diff --git a/eth/downloader/downloader.go b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
index 2f79c2dfd..74bff2b66 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/downloader.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ var (
 	maxQueuedHashes   = 32 * 1024 // [eth/61] Maximum number of hashes to queue for import (DOS protection)
 	maxQueuedHeaders  = 32 * 1024 // [eth/62] Maximum number of headers to queue for import (DOS protection)
 	maxHeadersProcess = 2048      // Number of header download results to import at once into the chain
-	maxResultsProcess = 4096      // Number of content download results to import at once into the chain
+	maxResultsProcess = 2048      // Number of content download results to import at once into the chain
 
 	fsHeaderCheckFrequency = 100  // Verification frequency of the downloaded headers during fast sync
 	fsHeaderSafetyNet      = 2048 // Number of headers to discard in case a chain violation is detected
@@ -716,9 +716,9 @@ func (d *Downloader) fetchHashes61(p *peer, td *big.Int, from uint64) error {
 	getHashes := func(from uint64) {
 		glog.V(logger.Detail).Infof("%v: fetching %d hashes from #%d", p, MaxHashFetch, from)
 
-		go p.getAbsHashes(from, MaxHashFetch)
 		request = time.Now()
 		timeout.Reset(hashTTL)
+		go p.getAbsHashes(from, MaxHashFetch)
 	}
 	// Start pulling hashes, until all are exhausted
 	getHashes(from)
@@ -1168,7 +1168,7 @@ func (d *Downloader) findAncestor(p *peer, height uint64) (uint64, error) {
 // facilitate concurrency but still protect against malicious nodes sending bad
 // headers, we construct a header chain skeleton using the "origin" peer we are
 // syncing with, and fill in the missing headers using anyone else. Headers from
-// other peers are only accepted if they map cleanly to the skeleton. If noone
+// other peers are only accepted if they map cleanly to the skeleton. If no one
 // can fill in the skeleton - not even the origin peer - it's assumed invalid and
 // the origin is dropped.
 func (d *Downloader) fetchHeaders(p *peer, from uint64) error {
@@ -1183,6 +1183,9 @@ func (d *Downloader) fetchHeaders(p *peer, from uint64) error {
 	defer timeout.Stop()
 
 	getHeaders := func(from uint64) {
+		request = time.Now()
+		timeout.Reset(headerTTL)
+
 		if skeleton {
 			glog.V(logger.Detail).Infof("%v: fetching %d skeleton headers from #%d", p, MaxHeaderFetch, from)
 			go p.getAbsHeaders(from+uint64(MaxHeaderFetch)-1, MaxSkeletonSize, MaxHeaderFetch-1, false)
@@ -1190,8 +1193,6 @@ func (d *Downloader) fetchHeaders(p *peer, from uint64) error {
 			glog.V(logger.Detail).Infof("%v: fetching %d full headers from #%d", p, MaxHeaderFetch, from)
 			go p.getAbsHeaders(from, MaxHeaderFetch, 0, false)
 		}
-		request = time.Now()
-		timeout.Reset(headerTTL)
 	}
 	// Start pulling the header chain skeleton until all is done
 	getHeaders(from)
@@ -1413,6 +1414,28 @@ func (d *Downloader) fetchNodeData() error {
 // fetchParts iteratively downloads scheduled block parts, taking any available
 // peers, reserving a chunk of fetch requests for each, waiting for delivery and
 // also periodically checking for timeouts.
+//
+// As the scheduling/timeout logic mostly is the same for all downloaded data
+// types, this method is used by each for data gathering and is instrumented with
+// various callbacks to handle the slight differences between processing them.
+//
+// The instrumentation parameters:
+//  - errCancel:   error type to return if the fetch operation is cancelled (mostly makes logging nicer)
+//  - deliveryCh:  channel from which to retrieve downloaded data packets (merged from all concurrent peers)
+//  - deliver:     processing callback to deliver data packets into type specific download queues (usually within `queue`)
+//  - wakeCh:      notification channel for waking the fetcher when new tasks are available (or sync completed)
+//  - expire:      task callback method to abort requests that took too long and return the faulty peers (traffic shaping)
+//  - pending:     task callback for the number of requests still needing download (detect completion/non-completability)
+//  - inFlight:    task callback for the number of in-progress requests (wait for all active downloads to finish)
+//  - throttle:    task callback to check if the processing queue is full and activate throttling (bound memory use)
+//  - reserve:     task callback to reserve new download tasks to a particular peer (also signals partial completions)
+//  - fetchHook:   tester callback to notify of new tasks being initiated (allows testing the scheduling logic)
+//  - fetch:       network callback to actually send a particular download request to a physical remote peer
+//  - cancel:      task callback to abort an in-flight download request and allow rescheduling it (in case of lost peer)
+//  - capacity:    network callback to retreive the estimated type-specific bandwidth capacity of a peer (traffic shaping)
+//  - idle:        network callback to retrieve the currently (type specific) idle peers that can be assigned tasks
+//  - setIdle:     network callback to set a peer back to idle and update its estimated capacity (traffic shaping)
+//  - kind:        textual label of the type being downloaded to display in log mesages
 func (d *Downloader) fetchParts(errCancel error, deliveryCh chan dataPack, deliver func(dataPack) (int, error), wakeCh chan bool,
 	expire func() map[string]int, pending func() int, inFlight func() bool, throttle func() bool, reserve func(*peer, int) (*fetchRequest, bool, error),
 	fetchHook func([]*types.Header), fetch func(*peer, *fetchRequest) error, cancel func(*fetchRequest), capacity func(*peer) int,
@@ -1581,10 +1604,10 @@ func (d *Downloader) processHeaders(origin uint64, td *big.Int) error {
 			for i, header := range rollback {
 				hashes[i] = header.Hash()
 			}
-			lh, lfb, lb := d.headHeader().Number, d.headFastBlock().Number(), d.headBlock().Number()
+			lastHeader, lastFastBlock, lastBlock := d.headHeader().Number, d.headFastBlock().Number(), d.headBlock().Number()
 			d.rollback(hashes)
 			glog.V(logger.Warn).Infof("Rolled back %d headers (LH: %d->%d, FB: %d->%d, LB: %d->%d)",
-				len(hashes), lh, d.headHeader().Number, lfb, d.headFastBlock().Number(), lb, d.headBlock().Number())
+				len(hashes), lastHeader, d.headHeader().Number, lastFastBlock, d.headFastBlock().Number(), lastBlock, d.headBlock().Number())
 
 			// If we're already past the pivot point, this could be an attack, disable fast sync
 			if rollback[len(rollback)-1].Number.Uint64() > pivot {
diff --git a/eth/downloader/queue.go b/eth/downloader/queue.go
index dd839de19..195eae4ff 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/queue.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/queue.go
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	blockCacheLimit   = 16384 // Maximum number of blocks to cache before throttling the download
-	maxInFlightStates = 8192  // Maximum number of state downloads to allow concurrently
+	blockCacheLimit   = 8192 // Maximum number of blocks to cache before throttling the download
+	maxInFlightStates = 8192 // Maximum number of state downloads to allow concurrently
 )
 
 var (