Torrent Basics of Speed

Connection

This part is one of the most important.Port used for incoming connection – For the port just hit randomize a few times until you find a number you like then leave it. You will use this number to set up your IP with an open port to allow for faster downloads. (do not forget to fix your IP)

http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm
Select your router then select uTorrent on the next page. I will explain how to port forward your connection.
Randomize port each time uTorrent starts – Do not have this clicked if you are port forwarding! This will change the port uTorrent is listening to for the change. It will still let you download, but you will no longer have the advantage of a port forwarded connection.(Unchecked)

Enable UPnP port mapping – This is only useful when you don’t have your port forwarded. What it will do is automatically map your port but it doesn’t always your well with some routers. If you are unable to port forward, you should have this and ‘randomize port’ checked.(Unchecked)

Add uTorrent to windows firewall exceptions – This will add uTorrent to Windows Firewall exceptions, allowing it access to the net.(Unchecked – I don’t have Windows Firewall)
Proxy Server – I don’t play with that. It’s not required you play with this to get good speeds. If you wish to know more about the proxy server go to (http://utorrent.com/faq.php ) for more info.

Global maximum upload rate - This requires you to do some math. You do not want this at unlimited but you don’t want to share too little since the bit torrent protocol is designed so that the more you share the more you download.

For this you are going to want to go into Options->Speedguide and run the speed test. I want you to write down your max upload speed, which is in kbits/s.

Next go ahead and get 80% of that number by multiplying it by 0.8. This way your whole connection won’t be eaten by your upload.

After this, divide your number by 8 so you get the final number in kBytes/s (there are 8 bits to a byte).

Now you can enter this number into the max upload.

You can do something similar to your download rate if you want to control your connection but you don’t need to.

Bit Torrent

The best way I have found to fill out the Number of connection fields is to allow the Speed Guide to do so and tweak them as you see appropriate. What you do is find the speed that is closest to your speed and copy the global max, max peers and upload slots. If you select a speed , it will undo previous settings.

Global max number of connections - This is a total of how many incoming/outgoing connections you can have.(750)

Max number of connected peers per torrent – Like stated before, I let the speed guide pick this number for me. But it is how many people you can connect with per torrent. Too many and it will flood and slow your torrent down, too little and it won’t download at its full speed. So just let the program set it.(120)

Number of upload slots per torrent – This is how many people can upload from you at once.(16)

Use additional upload slots if upload speed is <90% - If your upload speeds are less than 90% it will allow more people to upload from you(Checked)

**NOTE**
Before I start this I want to explain DHT and Peer Exchange:DHT is basically a way for peers to communicate without the BT tracker. Each person have a few other keys (addresses to other pc’s) and peer exchange will allow you to connect to other uTorrent users and get their peer list for a torrent

Enable DHT network – This allows you to do what I stated above(Checked)

Ask tracker for scrape information – I don’t really know about this one :S It from what I can gather asks the tracker about old information that may lead to connections.(Checked)

Enable DHT for new torrents – Allows you to use the DHT network when you add new torrents.(Checked)

Enable Peer Exchange – Allows Peer exchange (see note for the section)(Checked)

Protocol Encryption Outgoing – This could save you the trouble of an ISP that watches for BT traffic.(Enabled)

Allow legacy connections – Allows for non-encrypted connections to connect(Checked)