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Very Slow Internet Connection - Realtek NIC
I have two desktops set up in my place, and they both act very differently when it comes to my internet connection. They both have very similar hardware setups, which include overclocked i5 750 processors, 4 gigs of GSkill RAM, and Gigabyte P55 mobos.
They're both ethernet-connected to a LinkSys WRT54G router. The system closest to the router is the one giving me a painfully slow internet connection. The only way I can describe the behavior is by saying that web pages load content in one-second increments, and pages take anywhere from 8 - 20 seconds to fully load. On my other system, pages are fully loaded within 3 seconds. The other behavior example I can give is related to typing any information in Chrome's URL/search bar. When typing anything into the fast system's bar, the auto-fill (not sure of the feature's actual name) feature immediately fills in suggestions, while the slow system's bar doesn't auto-fill for a few seconds.
Both machines' motherboards have Realtek NICs in them, and I've read a bit on the web about it. Pardon my ignorance, but are they both supposed to show a 1000Mbps second connection when I check their respective Properties in the network sharing area? They both currently show as being a 100Mbps connection. Then again, one is running at the right speed, so I'm not sure that's the problem. I've tried loading a few drivers for the NIC, but that doesn't seem to help. I've disabled Green Ethernet, which is a Realtek feature. I changed the link speed to full-duplex at 1000Mbps, which didn't make a difference.
I'm not sure if this tells me anything at all, but, when running speed tests at speedtest.net, my fast machine shows a 5ms-13ms ping range with an approximate 20Mbps download speed, while the slow machine shows a 25ms-35ms ping range with similar DL speeds.
I was also wondering if it had anything to do with the RAM not being set correctly, and I even traded out sticks to see if it would make a difference. Here's the really strange part: There have been two separate instances where the web became as snappy as it should be, and, each time, it lasted for a few minutes. The second time, once I rebooted my system, it went back to being lame.
I'm desperate for help, so any suggestions on what I should try are much appreciated.
Thanks in Advance!
PS - Both machines are running Windows 7 Pro.