Downloads speeds

[Grecko]

I have fiber internet with a 1 gig speed, it runs about 680-900 mb
yet I peek at 12.6 on most servers i switch to. I have tried most central US and lots of the other coast to coast servers to try. nothing else is running.

I am on a Dell G7 7790 Gaming laptop

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz
16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Most the time it sits at 0 mb/s then jumps to 3 or so then back down to nothing peaks at 12.6 currently

[Mad Scientist]

You realize service speed is the service speed - it doesn't guarantee you'll hit that, right?

Laptops are also horrible with compression and encryption, and you're likely downloading to a laptop hdd which is the slowest kind there really is - which explains a low speed and sudden drops.

If all you care about is speed, get an nvme drive if it even has a slot for it, or an ssd if to has a secondary drive bay.

[[bin]zwieda]

Maybe check your connection via www.speedtest.net at different times and post your results here, too. Let's see if we can find out a bit more.

[JaredX7]

A 1Gbit connection should give you about 880-960Mbit/s.

Which means, if you are using an SSD to download to on Steam, you should at least expect to see about 90-125MB/s.

If download speeds drop to 0, it usually means that Decompression of the game's files is happening on a slow drive.

[[bin]zwieda]

Do the mentioned speedtest, too.
You may have a intergalactic speed in theory... jou need to check, how much your actual system is really able to handle.

If your networkspeed at home is lower than 1 Gbit/second you can't use 100% performance of your internet connection. You might be connected via WIFI for example. Or maybe via cable, but the line towards your laptop maybe just has 100Mbit/second.

Speedtest checks your internet speed and the quality of your connection towards your computer, that's what counts.

If this all perfectly fits together, you should have a maximum of up to 125 MByte/second download speed.

Don't get confused by MByte and MBit... The Byte value multiplied by 8 is the Bit value. Or the other way around: the Bit value divided by 8 is the Byte value.

1 MBit = 125 MByte

Steam servers download speeds were reduced since the beginning of covid, to free up worldwide ressources. So you hardly can get Downloads at full speed anyway.

It also depends on your overall configurations, how much speed your ISP allows for each Service. There are way too many factor that may have some influence on your overall speed...

Use speedtest to get an first overview, how fast your current System can download at maximum.

This maximum rate can be achieved in the real world constantly for a download, if no limiting factors interfere, like the mentioned decompression which may stress your system so much, that it seems to do nothing for some time.

You can use a Performance Monitor to see the current load for your Harddisk, your network connection. If some parts are at 100% load, you get an idea where your System is being stressed too much and you could think about getting some faster components, like a faster Harddisk or SSD... IF your Laptop can really handle the higher speeds of that newer Hardware.

It's a bit like a clockwork... It all needs to fit together well to work well.

If one or more parts of the overall configurations is the limiting factor, then you may run into Performance limitations occasionally.

Lots of theory... Just start with the speedtest, do it a couple of times over a day and post your results as a first step...

[Grecko]

yeah speed test is 869 down and 945 up, hardwired to router, never had a issue with downloads except steam, I understand megabites and megabytes. just seeing the drop ratio is horrible, as i was saying though, its only steam that seems to have this issue, thanks all