Doubling network performance on the Cheap.

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kmanuel

Weaksauce
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Feb 11, 2005
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Here is the situation. I have a file server with windows 2003 and a HTPC with windows xp pro.

I have all my movies on the server and the HTPC accesses those files, but on playback (mostly at the start of the movie) there will be a pause will the htpc access more data.

I would like to know if/how to use 4 nics (2 on the server and 2 on the HTPC) to increase network speeds.
I was looking into getting Gigabit ethernet (2 nics and a cross overcable) but that cost is gonna run me about $50.
I have extra 100Mb nics and I can get Patch cables for cheap.

So is there a way to have 2 nics act as one to double the bandwidth? Or is there a way to increase some sort of a buffer memory size in windows so I don't have that pause effect when playing back movies?
 
Try using Shares instead of FTP, I use SMB shares with my X-Box and see almost no lag, only time I do see lag is with large HD movies which is understandable.
 
More bandwidth will not help your situation. You need to find out why your systems are taking so long to transfer data from your server to your HTPC.

Can you provide more detail as to the specs, OS, and network setup?
 
SJConsultant said:
More bandwidth will not help your situation. You need to find out why your systems are taking so long to transfer data from your server to your HTPC.

Can you provide more detail as to the specs, OS, and network setup?
Click to expand...

Its a pretty simple home network..
The server: Athlon xp 1700 underclocked (to reduce heat and noise) to 1.10ghz
512mb ddr ram, 5 hard drives. OS windows 2003 server
Basic cheap 100mb netgear nic

HTPC: Athlon xp 2400 @ 2ghz, 1gig ram (pc266) 1 hard drive with OS (window xp pro)
100mb netgear nic..

My pcs are all over the house so I use a total of 2 switches and 1 router.
The wireless router is in the bedroom. connected to it is the cable modem and my wife's computer. A patch cable runs from the router to a switch in the living room to which my HTPC is connect to it.
Now my main rig and Server is connected to another switch (netgear)(they are in a corner of the living room). Another long patch cable runs from that switch to the switch that my HTPC is connected to.

The hard drives on the server are shared and the HTPC accesses those shared drives
 
I assume you know for sure that the network is your limiting factor? On the Win2k3 server, open the task manager and look at the last tab (networking). If that graph isn't at 95% or higher when you are doing stuff, then the network doesn't seem to be your bottleneck.
 
Fint said:
I assume you know for sure that the network is your limiting factor? On the Win2k3 server, open the task manager and look at the last tab (networking). If that graph isn't at 95% or higher when you are doing stuff, then the network doesn't seem to be your bottleneck.
Click to expand...

Actually I don't really know if it's the network, just assumed. But I will try your suggestion when I get home. Maybe I need to restore my cpu to it's default clock speed?
 
If your CPU graph in the Task Manager is above 90% when transfering files, then yes, you could be CPU limited.
 
you could always go with gigabit cards in both machines. Having faster hard drives like sata or scsi make a big difference on transfering large files as well.
 
For the record, no crossover cable is needed for Gbit over copper.

As others have said though, check your network load on the server and see if you are getting anywhere near full usage out of it. Running some longer cables and getting all the PCs on one switch may help some as well.
 
Are you sure the perfomance issue isn't because of either the shitty NIC you are using or the hard drives? Do you have a better (3com, Intel) 10/100 one to put in? Is it set to force the mode to 100 full duplex? Also, what about your hub?
 
Hmm exactly what would be the point for 2 cards on a on PCI 33Mhz? -
33x10(6) * 32Bit = 1056Mbit/s = 132MB/s - PCI bus is only 133MB/s - and through that you need to pull all your other data like your IDE channel etc. You saturate far too quickly for it to be of any good, sure burst transfers maybe quick, but you would get nothing sustained, Dual Nics is only really any good on new motherboards with split buses like server boards. If you are using a standard mobo one of the quickest ways to ensure best performance is to ensure that your NIC is not on a shared slot with another high throughput device.
 
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