Will this increase my internet speed?

jammy123

jammy123

jammy123

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9 Aug 2012
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I have a Dell Dimension 9200, kinda old PC but I use it for basic stuff like word and internet. However, the download speed has slowed considerably over the past few months. It averages around 2mbs....Now I know it's not my internet because I have three other computers and they are recording speeds of up 72mbps as I have a fibre connection.

Would getting a PCI network card give me faster internet connection?

Please do let me know if you have any mind which might help me out or what other things I could try to speed it up. I wiped the harddrive and upgraded it from XP to Windows 7 and it still gave me a really slow speed. I don't believe it's any kind of virus/trojan as I wiped the whole thing so I am assuming it might be a hardware issue...
 
Does it have 100mbit ethernet connection?

Dell usually use Intel NICs which are good, so unless it is a 10mbit one, might be worth updating drivers.
 
Onboard NICs are about the same as PCI cheap NICs but if yours has a software driver issue then it could explain the speed. For the sake of a few quid for a pic NIC it's worth a shot. Just don't get one of those stupid killer ones.
 
Bigfoot has a range of network cards optimised for gaming branded "Killer".

Have you tried using a different cable i.e. one that is giving 72mbit on another machine? I've gotta be honest, I'd be surprised if even the crappest of onboard networking with shoddy drivers could be responsible for as little as 2mbit throughput on a 100mbit link. I'd expect the wiring is more likely to be at fault, assuming there is no configuration issue at play here (throttled at software level somewhere e.g. router, software on the machine itself).
 
I'd be tempted to download a linux live CD and test the speed again to rule out the current OS install / drivers. Just don't download the CD on that machine ;-)
 
No point at all in using a PCI NIC. As above, you need to rule out the OS install / drivers which are the most likely culprits.
 
MilanoChris said:
No point at all in using a PCI NIC.
Click to expand...

This.

Why are people suggesting a new NIC?

He clearly stated the speed has gone down gradually; indicating some kind of bloatware/malware infestation or software issue. If his NIC was broken it wouldn't be connecting at all.

Run LAN Speed Test, if it gets 100Mb/s or thereabout, then the slowness of the internet is most probably due to the slowness of the PC.
 
The thing is it started running slowly when I had XP on. I then wiped the harddrive and machine and installed windows 7. This made no difference to the speed of the internet. I assumed this had nothing to do with the drivers as I reinstalled the OS.

I have been trying to find what drivers I would need and where I can get them from.

I'll run LAN speed test and report back my findings.

Cheers
 
PistolPete said:
I'd be tempted to download a linux live CD and test the speed again to rule out the current OS install / drivers. Just don't download the CD on that machine ;-)
Click to expand...

+1 do this as first step to rule out HW problems.

Note, you better do a cold reboot when booing up from the linux CD as windows may leave the NIC in a bad state and linux driver not being good enough to reset it properly.
 
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