Strange speed problem on one PC but not the other

n62

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
16
0
10,510
I am experiencing an odd internet speed issue on my gaming PC that I built last year. I'm paying for 50 mbps from my ISP. On a 4-year-old Dell Inspiron, my download Speedtest results this morning have been as promised: 50.52, 50.01, and 50.01 on tests run within a 10-minute period. However, on my gaming PC, Speedtest results from the same time period (but not measured concurrently with the Dell) have been 15.71, 15.71, and 15.73. Both PCs are on wired connections to the same modem. So, something seems to be bottlenecking the speed on my gaming rig despite that it is way more powerful than the Dell.
An interesting tidbit: When I start a Speedtest on the gaming PC, the needle immediately jumps up to the 50 mbps range for about a half second, then drops down and hovers in the 15-16 range.

The specs for both PC's:

Gaming PC (that is getting the slow speeds):
i5 4670k @ 3.40 Ghz
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
16 mb RAM (Corsair Vengeance)
EVGA GTX 770 SC
Windows 8.1 Pro

Dell Inspiron (that is getting the internet speed as promised)
i5 750 @ 2.67 Ghz
generic motherboard
8 mb RAM
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Windows 7 Home Premium

Router is a Hitron CGN.

I tried the tutorial I found on Tom's for flushing the DNS cache in Windows 8 and deleting all the temp internet files. I've also tried switching cables and ports on the router. The problem persists. Anyone have an idea why the better rig is so much slower?

Thanks
 
Solution
I had wave shaping on my ASROCK mobo - it was speeding up applications I was using on the net for a while - but when I added a backup drive to backup the other 4 computers on the network, it started giving priority to the backups - my internet speed went way down. We were at 50Mpbs/10Mbps at the time - and my computer would get a steady 30/5 on speedtest.net.

They recently upgraded TWC in Austin....now it really rocks.
Kill your lag!

The Killer E2200 Intelligent Networking Platform is built for maximum networking performance for online games and high-quality streaming media. Featuring Advanced Stream Detect? Killer E2200 automatically detects and accelerates game traffic ahead of other network traffic for smoother, stutter-free in-game performance and the competitive edge. With this exclusive, automatic traffic prioritization, games and real-time chat get priority over low-level system chatter, giving you the lowest latency for game data on the most controllable network hardware available.

This feature of your motherboard may be limiting your speedtest.net results. Check your settings to see if anything is being prioritized....
 

n62

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
16
0
10,510
Interesting. Thanks for pointing this out. I haven't noticed problems in games, which maybe means it is doing what it is supposed to do? I guess I don't know my hardware very well.
 
I had wave shaping on my ASROCK mobo - it was speeding up applications I was using on the net for a while - but when I added a backup drive to backup the other 4 computers on the network, it started giving priority to the backups - my internet speed went way down. We were at 50Mpbs/10Mbps at the time - and my computer would get a steady 30/5 on speedtest.net.

They recently upgraded TWC in Austin....now it really rocks.
 
Solution