SFTP performance hit?

[Cyber Source]

Don't know if it would be different not knowing what's really slowing it 
down but what about ssh? scp?

Frank Kumro wrote:

>I have one of my friends transfering multiple gigs of data to my linux
>machine. While he is transfering my machine bogs (AMD XP 3200+, 1gb
>3200 ram,160gb hd) to the point where the mouse and keyboard lag. This
>is the first time my machine has EVER bogged and lagged. He is only
>transfering at 230kb/s , my question is there anyway to "tune" sftp or
>am I better off setting up vsftp and calling it a day?
>  
>