

[Mussels]

oh and transmissionQT has my vote by far, since transmission remote works with it. Slap QT on an old laptop and bam, instant NAS/file server for all your linux ISO's and world of warcraft updates.

 

[MustSeeMelons]

Why does everyone like transmissionQt so much? It's light and with out bloatware, but the UI is bad, when you have more torrents it looks like a mess, can't find anything. Also for me Show In Folder does not work -.- Just get uTorrent 2.2.1 and you'll be golden.

 

[Mussels]

Why does everyone like transmissionQt so much? It's light and with out bloatware, but the UI is bad, when you have more torrents it looks like a mess, can't find anything. Also for me Show In Folder does not work -.- Just get uTorrent 2.2.1 and you'll be golden.

what i said in one post above yours - the remote UI. its better as a host, and you control it via another app with a nicer looking interface.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

what i said in one post above yours - the remote UI. its better as a host, and you control it via another app with a nicer looking interface.

Remote might be nice and all but most Home users wont have a need for that, me being a home user would rather use a better made client, and currently that choice is QBTorrent.

 

[Beastie]

I recommend switching to qBittorrent.

 

[Kursah]

Forcing your peers to use encryption will only lower your speeds/number of peers and is, in most cases, unnecessary.

I have to disagree here. It is absolutely worth the cost in a slightly reduced speed limit to run encrypted transfers IMHO, not even a question in my mind. If peers aren't using encryption, then don't use them. Better safe than sorry...especially if enough peers are on encrypted sharing, speed reductions aren't nearly as much of a problem. Protect your connection and your data, add an encrypted VPN tunnel as an extra measure if you feel it is necessary.

qBt works great overall in my experience, simple, light weight, effective and easy UI. Thought I may have to try TransmissionQT as I've read many reports just like @Mussels have posted here about it, I've just never given it a fair shake.

 

[Mussels]

Remote might be nice and all but most Home users wont have a need for that, me being a home user would rather use a better made client, and currently that choice is QBTorrent.

in my experience, a dedicated download maching like an old netbook is a lot easier to use and manage than downloading on a high wattage primary gaming PC, especially for people with crap internet who dont want to leave their machine on 24/7

 

[hat]

I have to disagree with you there. My high wattage primary gaming machine as you put it is also my primary check my email/browse internet machine. Power saving tech has come a long way. Haswell runs at what 800MHz on .6v when idle? Graphics cards barely sip energy when idle as well.

 

[Kursah]

I agree with Mussels but I use a Win 8.1 VM as a dedicated download machine with PIA VPN and qBt. Saves to my file server...but I have my Haswell-based home grade server. Though I did use the same VM on my main rig before I had built the server.

I've done main rig and dedicated physical rig (readld POS laptop) and VM, they all get the job done with ease. Frankly I prefer having a dedicated utility that I RDP onto when I need it...log off when I don't. But the way I do things isn't suitable for all...though for aspiring network guys its a good way to mess around at home.

I do gotta agree modern hardware sips power in idle and low load states vs old PCs...and downloading is easy enough on CPUs and memory. Its really YMMV and how it works best. With my setup a VM is excellent and easy to manage, kill, rebuild, not worry about. Different preferences and perspectives are a good thing.

 

[Solaris17]

oh and transmissionQT has my vote by far, since transmission remote works with it. Slap QT on an old laptop and bam, instant NAS/file server for all your linux ISO's and world of warcraft updates.

Uninstalled utorrent when they bloated up and I use Transmission exclusively.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

in my experience, a dedicated download maching like an old netbook is a lot easier to use and manage than downloading on a high wattage primary gaming PC, especially for people with crap internet who dont want to leave their machine on 24/7

I'm sorry to hear you have crap internet experiences still, but living in grandma's basement means the bathroom is upstairs so its more like 23/7.

Thats Gaming for ya!