[SOLVED] Desktop dL speed / HTPC dL speed vastly different

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
I am currently paying for 1Gbps internet. However, on my Desktop PC, I am only receiving less than 100 Mbps. On my HTPC I am showing speeds of 700 Mbps on Speedtest and am getting dL speeds of 200-300 Mbps usually.....I'm not sure what is the problem here. I also got a new router for the 1gbps connection. Any help is appreciated :)

tried upgrading to CAT 8 cabling as well...currently CAT 6.... no change.

both connections are wired directly to the router.

Here are my DESKTOP specs:
CPU: Intel core i7-6700K @4.00GHz
MB: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z170 PRO GAMING
GPU: GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB
HDD: Samsumg SSD 850 EVO 250GB
Router: TP-Link AC2300 Wireless WiFi Router | Powerful 1.8GHz Dual-Core Processor, MU-MIMO (Archer C2300)

ookla speed test results for DESKTOP PC
https://www.speedtest.net/result/8521624425

Here are my HTPC specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
MB: MSI B350M MORTAR (MS-7A37)
GPU: GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
HDD: WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, M.2 2280
Router: TP-Link AC2300 Wireless WiFi Router | Powerful 1.8GHz Dual-Core Processor, MU-MIMO (Archer C2300)

ookla speed test results for HTPC
https://www.speedtest.net/result/8521626669
 
Solution
Well the one test you did get to work pretty much shows everything is ok. The laptop can send data at maximum rate and the desktop can receive it. Since it was desktop download you had issues with this shows the desktop itself has no issues getting that much data. It is highly likely it will work in the other direction once you get past whatever is restricting the access. You might have to run the command in a windows launched with admin mode.

I would not spend a lot more time chasing this part of it. It is not likely your drivers or cables or ports in the equipment.

Now you start to suspect the router or maybe something strange with the software in the PC. This thread is fairly long did you test directly connected to...
It's funny because if anything the Asus should show better speed due to having the Intel Network chip. Go to the Asus page for your motherboard and download the latest drivers for the network card. If the newer drivers don't help, check the setting for the chip in device manager and make sure it is configured as gigabit and full duplex. Be warned, there are tons of settings in there, and theoretically, all default settings should give you optimal performance.

If you still have issues, I suggest you determine if the issue is with the computer or the router. First example, have you tried different ports on the router? If you copy a file from one PC to the other, does the process go faster on one than the other?
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
It's funny because if anything the Asus should show better speed due to having the Intel Network chip. Go to the Asus page for your motherboard and download the latest drivers for the network card. If the newer drivers don't help, check the setting for the chip in device manager and make sure it is configured as gigabit and full duplex. Be warned, there are tons of settings in there, and theoretically, all default settings should give you optimal performance.

If you still have issues, I suggest you determine if the issue is with the computer or the router. First example, have you tried different ports on the router? If you copy a file from one PC to the other, does the process go faster on one than the other?


LAN
Version 20.7.67.0 2016/08/17664.23 MBytes
- Intel LAN Driver V20.7.67.0 for Windows Win8.1 64bit---(WHQL)
- Intel LAN Driver V20.7.67.0 for Windows Win7 32bit & Win7 64bit---(WHQL).
- Intel LAN Driver V20.7.67.0 for Windows Win10 64bit---(WHQL)


this is pretty old, but I downloaded it but it says I have newer version already installed.....

chip settings on device manager?

I'm confused by this...in BIOS?

in device manager Processors I do not see any settings

Network adapters Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V
https://ibb.co/VJQP1vp
 

boju

Titan
Ambassador
11.3 seems like your nic link speed is stuck on 100 megabit. Leave speed and duplex on auto.

Right click network adapter > status. What does speed say?

network-connection-status-for-network-adapter.jpg


Have you tried the cable you're using on the htpc and vice versa?

Usual cat 5e cable is gigabit, im using them right now and just get over 115MB/s. If swapping cables work then it's the cable you're using. Cat cable can reach to 100m before a booster is required, 4.5 meters is nothing.
 
For windows 7, the easiest way to get to device manager would be from the control panel. And for the driver, try googling the name and getting the driver from the intel site. My Asus has the same network chip and I got a very recent driver the last time I looked (probably a month old at most, less than a year ago). But it is good to see your numbers are improving, at least somewhat.
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
11.3 seems like your nic link speed is stuck on 100 megabit. Leave speed and duplex on auto.

Right click network adapter > status. What does speed say?

network-connection-status-for-network-adapter.jpg


Have you tried the cable you're using on the htpc and vice versa?

Usual cat 5e cable is gigabit, im using them right now and just get over 115MB/s. If swapping cables work then it's the cable you're using. Cat cable can reach to 100m before a booster is required, 4.5 meters is nothing.


Changed back to auto.

Status
https://ibb.co/GT5BTLv

I tried a thicker CAT8 cable that I bought and that did not change the speeds either
 

boju

Titan
Ambassador
Status looks good and negotiation between this pc and router should be fine.

Have you tried pulling out the htcp and connect only your pc to the same port? To see if there's something, a setting in the router restricting multiple connections.
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
Status looks good and negotiation between this pc and router should be fine.

Have you tried pulling out the htcp and connect only your pc to the same port? To see if there's something, a setting in the router restricting multiple connections.

No, I'll try that when I get home. Stepped out for an hour.
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
For windows 7, the easiest way to get to device manager would be from the control panel. And for the driver, try googling the name and getting the driver from the intel site. My Asus has the same network chip and I got a very recent driver the last time I looked (probably a month old at most, less than a year ago). But it is good to see your numbers are improving, at least somewhat.
I went to the Intel site and got a new driver just before my vacation about a month ago....

Speeds are still 6MB/s-14-15MB/s after going back to auto
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
Status looks good and negotiation between this pc and router should be fine.

Have you tried pulling out the htcp and connect only your pc to the same port? To see if there's something, a setting in the router restricting multiple connections.

replaced HTPC port with cable from Desktop and Desktop got worse now mostly 10-11MB/s
 
You have tried many things maybe it is not really a network issue.

Try a old line mode program called IPERF and see what rates you get between your 2 machines in your house. This is a very simple test that only tests the network part of your machines it is not really affected by disk/memory/cpu etc. Most people get over 900mbps in both directions.

Be very careful not to get conned on ethernet cable. You only need cat5e to get gigabit speeds. If you have 10g ports in your machine you would use cat6a. Pretty much everything else is marketing the port controls the speed not the cable. The one concern would be to make sure you are not buying fake cables. The cables must be pure copper (no cca) and have wire size 22-24 (none of that thin or flat cable).
 
Don't forget also there are a lot of things that affect network speed: AV, firewalls, other (background) programs - such as Windows Update, or third party programs, slowing you down. And don't discount the OTHER machine slowing down your reception. Do you happen to have another computer you can use to verify the receiving end is not slowing things down?
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
You have tried many things maybe it is not really a network issue.

Try a old line mode program called IPERF and see what rates you get between your 2 machines in your house. This is a very simple test that only tests the network part of your machines it is not really affected by disk/memory/cpu etc. Most people get over 900mbps in both directions.

Be very careful not to get conned on ethernet cable. You only need cat5e to get gigabit speeds. If you have 10g ports in your machine you would use cat6a. Pretty much everything else is marketing the port controls the speed not the cable. The one concern would be to make sure you are not buying fake cables. The cables must be pure copper (no cca) and have wire size 22-24 (none of that thin or flat cable).

run iperf3 on the desktop and nas. this will test your local speeds. your issues might not be with the clients.


Thanks bill001g and failboat I looked at the IPERF website and downloaded iPerf 3.1.3 . Unzipped it and ran the exe file, but a tiny window opened and closed quickly on my desktop. I show no program having installed. Sorry, but mybe I need more info on how to run this... Not straightforward so far.

Also downloaded iPerf3 : Network Performance Test (source by Tommy Zhang / Microsoft - 664 KiB)
This has no exe file and I have no idea what to do with it.

Thanks for your comments about the cabling as well. That's kind of what I thought, but after exhausting so many options I thought I'd try that.... oh well
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
Don't forget also there are a lot of things that affect network speed: AV, firewalls, other (background) programs - such as Windows Update, or third party programs, slowing you down. And don't discount the OTHER machine slowing down your reception. Do you happen to have another computer you can use to verify the receiving end is not slowing things down?


No other wired PCs to plug in and check. I disconnected all other machines from the router and still got slow speeds. Changed the port in the router. No change. All machines are up to date with Windows updates. All machines have the same AV program running
 
You need to open a cmd prompt window and then run it. The command actually has a couple of option you must set. I think it gives you a help screen if you type it in with no options. This is a old style line mode command like we used to use in the days before fancy gui.

You need to read some of the documentation since you must start one end as a server and put the ip address in the other end. It is trivial to use but it is not some mouse clicky thing.
 

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
You need to open a cmd prompt window and then run it. The command actually has a couple of option you must set. I think it gives you a help screen if you type it in with no options. This is a old style line mode command like we used to use in the days before fancy gui.

You need to read some of the documentation since you must start one end as a server and put the ip address in the other end. It is trivial to use but it is not some mouse clicky thing.


TO be honest, I'm not that tech savvy to be running CMD line programs. I've always had a difficult time executing commands, etc... I've tried a few times to get it to work, and the menu just flashes on CMD for a sec and then disappears. Not quite sure what I'm doing....
 
iperf3 once you save it to a folder you can right click and open in powershell. in windows you might have to turn the fw off on the server.
in linux you can install it from the repo and use it in terminal.

server
iperf3 -s
client
iperf3 -c <<ip of server>>
 
Last edited:

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
iperf3 once you save it to a folder you can right click and open in powershell. in windows you might have to turn the fw off on the server.
in linux you can install it from the repo and use it in terminal.

server
iperf3 -s
client
iperf3 -c <<ip of server>>


I got this far

https://ibb.co/1zHXMnD

don't know what to do next or what I'm looking for here....


is this right?? from Desktop

https://ibb.co/M28Gxcr

and from HTPC

https://ibb.co/wNkmxsD

according to these it looks like the desktop now has the better speeds....
 
Last edited:

samhfoley

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
112
0
18,690
I think you ran iperf3 c and s on the same computer.
You want to test between desktop and htpc
yes that's correct....ok so on desktop run
iperf3 -s
then
iperf3 -c [HTPC IP}

is this right?

I see this currently

C:\WINDOWS\system32>iperf3 -s
iperf3: error - unable to start listener for connections: Address already in use
iperf3: exiting
 

TRENDING THREADS