diff --git a/docs/manual.rst b/docs/manual.rst
index 243450d81..87066e660 100644
--- a/docs/manual.rst
+++ b/docs/manual.rst
@@ -715,6 +715,7 @@ Returns status of the disk cache for this session.
 			size_type reads;
 			int cache_size;
 			int read_cache_size;
+			int total_used_buffers;
 		};
 
 ``blocks_written`` is the total number of 16 KiB blocks written to disk
@@ -740,6 +741,10 @@ This includes both read and write cache.
 
 ``read_cache_size`` is the number of 16KiB blocks in the read cache.
 
+``total_used_buffers`` is the total number of buffers currently in use.
+This includes the read/write disk cache as well as send and receive buffers
+used in peer connections.
+
 get_cache_info()
 ----------------
 
diff --git a/examples/client_test.cpp b/examples/client_test.cpp
index 190ea5af9..918514b8a 100644
--- a/examples/client_test.cpp
+++ b/examples/client_test.cpp
@@ -699,6 +699,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 			"  -t <seconds>          sets the scan interval of the monitor dir\n"
 			"  -x <file>             loads an emule IP-filter file\n"
 			"  -c <limit>            sets the max number of connections\n"
+			"  -C <limit>            sets the max cache size. Specified in 16kB blocks\n"
 			"\n\n"
 			"TORRENT is a path to a .torrent file\n"
 			"MAGNETURL is a magnet: url\n"
@@ -895,6 +896,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 				}
 				break;
 			case 'c': ses.set_max_connections(atoi(arg)); break;
+			case 'C': settings.cache_size = atoi(arg); break;
 		}
 		++i; // skip the argument
 	}
@@ -1286,7 +1288,8 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 			" write cache hits: " << ((cs.blocks_written - cs.writes) * 100 / cs.blocks_written) << "% "
 			" read cache hits: " << (cs.blocks_read_hit * 100 / cs.blocks_read) << "% "
 			" cache size: " << add_suffix(cs.cache_size * 16 * 1024)
-			<< " (" << add_suffix(cs.read_cache_size * 16 * 1024) << ")"
+			<< " (" << add_suffix(cs.read_cache_size * 16 * 1024) << ") / "
+			<< add_suffix(cs.total_used_buffers * 16 * 1024) <<
 			" ====\n"
 			"==== optimistic unchoke: " << sess_stat.optimistic_unchoke_counter
 			<< " unchoke counter: " << sess_stat.unchoke_counter
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/disk_io_thread.hpp b/include/libtorrent/disk_io_thread.hpp
index 76369dd98..238d5364e 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/disk_io_thread.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/disk_io_thread.hpp
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			, reads(0)
 			, cache_size(0)
 			, read_cache_size(0)
+			, total_used_buffers(0)
 		{}
 
 		// the number of 16kB blocks written
@@ -156,6 +157,10 @@ namespace libtorrent
 
 		// the number of blocks in the cache used for read cache
 		int read_cache_size;
+
+		// the total number of blocks that are currently in use
+		// this includes send and receive buffers
+		mutable int total_used_buffers;
 	};
 	
 	struct disk_buffer_pool : boost::noncopyable
@@ -294,6 +299,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		void free_piece(cached_piece_entry& p, mutex_t::scoped_lock& l);
 		bool make_room(int num_blocks
 			, cache_t::iterator ignore
+			, bool flush_write_cache
 			, mutex_t::scoped_lock& l);
 		int try_read_from_cache(disk_io_job const& j);
 		int read_piece_from_cache_and_hash(disk_io_job const& j, sha1_hash& h);
diff --git a/parse_disk_buffer_log.py b/parse_disk_buffer_log.py
index 4eaed2212..b0771e3e1 100755
--- a/parse_disk_buffer_log.py
+++ b/parse_disk_buffer_log.py
@@ -2,51 +2,51 @@
 
 import os, sys, time
 
-#lines = open(sys.argv[1], 'rb').readlines()
-#
-## logfile format:
-## <time(ms)> <key>: <value>
-## example:
-## 16434 read cache: 17
-#
-#keys = []
-#fields = {}
-#maximum = {}
-#out = open('disk_buffer_log.dat', 'w+')
-#
-#last_t = 0
-#for l in lines:
-#	try:
-#		t = int(l[0:l.find(' ')])
-#		c = l[l.find(' ')+1:l.find(':')]
-#		n = int(l[l.find(':')+1:-1])
-#	except:
-#		print l
-#		continue
-#
-#	if last_t != t:
-#		print >>out, '%d\t' % last_t,
-#		for i in keys:
-#			print >>out, '%d\t' % maximum[i],
-#		print >>out, '\n',
-#
-#	if not c in keys:
-#		keys.append(c)
-#		fields[c] = 0
-#		maximum[c] = 0
-#
-#	fields[c] = n
-#	if n > maximum[c]: maximum[c] = n
-#
-#	if last_t != t:
-#		last_t = t
-#		maximum = fields
-#
-#for i in keys:
-#	print i,
-#print
-#	
-#out.close()
+lines = open(sys.argv[1], 'rb').readlines()
+
+# logfile format:
+# <time(ms)> <key>: <value>
+# example:
+# 16434 read cache: 17
+
+keys = []
+fields = {}
+maximum = {}
+out = open('disk_buffer_log.dat', 'w+')
+
+last_t = 0
+for l in lines:
+	try:
+		t = int(l[0:l.find(' ')])
+		c = l[l.find(' ')+1:l.find(':')]
+		n = int(l[l.find(':')+1:-1])
+	except:
+		print l
+		continue
+
+	if last_t != t:
+		print >>out, '%d\t' % last_t,
+		for i in keys:
+			print >>out, '%d\t' % maximum[i],
+		print >>out, '\n',
+
+	if not c in keys:
+		keys.append(c)
+		fields[c] = 0
+		maximum[c] = 0
+
+	fields[c] = n
+	if n > maximum[c]: maximum[c] = n
+
+	if last_t != t:
+		last_t = t
+		maximum = fields
+
+for i in keys:
+	print i,
+print
+	
+out.close()
 
 keys = ['check piece', 'send buffer', 'read cache', 'receive buffer', 'hash temp']
 
diff --git a/src/disk_io_thread.cpp b/src/disk_io_thread.cpp
index 90e3b4f72..b399458c1 100644
--- a/src/disk_io_thread.cpp
+++ b/src/disk_io_thread.cpp
@@ -279,6 +279,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 	cache_status disk_io_thread::status() const
 	{
 		mutex_t::scoped_lock l(m_piece_mutex);
+		m_cache_stats.total_used_buffers = in_use();
 		return m_cache_stats;
 	}
 
@@ -573,7 +574,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		int end_block = start_block;
 		for (int i = start_block; i < blocks_in_piece
 			&& (in_use() < m_settings.cache_size
-				|| (options && ignore_cache_size)); ++i)
+				|| (options & ignore_cache_size)); ++i)
 		{
 			// this is a block that is already allocated
 			// stop allocating and don't read more than
@@ -655,13 +656,25 @@ namespace libtorrent
 	
 	bool disk_io_thread::make_room(int num_blocks
 		, cache_t::iterator ignore
+		, bool flush_write_cache
 		, mutex_t::scoped_lock& l)
 	{
-		if (m_settings.cache_size - in_use() < num_blocks)
+		while (m_settings.cache_size - in_use() < num_blocks)
 		{
 			// there's not enough room in the cache, clear a piece
 			// from the read cache
-			if (!clear_oldest_read_piece(ignore, l)) return false;
+			if (!clear_oldest_read_piece(ignore, l)) break;
+		}
+
+		// try flushing write cache
+		while (flush_write_cache && m_settings.cache_size - in_use() < num_blocks)
+		{
+			cache_t::iterator i = std::min_element(
+				m_pieces.begin(), m_pieces.end()
+				, bind(&cached_piece_entry::last_use, _1)
+				< bind(&cached_piece_entry::last_use, _2));
+			if (i == m_pieces.end()) break;
+			flush_and_remove(i, l);
 		}
 
 		return m_settings.cache_size - in_use() >= num_blocks;
@@ -677,7 +690,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		int piece_size = j.storage->info()->piece_size(j.piece);
 		int blocks_in_piece = (piece_size + m_block_size - 1) / m_block_size;
 
-		make_room(blocks_in_piece, m_read_pieces.end(), l);
+		make_room(blocks_in_piece, m_read_pieces.end(), true, l);
 
 		cached_piece_entry p;
 		p.piece = j.piece;
@@ -708,7 +721,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		int start_block = j.offset / m_block_size;
 
 		if (!make_room(blocks_in_piece - start_block
-			, m_read_pieces.end(), l)) return -2;
+			, m_read_pieces.end(), false, l)) return -2;
 
 		cached_piece_entry p;
 		p.piece = j.piece;
@@ -869,7 +882,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			int blocks_in_piece = (piece_size + m_block_size - 1) / m_block_size;
 			int end_block = block;
 			while (end_block < blocks_in_piece && p->blocks[end_block] == 0) ++end_block;
-			if (!make_room(end_block - block, p, l)) return -2;
+			if (!make_room(end_block - block, p, false, l)) return -2;
 			int ret = read_into_piece(*p, block, 0, l);
 			hit = false;
 			if (ret < 0) return ret;