new hard drive or motherboard? slow download speeds fast internet

camplo87

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Dec 24, 2010
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My download speed is very slow on my pc(ETHERNET CONNECTED). But, very fast on Wifi.

On my pc the speed changes a lot. Sometimes it downloads at 5/40, sometimes it's at 15/40, and sometimes as low as 2.5/40.
On my wifi it's at 33/40. I've never seen my pc download speed higher than 15/40

My verizon fios plan is 50 down/25 up. I contacted verizon and they sent someone that didn't help my problem at all. He said it could be a hardware issue, but didn't specify what part of the hardware could be causing the problem. I checked online for a solution and im thinking it's my motherboard maybe or my hard drive? i've had my hard drive since (2009) and used it in this new machine to save a bit of money, but now im thinking that's a big mistake.


my specs are :
i've had this machine since may of this year
I use this computer mainly for playing team fortress 2, downloading torrents, light web browsing.

a88x-pro mobo
a8 6600k APU/CPU
8gb 1600 ddr memory
r7 260x gpu
hitachi 500gb hard drive
 

camplo87

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Dec 24, 2010
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this is my old hard drive that i've had since 2009 http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Deskstar-E7K500-HDS725050KLA360-200RPM/dp/B00348YLOG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408663614&sr=8-2&keywords=hitachi+500gb


this is the new hard drive i want to buy http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=hard+drive+500+gb

do you think that will speed up my internet browsing and downloads?
i also notice that utorrent freezes and stop responding and so does my internet browswer every now and then.
I use an anti-virus, cccleaner, and malware protection quite frequently.
All of my drivers are up to date.
 
I really doubt that your hard drive is the issue.
You could go to the hitachi web site, they should havew some diagnostics that you can run. It is possible that it is failing and taking time to find alternate sectors.

But, that would not explain why wifi was faster.

Better yet, buy a ssd. You will be amazed at the difference it makes in everything you do.
The free Samsung clone utility makes the transition easy. If your hard drive is not full, 240gb would be the one to buy. EVO us fine.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
It is not the physical hard drive, unless the drive is actually malfunctioning.

I have the same FiOS plan.
1. Using the old drive - did you reinstall the OS? Or just plug it in and it mostly worked?
2. Motherboard LAN drivers? Installed and possibly updated?
3. LAN cable - tried a new one?
 

camplo87

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1. did a clean install of the os
2. everything is up to date. i have a program called driver navigator that updates everything for me
3. i bought a brand new coax cable and got a brand new verizon router.

I'm thinking of getting a brand new hard drive because i think there is a virus slowing me down that has gone undetected by my norton's anti-virus. What do you think I should do ?
 

Vic 40

Titan
Ambassador

You're sure that you have the latest lan driver from here?
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/A88XPRO/HelpDesk_Download/
or bios.

With a clean install i can't imagine you have a virus.I assume you did a full format of the disk.