My Download speed on my computer is not what it should be

[dankm00se]

I'm paying for 1GB download speed through Rogers right now, but my PC only gets about 10Mbps download. It's hard wired in, and I know the cable works because I have tried this exact same cable with my laptop and it gave me upwards of 500Mbps(which I would be more than happy with). I've tried restarting my router, changing settings in my BiOS amongst other things but nothing has changed. If anyone has any suggestions for me I would greatly appreciate them.

Motherboard is a ASUS ROG STRIX B450F Gaming

Running Windows 10 

 

If you need me to provide screenshots of information about my computer I can

[Brandon H Supervisor]

are you determining these speeds from a speed test such as speedtest.net or just off a random download?

 

since the same cable gives different results on your laptop I'd recommend checking if there are any driver updates for your nic card on the tower pc.

 

If unsure where to check I'd recommend using a free driver scanner/updater such as iobit Driver Booster. I use this one on my laptop and it works great. The free version does everything you need, it just has a nag banner in it for the pro upgrade but that can be ignored.

[dankm00se]

I'll try out the driver booster, although I've already updated my network drivers on my motherboard. I've used speedtest.net, the google speed checker, and a couple others. I also notice that downloading games and stuff i'll get a maximum of 20mbps

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Just now, dankm00se said:

I'll try out the driver booster, although I've already updated my network drivers on my motherboard. I've used speedtest.net, the google speed checker, and a couple others. I also notice that downloading games and stuff i'll get a maximum of 20mbps

yeah sounds like a driver issue then; driver booster will actually go a step farther than the mobo manufacturer and compare with the actual chipset manufacturer to determine if there is an update so that's why it's a nice scanner. the mobo manufacture may not have the latest drivers listed for pieces like the network card.

 

hopefully this is what the issue is and Driver Booster helps you out

[dankm00se]

I tried it out, and it only listed my mice and keyboard as outdated and a couple other things. I updated them and restarted my PC but to no avail

[Brandon H Supervisor]

odd but it was worth a shot, you could try rolling back your network card driver to an older version to see if that helps.

 

outside of that my other thought is maybe a hardware issue with your network card so it can't get max speeds.

If no one else can think of anything for you to try you could always purchase a pci-express network card to plug in and use instead of the onboard chipset; should work around your issue. They're rather cheap anymore so should be a viable option as long as you have a PCI slot open

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100158104 600016290 600013871

[+Matthew S. Subscriber²]

Could even try a USB 3.1 / USB-C NIC. (saves trouble of opening up the case.)

[Brandon H Supervisor]

2 minutes ago, Matthew S. said:

Could even try a USB 3.1 / USB-C NIC. (saves trouble of opening up the case.)

true but I figure a pci-express card will give more reliability than USB and probably last longer

[+Matthew S. Subscriber²]

1 minute ago, Brandon H said:

true but I figure a pci-express card will give more reliability than USB and probably last longer

Yea but which is cheaper to test with?  Honest question, didn't look up prices lol

[dankm00se]

12 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

outside of that my other thought is maybe a hardware issue with your network card so it can't get max speeds.

If no one else can think of anything for you to try you could always purchase a pci-express network card to plug in and use instead of the onboard chipset; should work around your issue. They're rather cheap anymore so should be a viable option as long as you have a PCI slot open

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100158104 600016290 600013871

This might be what I'll have to do. I don't know why I didn't already think of this lol. Thanks for your help! I'll update in a few days when the new pci-express card gets in

[Brandon H Supervisor]

14 minutes ago, Matthew S. said:

Yea but which is cheaper to test with?  Honest question, didn't look up prices lol

most nic cards are like $10-25 now for single port cards so not much difference; that's why i thought of it as an option. the search link I put above has some good pricing comparisons

 

edit: here's one of the top rated from newegg's featured list https://www.newegg.com/tp-link-tg-3468/p/N82E16833704060

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

I have an old bag of "PCI" (not -e) network cards. But sadly, they stopped supporting it after XP....

 

[dankm00se]

Update: the new PCIe card did not solve my problem, I still have the same speeds as before

[firey]

Can you confirm the speeds are 500mb/s consistently? Like if you use fast.com with your cell phone, is the speed right?  I would start by confirming the line itself.

 

For PC.. you are 100% that you aren't using a VPN/Proxy?

[jnelsoninjax]

I would start with contacting the ISP, it is very possible that the problem lies with them, also like @Emm_Ryan said check/replace the router. Is your router a gateway (router/modem combo)?

[cork1958]

Have to ask this, but how could you possibly be happy with a 500mbps download when paying for gig service?

 

I'd have to say it's either your router or ISP hasn't provisioned your modem correctly. You said you restarted router. How about modem, or, as already asked, is this a modem/router combo unit, which are junk anyway?

[adrynalyne]

On 12/3/2019 at 1:11 PM, dankm00se said:

I'm paying for 1GB download speed through Rogers right now, but my PC only gets about 10Mbps download. It's hard wired in, and I know the cable works because I have tried this exact same cable with my laptop and it gave me upwards of 500Mbps(which I would be more than happy with). I've tried restarting my router, changing settings in my BiOS amongst other things but nothing has changed. If anyone has any suggestions for me I would greatly appreciate them.

Motherboard is a ASUS ROG STRIX B450F Gaming

Running Windows 10 

 

If you need me to provide screenshots of information about my computer I can

If you are looking at getting 10Mb throughput consistently, it sounds like the NIC is not negotiating the link speed correctly. Try setting it to 1000 instead of auto. Even if the cable works better in other machines, I would try a different cable. I ran into this with a friend recently who was stuck at 100Mb. It was the cable. As for getting max 500 on a gig connection, are you sure your router can handle gigabit WAN speeds? Not all can. 

[adrynalyne]

53 minutes ago, cork1958 said:

Have to ask this, but how could you possibly be happy with a 500mbps download when paying for gig service?

 

I'd have to say it's either your router or ISP hasn't provisioned your modem correctly. You said you restarted router. How about modem, or, as already asked, is this a modem/router combo unit, which are junk anyway?

I’m not sure he is happy. That said, for me, even if I pulled only 500 (I get full gig), I only pay 65 a month with no contract and price for life. I also have no data cap.  Try price matching that with Cox or Comcast. You will end up with something like a 150Mb plan on contract w/ data cap. 

[sc302 Veteran]

I would try a different cable.  We just pulled a new out of box cable that didn’t give the proper bandwidth, I ended up making a cable and testing with that and had full bandwidth.  
 

that cable out of the box tested fine on another device.  

[Brandon H Supervisor]

OP did mention that unplugging the ethernet cord from the PC and plugging it into a laptop resulted in proper speeds on the laptop so I'm not sure if the cable/router could still be at fault after a test like that personally.

 

Sounds like something set incorrectly on the PC causing loss of speed but a different NIC card entirely should have worked around that as well.

 

ethernet cables are so cheap that trying a replacement cable is always a good thing to try so I'd recommend trying that as well.

 

edit: @OP could you try booting into a Linux live disc/usb to see if speeds are slow there as well? could rule out or confirm setting issue in windows.

[adrynalyne]

57 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

OP did mention that unplugging the ethernet cord from the PC and plugging it into a laptop resulted in proper speeds on the laptop so I'm not sure if the cable/router could still be at fault after a test like that personally.

 

Sounds like something set incorrectly on the PC causing loss of speed but a different NIC card entirely should have worked around that as well.

 

ethernet cables are so cheap that trying a replacement cable is always a good thing to try so I'd recommend trying that as well.

 

edit: @OP could you try booting into a Linux live disc/usb to see if speeds are slow there as well? could rule out or confirm setting issue in windows.

Different network cards negotiate with cables differently. I’d still try another cable. 

[LaP]

I agree with adrynalyne i'd try another cable before anything else.

 

I've seen a xbox 360 cable out of the box working well with a xbox 360 and not working properly with a PC using the same internet connection. His 360 RRoDed and he used the cable on his PC and he had like only 50% of the speed he had after trying another cable.

[+BudMan MVC]

On 12/3/2019 at 2:11 PM, dankm00se said:

If you need me to provide screenshots of information about my computer I can

Lets see what speed your card is connected at.. So for example

 

 

And then lets see a speedtest..  From your PC, and then your laptop.