Optimize Your BitTorrent Download Speed
BitTorrent can be fun, as long as you get decent speeds. Not satisfied with your current speeds? These suggestions might help to optimize your download pleasure
1. Hack the max half-open TCP connections
If you’re on XP sp2, your TCP connections are limited to a maximum of 10. This might hurt your downloading speed because it wont let you connect to as much peers as you want. It is supposed to slow down viruses because their spreading strategy is to connect to a high amount of ip numbers, but it could cripple your torrent downloads.
A nice way to fix this is to download this patch.
Note: Some people report that their antivir reports the patch to be a Virus, This is not the case. Check out http://www.lvllord.de/ for more details on this
The patch allows you to set the maximum allowed connections to any number you want. Any number between 50 and 100 is ok (more is NOT always better).
Next you need to configure your torrent client to allow 50-100 max half-open TCP connections
uTorrent: Options > Preferences > Advanced options > net.max_halfopen
Bitcomet: Options > Preferences > Connection > max half-open TCP
Now you’re ready to go…
A third point of interest is that some “windows updates” revert your tweaked tcp connections back to 10. So it’s wise to check this every now and then. You can check this by going to (in windows xp) Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > System… Look for event 4226 (sort by event).
For more details about Windows XP SP2 and Event ID 4226 read David Kaspar’s excellent post
If there are a lot of daily occurences it’s likely that the max amount of half-open tcp connections was set back to 10. Or you’re infected with some nasty spyware…
2. Torrent Client Configuration
In order to apply these tips you need to know your maximum up- and download speed. You can test your bandwidth over here (stop all download activity while testing). Also make sure that you applied the tips provided in our previous posts.
Note that there’s a difference between kb/s (kilobits/second) and kB/s (kilobytes/second). To be precise, kB/s = kb/s divided by 8. In this tutorial we use kB/s (like most torrent clients do). This means that you might need to calculate your max speed in kB/s yourself if the speedtest only gives you the results in kb\s (so divide by 8 then).
Settings 1-4 can be found in the options, settings or preference tab of most torrent clients.
1. Maximum upload speed
Probably the most important setting there is. Your connection is (sort of) like a pipeline, if you use you maximum upload speed there’s not enough space left for the files you are downloading. So you have to cap your upload speed.
Use the following formula to determine your optimal upload speed…
80% of your maximum upload speed
so if your maximum upload speed is 40 kB/s, the optimal upload rate is 32kB/s
But keep seeding!
2. Maximum download speed
Although setting your maximum download speed to unlimited may sound interesting, in reality it will only hurt your connection. If you still want to be able to browse properly, set your maximum download speed to:
95% of your maximum download speed
so if your maximum download speed is 400 kB/s, the optimal download speed is 380kB/s
3. Maximum connected peers per torrent
Yet another setting that you don’t want to max out. I experimented quite a lot with the max connected peers settings and came to the conclusion that both high and low number hurt the download speed of a torrent. The following setting worked best for me.
upload speed * 1.3
so if your maximum upload speed is 40 kB/s, the optimal amount of connected peers per torrent is
40 * 1.3 = 52
I didn’t noticed a difference for fast or slow connections here.
4. Maximum upload slots
1 + (upload speed / 6)
so if your maximum upload speed is 30 kB/s, the optimal number of upload slots is
1 + (30 / 6) = 6
3. More Tips
Check seeds and peers
A simple tip, but very important. Always look for torrents with the best seed/peer ratio. The more seeds (compared to peers) the better (in general). So 50 seeds and 50 peers is better than 500 seeds and 1000 peers. So, be selective.
Change the default port.
By default, BitTorrent uses a port 6881-6999. BitTorrent generates a lot traffic (1/3), so isp’s like to limit the connection offered on the these ports. So, you should change these to another range. Good clients allow you to do this, just choose anything you like. If you’re behind a router, make sure you have your ports forwarded (portforward.com) or UPnP enabled.
Disable Windows Firewall
It sucks. Windows Firewall hates P2P and often leads a life of it’s own. So disable it and get yourself a decent (free) firewall, Kerio or Zone Alarm for example.
Turn on Encryption
Encrypting your torrents will prevent throttling ISP’s from limiting your BitTorrent traffic. Check out how to enable encryption in Azureus, uTorrent, and Bitcomet, the three most popular torrent clients.
Optimize your internet connection
The TCP optimizer is a freeware utility that optimizes your internet connection. I found it very useful and it helped speeding up my connection for regular internet activity and for downloading torrents. Just download it, and move the slidebar to your maximum download rate (note that it’s in kb/s). Don’t try to set it higher because that will hurt your download speeds!
Last but not least… Buy a faster connection…
Happy Torrenting!
(this post is a compilation of previous “speed up” posts)
Previously: Sealand on Fire
Next: Pirates On The Loose
276 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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Thanks a lot. just went from 6kB/sec to 60kB sec :)
When I connect to the internet it shows that I am connected at 100Mbps.
But, when I download a Torrent or anything else the download speeed is hardly 15 - 20 KB/s.
Could someone please tell me why this happens
I love you, dude! That patch and your tips put me up from 6 kB/s to about 75-80 kB/s. Thank you very much!
Patch contains a virus. It does max your connections but I lost my graphic driver after installing it (block at 640*480 or 800*600) if it’s happens just re-install your graphic drivers. :(
First off, let me explain a couple things to the Newbie users out there. The patch contained within this page, is NOT a virus. The patch DOES NOT interfere with ANY other settings, than connection information. Meaning, that there is NO WAY in hell it could ‘crash’ your graphics card. That’s like saying “I put a floppy in my computer, and the monitor busted into flames…”. Also, TCPIP.SYS is the only file that is affected AFTER the patch is complete (I think). You may notice TEMP directories and other anomalies, as you would with ANY program, especially using a decompression agent (If it does). The Patch WILL NOT crash ANYTHING, unless something happens in the middle of altering the file, such as a power failure. Then the blame lies in the failure, not in the patch. In any case, you only need re-run the application, to fix your internet (If it will not work), and finish the job. On WinXP you may notice a file dialog box, that says you need to insert your WinXP CD to replace and important file that has been altered. Hit the ‘Cancel’ button, because this is just an effect of the program altering sensitive settings within a file deemed important by XP. Also, DO NOT use BitLord, BitSpirit, or other generics. Use uTorrent, BitComet, or Azureus. The rest do NOT support encryption, and are cheap copies. I have had read many reports of encryption increasing speeds by up to 300%. BitLord, BitSpirit, and etc, do NOT support encryption. Whereas uTorrent, BitComet, and Azureus DO. Let me make this FINAL and CLEAR. THE PATCH IS NOT A TROJEN, WORM, VIRUS, BACKDOOR, or ANYTHING OTHER THAN A GOOD, PERFECTLY WORKING, PATCH. All those newbie users out there, who see that Virus warning and do not realize that everyone here is trying to tell you that AV programs are so secure about code anymore, they are NOT always right. I only hope to educate. Thank you all for reading this… Happy Torrenting! BinaryBrother
Chang? bik’ the^’ na0` ma` ha(n’ bik’ t0′ truoc’ , to’ cung~ chan? hjeutaj sa0 nua~ …. maj~ da^n` da^n` t0′ moj’ chu’ y’ de^n’ ha(n’ vj` caj’ nhjn` da^u` tje^n cua? t0′ wa’ xjnh zaj …. r0^j` bat’ da^u` han’ mo? mje^ng. cuoj` lam` quen t0′ tru0c’ …. nghj~ de^n’ cung~ mac’ cuoj` …. dep. ma` hok chanh? la` t0′ thjx dje^u` nay` r0j` …. r0y` ba(t’ da^u` xjn s0′ ph0ne , la^n` da^u` dj ch0j …. uj x0j` tre? k0n we’ dj th0y hj’hj’
Great tips, I worked before with a max 20kB/s upload rate before and unlimited download rate, also a 5000 max peer connections, 8 max upload connections and 1000 max overall connections.
After using your tips my download speed deteriorated dramatically.
The only thing that I benefited from this article was a bit of knowledge and the great tip of patching the max half-open connection limit (which by the way increased my download speed by up to 4x)!!!
Keep up the great articles which should I mention; there are three on this topic which are nearly identical::
http://torrentfreak.com/speed-up-your-torrents/
http://torrentfreak.com/speed-up-your-torrents/
Oh and I found another article on the web again almost-nearly identical, not sure if this site copied from them or they copied from you, but this site sure does include more in-depth information. Here’s the link, just thought you might want to take a look:
http://www.johntp.com/2006/04/19/how-to-increase-download-speeds-of-utorrent/
Oh and I should add that the patch IS NOT a virus, my BitDefender Antivirus Plus v10 detected it as one, only meerly because it deals with advanced settings inside windows which are fragile. And since my Antivirus is so god-damn protective of my system ^.^ I had to set default settings on the anti-virus so it wouldn’t scan incoming http:// traffic, download the patch, disconnect my internet (so I wouldn’t be vulnerable to hackers), and then exit bitdefender, and patch, otherwise the anti-virus program would scan the patch right when I clicked on it, quarantine it then remove it.
Great tips and to others with the same anti-virus program as me I hope this helped!!!
Aww do I loooooooove virustotal.com, half of he results said that this WAS a virus and some even said it was a hacktool! I deleted the file without even opening it. HA!
hi, i’m just using bittorent, the program i downloaded from the bittorent website
where can I choose on the program how to control my max upload speed? all i see is “file, view, torrent, help”
your help will be greatly appreciated thanks!
i did all of this fucking thinks but nothing change my utorrent speed. still i have got 12kb/sec.i m really pissed.
this guide is pretty good , thanks a lot .
Great guide!
Biggest difference for me was changing the cap on my upload speeds. I went from about 10 to 100kb/s.
the only thing I didnt do was the patch. I can live with slow dl speeds, what I can’t live with is reinstalling windows and losing all of my files.
i done everything that was said to be done and my download still dosn’t start can anyone help
this is a great article alot of help towards sorting out these damn slownesses lol
but i wudnt use the hacking tools
listen to me, dont mess with windows files or ya computer reli,
i used to be the master,
at making my computer faster,
but then i fooled around modding files with programs that you cant reli still trust regardless of what ppl have been saying. so den i became…
the master,
of diaster!!!
lol but you get what am saying so take it easy
how can i uninstall this patch??!?? pleeeaase! answer me!!
@Leigh if you would have payed attention with the instal and READ everything that it was showing you you would know how to change it back by patch OR manually.. people are to lazy to read these days and come with HELPME!!!#$!@ posts
nice article…usefull…didnt download the patch tho..
i manually modified the settings
and for anyone who’s wondering, this patch dosent work for vista. if ur using vista and want an effecient way to speed up yer torrent download, then its simple, get a faster connection. !
ALL ISP’S THAT LIMIT BT’S CONNETION ARE GAY. THAT’S THE REALITY..
Wow I’ve never seen so many ignorant uninformed people in my life. How stupid could one be? First of all its not a virus all it does is patch your tcpip.sys if you were to do this manually you would have to open tcpip.sys in a hex editor and byte hack it. If you are so worried about a couple of blatant false positives use XP-Antispy which includes an option to set max connection limits just like the patcher does.
All the half-open connection does is set how many different peers it tries to connect to at the same time decreasing the startup speed of your torrent nothing else.
The article contains clear instructions with pictures anyone should be able to pick it up and do it. I also saw somebody ask why it says when they connect online they have a 100Mpbs connection but only download at 4Kb…WOW just WOW, that’s the speed available on your LAN(LOCAL AREA NETWORK) not your actual internet speeds. Use speedtest.net if you want to know your actual speeds.
The settings listed in the article will affect everyone differently as there are hundreds if not thousands of factors to consider, like ISP, connection type, NIC, OS and OS configuration, current usage, network congestion, torrent health, seeds/peers etc etc etc the list goes on and on…hope this provides at LEAST a little insight
Shit type from my previous post
“All the half-open connection does is set how many different peers it tries to connect to at the same time decreasing the startup speed of your torrent nothing else.”
should really be
decreasing the startup TIME of your torrent, sorry bout that
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