On my cable connection, I have always averaged 22 KB/s upload speed and about 120 KB/s download. Yesterday I upgraded my desktop from 1.7 gig Celeron processor to a P4 3 gig. And I brought my RAM from 256K to 1 gig.

Today, I'm getting average 45 KB/s upload and lightning 260 KB/s download speeds! But I'm confused. I never thought the specs of the computer had anything (significant) to do with my FTP speed. I always thought it was a function of my connection and my nic card.

Can anyone explain to me what has caused the increase in speed?

Vito

Originally posted by vito
On my cable connection, I have always averaged 22 KB/s upload speed and about 120 KB/s download. Yesterday I upgraded my desktop from 1.7 gig Celeron processor to a P4 3 gig. And I brought my RAM from 256K to 1 gig.

Today, I'm getting average 45 KB/s upload and lightning 260 KB/s download speeds! But I'm confused. I never thought the specs of the computer had anything (significant) to do with my FTP speed. I always thought it was a function of my connection and my nic card.

Can anyone explain to me what has caused the increase in speed?

Vito

Obviously since you had 256K :D of RAM in there and upgraded it to 1GB you're going to notice a difference... :P

Originally posted by vito
On my cable connection, I have always averaged 22 KB/s upload speed and about 120 KB/s download. Yesterday I upgraded my desktop from 1.7 gig Celeron processor to a P4 3 gig. And I brought my RAM from 256K to 1 gig.

Today, I'm getting average 45 KB/s upload and lightning 260 KB/s download speeds! But I'm confused. I never thought the specs of the computer had anything (significant) to do with my FTP speed. I always thought it was a function of my connection and my nic card.

Can anyone explain to me what has caused the increase in speed?

Vito

I'd be tempted to say dumb luck. You haven't switched ftp clients during your upgrade by any chance, have you? Some of them are optimistic when it comes to calculating your connection speed. In fact, WS_FTP sometimes tell me I'm uploading at over 1mbit/s :banana:

However, it is true that other components do effect your ability to transfer data. Your computer hardware must be able to process the data as it sends it out and recieve it. If your hardware can only handle 22KB/s of data, then that is all you will get. I'd say that such a backlog could very well occur in a Windows system with only 256mb of ram.

Oh, it could be dumb luck too :D

Originally posted by Admiral Spock
Obviously since you had 256K :D of RAM in there and upgraded it to 1GB you're going to notice a difference... :P Why does RAM have anything to do with FTP speed? (excuse my ignorance :blush: )

Vito

We posted at the same time, Asci. Thanks for the explanation. I still don't fully understand how it works, but I'm sure happy with the faster speeds!

Vito

Originally posted by vito
We posted at the same time, Asci. Thanks for the explanation. I still don't fully understand how it works, but I'm sure happy with the faster speeds!

Vito

you can only download/upload as fast as your cable line permits.
you only process data as fast as your various computer components permit (RAM being the #1 important thing here)...

basicly, I would guess that before the upgrade you werent using the full potential of your cable line because of slow data processing...

or in a two words: dumb luck. :D

vito, it is faster to NY by bus :D

Hmm. Dumb luck. Perhaps I should consider buying a lottery ticket today.
Originally posted by timechange.com
vito, it is faster to NY by bus :D And TC, get it right please if you're going to quote me. It should be:

Is it faster to NY or by bus?

TC :smash:

Vito

No, I meant that your system bus is now faster (more cache on the CPU) and therefore you FTP to NY faster :D

As always, your humor went zooooom, right over my head. :emlaugh:

Vito

Originally posted by vito
Hmm. Dumb luck. Perhaps I should consider buying a lottery ticket today. Sorry...you used up the luck on the RAM upgrade....;)

:bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:

Vito

I'm pretty sure the ram comment was a joke (256k or 1/4mb of ram isnt even enough to run windows) But 256mb ram wouldnt be a bottleneck. From the way it looks, you speeds are almost doubled. Check with your cable company, sometmes they increase the transfer rates, and coincidentally, it may have happened when you upgraded your PC.

People do not realize that the faster your computer is, the faster you're connection will be. Just because you have DSL 1.5/256, or Cable 2000/256, doesn't mean that your computer specs don't make a difference.

Since you upgraded your chip and ram, there is a good chance now your system can process more information.

Originally posted by Rob83
People do not realize that the faster your computer is, the faster you're connection will be. Just because you have DSL 1.5/256, or Cable 2000/256, doesn't mean that your computer specs don't make a difference.

Since you upgraded your chip and ram, there is a good chance now your system can process more information.

I disagree.

I have a 100mhz CPU and 16mb RAM running FreeBSD acting as a gateway, and I can push up to 680KB/sec without any issues.

Well if its dumbluck or what not, just for sh*ts&Grins, pull that extra RAM out and try again, see if it drops to where it was..

Originally posted by Pat H
...running FreeBSD...

:D

thats why, right there.

Originally posted by Pat H
I disagree.

I have a 100mhz CPU and 16mb RAM running FreeBSD acting as a gateway, and I can push up to 680KB/sec without any issues.

This is because you have FreeBSD running.

Originally posted by Rob83
This is because you have FreeBSD running.

Well yeah, but you didn't mention any OS, just better hardware.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc.

It's not necessarily true that the hardware change made it run faster. Maybe the telco did something, maybe when doing that you changed a setting in your system, just about anything could cause it.

What's funny is on the broadband where I'm at, I noticed the FTP on a free host I use for a photo gallery is faster then the transit site server, which the agency pays much $$$.

Are my speeds (45 KB/s upload and 260 KB/s download) normal for a cable connection?

Vito

Could have been RAM, CPU, hard drive (if that was upgraded too, which it seems like it wasn't). These can all help with the write speed, and would help speed up the download speed as well.

Are my speeds (45 KB/s upload and 260 KB/s download) normal for a cable connection?
Mine is 2000/512, or 250 KB/s down and 64 KB/s up, so yes, i'd say it's fairly normal.

Originally posted by vito
Are my speeds (45 KB/s upload and 260 KB/s download) normal for a cable connection?

Vito
Average, I would say.

I'm surprised you don't use 'Le Mighty' Eastlink. 5mbit business (2mbit home) connection makes things go a little easier (I can download from our servers in houston at around 3mb/s :D)

I would however, seriously, agree with the RAM resolution. If you have X, Y, and Z programs hogging your resources on your system, then an FTP program will suffer (heck, it's sharing resources of 256 MB with X, Y, and Z).

Throwing in some more ram will mean X, Y, and Z will run quicker, and smoother, hence FTP will run quicker.

If you need tips on FTP, http://www.DemoDemo.com sell's some flashy tutorials :D

Simon

Haha, I should go watch those and brush up on FTP... :emlaugh:

Vito

FTP doesnt really depend that much on system resources as much as available bandwidth.

I have a 700mhz box at my office that I transfer files at 1-3mbps no sweat.

Transfer speeds depend more on bandwidth and hard drive speed, and how much the hard drive is being accessed. Now if you are playing mp3's, burning a cd, copying files AND FTP'ing, then you will notice a difference.

So wouldn't that mean that my upgrade to a 3 gig P4 is contributing to the faster speeds?

Vito

Are you using a USB Modem? That is basically the only way you could get faster speeds from having a faster processor. USB Modems are nasty and use system resources to process the information and emulate a hardware ethernet adapter.

No USB modem.

Vito

Originally posted by Trifolic
Well if its dumbluck or what not, just for sh*ts&Grins, pull that extra RAM out and try again, see if it drops to where it was..

Yeah.. try that and lets us know if it changes anything.

Vito, Cogeco raised their speed on their cable internet packages. As did Bell Sympatico, and Rogers.

How much of it has to do with the speed of the server on which the site is located? On occasion I've had customers who download files from my server, and then comment on how fast my server is. So how much does it have to do (%-wise) with the server itself?

Vito