(Solved) Steam client lags when being opened

[LunarSpaceDani]

Not sure why but recently opening the steam client causes my system to stutter for no reason for about 30-60 seconds. Currently using LM 21.3 on my main system, I tested this on my laptop (also running LM 21.3) and it has no issues with opening the steam client. I have also switched from the stable client to beta with no change. I even changed to an earlier LTS kernel to see if it was related to the kernel and that did not help either.
I am honestly not sure why the steam client makes my system stutter when I open it, as far as I am aware it isn't a hardware issue. the only thing I could think of left to try is to maybe reinstall steam and see if that changes anything.

Also, for context this is only related to opening the steam client, after the steam client logs in and shows the interface for the store that is when I start to get system lag. after 30-60 seconds everything is fine after that. running games through proton and doing other tasks work as expected. it is only opening the client that causes the massive lag spike. It did not act like this previously and I am not sure of the exact cause.

Specs
GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 3060
Processor: Intel Core I7 12th gen
Ram: 16 GB

[LunarSpaceDani]

I launched steam through the terminal and monitored resources with my preferred htop alternative, I don't see anything in the terminal related to any errors that might be causing the client to lag the system. weirdly enough none of my resources spiked either, I am going to reinstall steam and see if that helps at all

[LunarSpaceDani]

For some reason reinstalling steam fixed the issue, going to mark as solved

[LunarSpaceDani]

I will add onto this though even though it is marked as solved since I found something, the system package that you would get from the steam site or the system package in the software center for LM seems to have the lagging issue, although reinstalling it made the lag a lot better compared to before. however the flatpak version of steam does not have this issue. I noticed that in the library tab (because that is what I have it default to) the "what's new" box at the top loading seems to be causing the lag spike on the system package version of steam as when it finishs rendering the lag stops. something with the "what's new" box loading on the system package is causing the system to stutter. might go submit a bug report on the steam for linux repo

[Marlock]

that's the behaviour i observed too... the lag only appears in a noteworthy manner when the news window opens... if it doesn't the main window (which is far more complex) can load and run reasonably smooth when steam starts

definitely something wrong with that news window!

this feels similar to a webpage with a javascript that's running an endless loop and locking the web browser until it decides to halt the script (which might well be the case since this is all web content in CEF - Chromium Embeded Framework)

ps:
if there is an option to suppress the news window when steam starts it should help as a workaround... i can't check right now but i'm under the impression this option does exist

[LunarSpaceDani]

Originally posted by Marlock:

that's the behaviour i observed too... the lag only appears in a noteworthy manner when the news window opens... if it doesn't the main window (which is far more complex) can load and run reasonably smooth when steam starts

definitely something wrong with that news window!

this feels similar to a webpage with a javascript that's running an endless loop and locking the web browser until it decides to halt the script (which might well be the case since this is all web content in CEF - Chromium Embeded Framework)

ps:
if there is an option to suppress the news window when steam starts it should help as a workaround... i can't check right now but i'm under the impression this option does exist

there is no option in steam to disable what's new at the top, though in the system app version of steam (the default one for most people) enabling low bandwith mode, low performance mode, and disable commmunity content helps steam load faster. I believe this is all related to a recent steam update because the system app ver of steam did not used to behave in this way. though the flatpak version of steam seems to be perfectly fine performance wise. so I might just stick with flatpak steam for right now until this gets fixed in an update.

[ZoidbergForPresident]

This issue is still active. It gets near to impossible to browse the steam app... especially when a browser window is active too (it lags youtube and twitch videos too).

[Tattorack]

I too have this issue. I open up Steam and it spends several minutes lagging and freezing my PC. Yes, my whole PC.

I'm using Ubuntu.
Ryzen 5600x CPU
32 GB of DDR4 RAM
Recently upgraded to an Intel ARC 770a GPU, but this problem also existed on my previous GTX 1060 6GB which I was still using before December.

Clearly my PC is no potato, and if I wait a bit the freezing and stuttering subsides, and I can load into a game. But browsing the Steam store or just scrolling on the front page is a less-than-smooth experience whenever something new has to load in.

[lonesh33p]

I don't notice system stutter, so I probably shouldn't respond in this thread. What I do see is that the first time the Steam client runs, it "crunches on" the SSD for a solid 15 seconds before the window appears. (I just timed it - I was going to say 30 seconds.) This is an astonishing eternity on a relatively modern (see my profile) system. Other heavyweight apps like the Gimp or LibreOffice Calc take less than 3 seconds.
I have the client set to open in Library view. Unfortunately there is no way to disable the "What's new" panel at the top.