Bandwidth between two local PCs

[Berserker]

I'm having significant bandwidth issues between two PCs. The two PCs I had before have 'enough' bandwidth, but I had to replace one and now I have 'not enough'.

I have three problems:

• I don't have figures for 'enough' and 'not enough'. I can tell which is which by inspection but I can't quantify them. I do have a rough idea though, and it's somewhere around 10Mbps. Latency may also be a factor here but I'm not sure about that.
• I need to know how much bandwidth I have available between these two PCs. Is there a reasonable way of measuring this? Copying files doesn't count.
• I need to figure out how to get more bandwidth. Sounds easy, but there's a problem - there are a total of six network devices involved - two cards, two routers, and two powerline adapters. Nonetheless, the fact remains that replacing only one of those devices has caused the problem.

Any help very gratefully appreciated.

 

[rpstewart]

I need to know how much bandwidth I have available between these two PCs. Is there a reasonable way of measuring this? Copying files doesn't count.

Why not, bandwidth is just a measure of how fast you can get data down the connection, copying a file with something simple like FTP is about as good a check as you can get.

I need to figure out how to get more bandwidth. Sounds easy, but there's a problem - there are a total of six network devices involved - two cards, two routers, and two powerline adapters. Nonetheless, the fact remains that replacing only one of those devices has caused the problem.[/list]
Any help very gratefully appreciated.

The bandwidth will be limited by the slowest part of the connection. Chances are it'll be the powerline adapters. Are they both on the same ring main?

 

[Caged]

Telling us what sits between each of these two machines is a good start. Are all six devices between PC1 and PC2? Why two routers?

 

[Berserker]

PC -> Linksys Router -> HDX101 (Powerline) -> HDX101 -> Draytek Router -> other PC

I changed a PC at one end (due to the old one going pop).

Just did a quick file transfer test - 16Mbit/sec, and from memory that's about what I had before. That should be enough to allow me to stream video at 8-10Mbit/sec (freeview), but it isn't. Me no understand.

 

[Berserker]

Anyone?

My thoughts possibly involve IRQ conflicts between the network hardware and the TV card. Some testing suggests I can stream non-live media at the same bandwidth no problem, but live media doesn't work so well.

PS - I can be a bit more helpful with details too if you need them now (I was getting ready for a weekend away).

Edit - looks like it was the powerline stuff. Wierd that it happened at the same time though.

 

[Berserker]

Right, I've simplified things (thanks to one of the HDX101's quitting - again), so now we now have three PCs connected directly to my Draytek router (one with a nice long stretch of cat5). Still having problems.



Update - solved - had a flash of inspiration and was spot on. How very annoying - nothing to do with the LAN in the end. Shame I broke one of my HDX101s solving it. :/

Thanks to those who tried to help.