This guide is officially posted at forum.utorrent.com, µTorrent Community.
Note: this mini-guide is also available for download as a .PDF file(68 kB) for off-line reading.
View attachment 1444
This is a huge guide, just posting a part of it, for first part of guide visit the link or download the pdf which i am attaching.
Ofcourse, you can extrapolate this guide and apply it to other torrent clients also. :hap2: :hap2:
Now that we're done with the basic tweaking of your PC, it's time to open up µTorrent and go into its Preferences. I'm going straight to the point: get a calculator (Windows has one built-in, or get M$ Power Calculator) if you can't do basic math like me, because we're going to be calculating the most optimized values for your connection by hand. I'm going to use 640 kb/s down and 128 kb/s up as an example...make sure to replace these values and use your own download and upload speeds when doing the math. Ready? OK.
Go to Options ? Preferences... ? Network Options. Once there (and I assume you've forwarded your port and all that), we're going to look at your Global maximum upload rate. How you calculate this value is very simple. Take your maximum upload speed (in this instance I'll take 128 kb/s) and divide it by 10. Note: if you're a high-bandwidth user (? 1 mb/s), feel free to substitute 10 with 8. So:
Code:
128 / 10 = 12.8
Then, we're going to use about 75%~85% of this value. If you have a really slow upload speed, 75% is a bit more forgiving, but if you're on a really fast connection, feel free to use a higher percentage, like 85%. I do not recommend going higher than 90%, because this will be too close to your maximum upload speed and will probably choke your bandwidth at some point. So:
Code:
12.8 x .80 = 10.24
µTorrent only allows you to use whole rounded numbers, so on this ocassion we'll use 10. If you still experience some websites that are timing out, or you're having other types of problems (like difficulty sending e-mails for instance), feel free to lower this to 9. However, if you're primarily seeding and are barely using the PC for Web browsing, you can safely use 11. In this case, I'll just leave it at 10.
â— Global maximum upload rate (kB/s) = 10
I'm going to leave Alternate upload rate when not downloading alone as only you are the one who can decide if this applies to you or not. Whatever you're going to do, don't set it higher than 90% of your maximum upload speed.
Your Global maximum download rate is calculated similarly. Take your maximum download speed (in my example it's 640 kb/s) and divide it by 10. Note: if you're a high-bandwidth user (? 1 mb/s), feel free to substitute 10 with 8. So:
Code:
640 / 10 = 64
This time, we're going to use 80%~90% of this value. If you have a really slow download speed, 80% is a bit more forgiving, but if you're on a really fast connection, feel free to use a higher percentage, like 90%. I do not recommend going higher than 95%, because this will be too close to your maximum download speed and will probably choke your bandwidth at some point. So:
Code:
64 x .85 = 54.4
µTorrent only allows you to use whole rounded numbers, so in this instance we'll use 54. This leaves plenty of download bandwidth to download p0rn...errr...I mean, surf the Internet without slowing down too much. If you think these values are too low for you, feel free to experiment with higher numbers and see which ones work best for you. One thing is certain though, unless you have a QoS (Quality of Service) software installed, never leave your download and upload speeds uncapped, as you're only going to get bad speeds and ruin things for everyone on the swarm. And like I said in the beginning, there is no “rule-of-thumbâ€, these recommendations are simply a guide to find your optimal settings. You are the one who'll ultimately have to determine the best settings for your configuration.
â— Global maximum download rate (kB/s) = 54
In Other Settings, I enable all of them, and you should tick (check) them all as well. Scraping regularly checks the health of a torrent (how many seeds/peers there are etc.), so I suggest enabling it:
√ Enable scraping
Unless you're having severe disk space problems, it's better to pre-allocate the space to the torrent. I've found it also reduces constant writing significantly:
√ Pre-allocate all files
Really, this one needs no explanation. DHT (Distributed Hash Table) can really be a life saver when a tracker goes down. No reason to have it off, as it's automagically turned off if you're downloading a private torrent:
√ Enable DHT
Same here with the last option. No reason to turn it off:
√ Enable DHT for new torrents
Now we're going to click on Torrent Options. I'll jump right in. Let's look at Global maximum number of connections. This value is very, very easy to guess. Just take your upload bandwidth in kb/s and put it in there. In my case it's 128 kb/s, so we'll put 128 as the number.
â— Global maximum number of connections = 128
Next is Maximum number of connected peers per torrent. The value that worked best for me is as follows. Take your upload speed (in my situation it's 128 kb/s) and divide it by 8. So:
Code:
128 / 8 = 16
Now you can put that number in the box next to it.
â— Maximum number of connected peers per torrent = 16
Then we'll continue on to Number of upload slots per torrent. This number should obviously never fall below 1...keep that in mind. In case you have a really low upload speed, like 33.6 kb/s (standard dial-up), keep it at 1. You could try 2, but that's already pushing it. Anyway, how you calculate this value is a bit tricky. First, look at what number you put at your Global maximum upload rate (in Network Options). In my example it was set to 10 and I divided it with 4. So:
Code:
10 / 4 = 2.5
I'll take the side of caution and use 2 upload slots per torrent. However, I'm going to advise you to tick (check) Use additional upload slots if upload speed <90%. Just in case someone needs those extra few bits.
â— Number of upload slots per torrent = 2
√ Use additional upload slots if upload speed < 90%
I'm going to leave Queue Settings alone as only you are the one who can decide what's best for you. Saying that, I still recommend using some common sense and try to download one torrent at a time. Yes, I know we're all in a hurry to get everything quickly (reminds me of McDonald's fast food), but please, think of the swarm! By uploading pathetic little bits here and there, it's only going to hurt the BitTorrent community even more. So be cautious when downloading (don't try running everything at once) and once you're finished don't forget to seed back to others who also want to enjoy what you've downloaded.
OK, now it's time for us dive into µTorrent's Advanced Options. I'm going to address only those settings which I believe are going to give you a boost...the rest are better left alone unless you know what you're doing. Remember how I told you to patch your TCPIP.sys file a while ago exactly as your upload speed (in kb/s)? In my case it's 128 kb/s and I'll divide it in 2. So:
Code:
128 / 2 = 64
You can use the number you've calculated above on the setting below and still have enough connections left for other applications to utilize. Aggressive surfing won't be affected this way.
â— net.max_halfopen = 64.
Unless you have a really old PC, you can also let µTorrent use a little bit more CPU power, since I haven't seen µTorrent use any outrageous amount of resources with this option turned off. YMMV.
â— net.low_cpu = *false
If you can't maintain your upload speeds/can't seed properly, or you know that your ISP is shaping BitTorrent traffic (slowing down your network connection), try setting peer.lazy_bitfield to *true. It could help you with your problems. Also, it appears port 1720 (a VoIP [Voice over IP] port) is being unthrottled by some ISP's, so you may have to check that out as well. See if you can find out what ports your ISP uses for NetMeeting/VoIP/Xbox Live etc. This is a legitimate question and they should be able to answer you what ports they use for these services without any problem/suspicion. It could very well be possible that you can bypass their BitTorrent restrictions using these types of ports. Here's a handy list of ports and their common uses. Also, switching ISP's to one that is known not to mess with BitTorrent traffic can also help tremendously, if it's an option for you. And switching to Geico can save you 15% or more on car insurance...
â— peer.lazy_bitfield = *true
Another setting I've encountered that gives me a somewhat more stable connection is to set the disconnect interval to a higher value. Some people recommend turning it off completely, however I find that it can still be useful in some cases. Experiment and see what's best for your situation. On my system, I've set it to disconnect after 10 minutes instead of the default 5.
â— peer.disconnect_inactive_interval = *600
And lastly, if you're having problems with your hard disk that can't keep up with your download speeds (or you get a Disk Overloaded message in your status bar), you may have to modify µTorrent's cache to something higher. You can set it to 2x – 4x your maximum download speed. Remember to never set it below 2048 (2 MB) and never higher than 32768 (32 MB). So:
Code:
640 x 4 = 2560
Fortunately, with the latest updates Ludde optimized it sufficiently that from now on I just leave it on automatic.
â— diskio.write_queue_size = -1
Now we're ready to see if we can get better speeds by downloading an OOo torrent (keep in mind that OOo is a very well-seeded torrent, thus it represents a best-in-case scenario). This particular torrent should easily max out your download bandwidth.
So, to recap: there are many things that could be slowing down your BitTorrent downloads/uploads. Also, do not expect to always max out your download speed as this is totally unrealistic. It's more of a lucky one-time occurance than the norm. And if there are too few seeds and many peers in a swarm, your downloads will be slow, there's no way around it. Other than that, I hope you've found this mini-guide useful. Always remember: be a seeder, not a leecher! Have fun using µTorrent and Good Luck!
Note: this mini-guide is also available for download as a .PDF file(68 kB) for off-line reading.
View attachment 1444
This is a huge guide, just posting a part of it, for first part of guide visit the link or download the pdf which i am attaching.
Ofcourse, you can extrapolate this guide and apply it to other torrent clients also. :hap2: :hap2:
Now that we're done with the basic tweaking of your PC, it's time to open up µTorrent and go into its Preferences. I'm going straight to the point: get a calculator (Windows has one built-in, or get M$ Power Calculator) if you can't do basic math like me, because we're going to be calculating the most optimized values for your connection by hand. I'm going to use 640 kb/s down and 128 kb/s up as an example...make sure to replace these values and use your own download and upload speeds when doing the math. Ready? OK.
Go to Options ? Preferences... ? Network Options. Once there (and I assume you've forwarded your port and all that), we're going to look at your Global maximum upload rate. How you calculate this value is very simple. Take your maximum upload speed (in this instance I'll take 128 kb/s) and divide it by 10. Note: if you're a high-bandwidth user (? 1 mb/s), feel free to substitute 10 with 8. So:
Code:
128 / 10 = 12.8
Then, we're going to use about 75%~85% of this value. If you have a really slow upload speed, 75% is a bit more forgiving, but if you're on a really fast connection, feel free to use a higher percentage, like 85%. I do not recommend going higher than 90%, because this will be too close to your maximum upload speed and will probably choke your bandwidth at some point. So:
Code:
12.8 x .80 = 10.24
µTorrent only allows you to use whole rounded numbers, so on this ocassion we'll use 10. If you still experience some websites that are timing out, or you're having other types of problems (like difficulty sending e-mails for instance), feel free to lower this to 9. However, if you're primarily seeding and are barely using the PC for Web browsing, you can safely use 11. In this case, I'll just leave it at 10.
â— Global maximum upload rate (kB/s) = 10
I'm going to leave Alternate upload rate when not downloading alone as only you are the one who can decide if this applies to you or not. Whatever you're going to do, don't set it higher than 90% of your maximum upload speed.
Your Global maximum download rate is calculated similarly. Take your maximum download speed (in my example it's 640 kb/s) and divide it by 10. Note: if you're a high-bandwidth user (? 1 mb/s), feel free to substitute 10 with 8. So:
Code:
640 / 10 = 64
This time, we're going to use 80%~90% of this value. If you have a really slow download speed, 80% is a bit more forgiving, but if you're on a really fast connection, feel free to use a higher percentage, like 90%. I do not recommend going higher than 95%, because this will be too close to your maximum download speed and will probably choke your bandwidth at some point. So:
Code:
64 x .85 = 54.4
µTorrent only allows you to use whole rounded numbers, so in this instance we'll use 54. This leaves plenty of download bandwidth to download p0rn...errr...I mean, surf the Internet without slowing down too much. If you think these values are too low for you, feel free to experiment with higher numbers and see which ones work best for you. One thing is certain though, unless you have a QoS (Quality of Service) software installed, never leave your download and upload speeds uncapped, as you're only going to get bad speeds and ruin things for everyone on the swarm. And like I said in the beginning, there is no “rule-of-thumbâ€, these recommendations are simply a guide to find your optimal settings. You are the one who'll ultimately have to determine the best settings for your configuration.
â— Global maximum download rate (kB/s) = 54
In Other Settings, I enable all of them, and you should tick (check) them all as well. Scraping regularly checks the health of a torrent (how many seeds/peers there are etc.), so I suggest enabling it:
√ Enable scraping
Unless you're having severe disk space problems, it's better to pre-allocate the space to the torrent. I've found it also reduces constant writing significantly:
√ Pre-allocate all files
Really, this one needs no explanation. DHT (Distributed Hash Table) can really be a life saver when a tracker goes down. No reason to have it off, as it's automagically turned off if you're downloading a private torrent:
√ Enable DHT
Same here with the last option. No reason to turn it off:
√ Enable DHT for new torrents
Now we're going to click on Torrent Options. I'll jump right in. Let's look at Global maximum number of connections. This value is very, very easy to guess. Just take your upload bandwidth in kb/s and put it in there. In my case it's 128 kb/s, so we'll put 128 as the number.
â— Global maximum number of connections = 128
Next is Maximum number of connected peers per torrent. The value that worked best for me is as follows. Take your upload speed (in my situation it's 128 kb/s) and divide it by 8. So:
Code:
128 / 8 = 16
Now you can put that number in the box next to it.
â— Maximum number of connected peers per torrent = 16
Then we'll continue on to Number of upload slots per torrent. This number should obviously never fall below 1...keep that in mind. In case you have a really low upload speed, like 33.6 kb/s (standard dial-up), keep it at 1. You could try 2, but that's already pushing it. Anyway, how you calculate this value is a bit tricky. First, look at what number you put at your Global maximum upload rate (in Network Options). In my example it was set to 10 and I divided it with 4. So:
Code:
10 / 4 = 2.5
I'll take the side of caution and use 2 upload slots per torrent. However, I'm going to advise you to tick (check) Use additional upload slots if upload speed <90%. Just in case someone needs those extra few bits.
â— Number of upload slots per torrent = 2
√ Use additional upload slots if upload speed < 90%
I'm going to leave Queue Settings alone as only you are the one who can decide what's best for you. Saying that, I still recommend using some common sense and try to download one torrent at a time. Yes, I know we're all in a hurry to get everything quickly (reminds me of McDonald's fast food), but please, think of the swarm! By uploading pathetic little bits here and there, it's only going to hurt the BitTorrent community even more. So be cautious when downloading (don't try running everything at once) and once you're finished don't forget to seed back to others who also want to enjoy what you've downloaded.
OK, now it's time for us dive into µTorrent's Advanced Options. I'm going to address only those settings which I believe are going to give you a boost...the rest are better left alone unless you know what you're doing. Remember how I told you to patch your TCPIP.sys file a while ago exactly as your upload speed (in kb/s)? In my case it's 128 kb/s and I'll divide it in 2. So:
Code:
128 / 2 = 64
You can use the number you've calculated above on the setting below and still have enough connections left for other applications to utilize. Aggressive surfing won't be affected this way.
â— net.max_halfopen = 64.
Unless you have a really old PC, you can also let µTorrent use a little bit more CPU power, since I haven't seen µTorrent use any outrageous amount of resources with this option turned off. YMMV.
â— net.low_cpu = *false
If you can't maintain your upload speeds/can't seed properly, or you know that your ISP is shaping BitTorrent traffic (slowing down your network connection), try setting peer.lazy_bitfield to *true. It could help you with your problems. Also, it appears port 1720 (a VoIP [Voice over IP] port) is being unthrottled by some ISP's, so you may have to check that out as well. See if you can find out what ports your ISP uses for NetMeeting/VoIP/Xbox Live etc. This is a legitimate question and they should be able to answer you what ports they use for these services without any problem/suspicion. It could very well be possible that you can bypass their BitTorrent restrictions using these types of ports. Here's a handy list of ports and their common uses. Also, switching ISP's to one that is known not to mess with BitTorrent traffic can also help tremendously, if it's an option for you. And switching to Geico can save you 15% or more on car insurance...
â— peer.lazy_bitfield = *true
Another setting I've encountered that gives me a somewhat more stable connection is to set the disconnect interval to a higher value. Some people recommend turning it off completely, however I find that it can still be useful in some cases. Experiment and see what's best for your situation. On my system, I've set it to disconnect after 10 minutes instead of the default 5.
â— peer.disconnect_inactive_interval = *600
And lastly, if you're having problems with your hard disk that can't keep up with your download speeds (or you get a Disk Overloaded message in your status bar), you may have to modify µTorrent's cache to something higher. You can set it to 2x – 4x your maximum download speed. Remember to never set it below 2048 (2 MB) and never higher than 32768 (32 MB). So:
Code:
640 x 4 = 2560
Fortunately, with the latest updates Ludde optimized it sufficiently that from now on I just leave it on automatic.
â— diskio.write_queue_size = -1
Now we're ready to see if we can get better speeds by downloading an OOo torrent (keep in mind that OOo is a very well-seeded torrent, thus it represents a best-in-case scenario). This particular torrent should easily max out your download bandwidth.
So, to recap: there are many things that could be slowing down your BitTorrent downloads/uploads. Also, do not expect to always max out your download speed as this is totally unrealistic. It's more of a lucky one-time occurance than the norm. And if there are too few seeds and many peers in a swarm, your downloads will be slow, there's no way around it. Other than that, I hope you've found this mini-guide useful. Always remember: be a seeder, not a leecher! Have fun using µTorrent and Good Luck!
