what is the best bittorrent client? (and: getting bt to work well)

[ZippyDan]

ive used Bittorrent experimental client (http://ei.kefro.st/projects/btclient) and PTC (ptc.sourceforge.net). im not overly impressed with either, although experimental is definitely better. im using WinXP Pro and ive had crashes from both of them as well as slow downs in system performance. more importantly, im just not seeing the great download speeds i was expecting. i often fail to break 10kB/s, and the most ive ever seen consistently was 30kB/s. i hit 80kB/s once, but it was very brief. ive tried putting the computer on the DMZ of my router, as i heard bt needs lots of open ports - it made a small difference. and im using DSL... i should be able to get about 140kB/s - in fact i was able to download files from normal website at 100kB+/s while my bt downloads struggled along at less than 10kB/s

so, whats the best Windows client out there and whats the tricks for getting bt to work?

~Zippy!

 

[rainypickles]

i use experimental also. you have to open ports 6881-6889. i use pacbell dsl and can get 150kbs from websites, but average 50-100 using bt, it really ranges from 20 to 140, depending on the number of sources and number of people who need it. the best tip i can give is to set your upload bandwith to ~5kbs less than your max. i upload at about 25, so i set it to 20. that lets your speed get up a little.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

btdownloadcurses.py

 

[ZimZum]

ABC is the best IMO. Its based on the experimental, buts its way better. I think PTC has the most potential if and when they work all the kinks out. That last PTC release was a complete bug riddled disaster.

 

[AEB]

http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/download.htm

is the best, i havent had any of the problems you are relateing and ive used this one in XP and 2k. As for the speeds more seeds=faster seeds. if you d/l something with only 1 seed then yes it will be slow.

 

[bunker]

The client isn't going to make much of a difference in your download speed.

1. It's based on your upload speed. If you only set it to allow 5kb up then you're not going to get squat for a download.

2. It depends on how many people have the full thing and are "seeding" and how many people are trying to get it. If there's only 1 seed and only 5-10 people are trying to download, you don't have too many sources to get it from.

 

[xSauronx]

i use experimental too...
love bittorrent, was downloading at ~600k the other day

its so grand

 

[Looney]

Damn, there are different versions out there? I just did a google search and went to the first site, which was the site AEB has, and i've always had good speed. Like others have said, it's dependent on your upload speed. I have mine cap at 20kb each, and i regularly get 80-100kb/s.

 

[suklee]

My first one was PTC, but I searched on these forums and someone recommended ABC (Yet Another Bittorrent Client) and found ABC to be much better than PTC.

 

[murphy55d]

i use shadow's experimental BT client.

 

[1ManArmY]

What setting to you use unlimited or do you set it to your DSL/cable (fast) connection? I have messed around with it but generally get about 18-30 kbs dl until it reaches 65% the speed then picks up.

 

[notfred]

I'm using Azureus. Nicer interface than having 20 windows open all the time.

 

[jcovercash]

I use Nova Torrent, I just started using it recently and love it......

I got all my settings worked out and it doesnt lag my computer, although I only have 2 downloads going at once and 3 uploads...... I get 75-100 from one download and 50-75 from the other

So I am rather satisfied.... This is WAY better than Kazaa

Josh

 

[igowerf]

I'm using TorrentStorm right now. It's pretty nice.

 

[0roo0roo]

if all your seeds and other downloaders have limited their upload, doesn't matter what client u have, it'll be slow. bittorrent relies on the generosity of its users.