Downloading Causing Slow PC Performance

[KripTed]

When downloading on Steam. It causes slow performance on the desktop and PC. This is on Windows 11. It also causes music that is being played to skip and stutter as well.

[kolumuani12]

Maybe your PC isn't powerful enough ?

[KripTed]

Originally posted by Shrek:

Maybe your PC isn't powerful enough ?

i7-12700k
RTX 3080
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB
32GB of RAM
Windows 11

It’s either a Windows or a Steam problem. Since it never use to happen before until this new UI (or after normal Windows updates).

[nullable]

Well what SSD are you running specifically? SSD performance covers a whole spectrum of possibilities. If it's bottom barrel dramless SSD that might explain it. Some lower end WD SSD's do seem to have some issues performing well with the workload Steam requires.

[KripTed]

Originally posted by nullable:

Well what SSD are you running specifically? SSD performance cover a whole spectrum. If it's bottom barrel dramless SSD that might explain it. Some lower end WD SSD's do seem to have some issues performing well with the workload Steam requires.

Samsung 980 Pro.

I have two SSD’s. I can try the other one and test it out. Downloading on other platforms doesn’t seem to have an issue. I can re-test Battlenet, Epic, UbiConnect and etc. I’ll also check and see if there’s a firmware update for the SSD as well.

[nullable]

I run a 980 Pro 2TB in my laptop I haven't noticed any disk related issues there. It's not dramless or a low end WD drive.

Steam handles it's downloads differently than other services so testing other services may not demonstrate anything specific except they're different.

[KripTed]

Originally posted by nullable:

I run a 980 Pro 2TB in my laptop I haven't noticed any disk related issues there. It's not dramless or a low end WD drive.

I know and it never use to happen before. So there’s only 4 possibilities.

1: The drive is going bad.
2: It’s a Windows 11 bug (Since Win 11 Vista edition is trash).
3: It’s Steam itself.
4: Outdated firmware/drivers/BIOS.

[nullable]

I run Windows 11 on my desktop and laptop. So I'm skeptical of a Windows 11 bug. You could check the 980 pro for a firmware update there was a bit of kerfuffle with older versions of firmware having an issue. And Samsung recommends you update to the latest which resolves those issues.

[KripTed]

Originally posted by nullable:

I run Windows 11 on my desktop and laptop. So I'm skeptical of a Windows 11 bug. You could check the 980 pro for a firmware update there was a bit of kerfuffle with older versions of firmware having an issue. And Samsung recommends you update to the latest which resolves those issues.

I’ll check for a firmware update for the 980 Pro when I get a chance. My experience with Windows 11 has been nothing but constant bugs and issues. Windows 10 is superior in every aspect. I find Windows 11 is literally Windows Vista 2.0. I’ve downgraded several times and Windows 10 always outperforms 11 in terms of functionality and stability.

[Elucidator]

Some samsung ssds also experience issues with the write caching setting, though normally using the software and a firmware update fixes it. This, what I describe at least, is an issue with Windows 11 btw. I'm not sure what or why exactly, but it is very localized to Windows 11.

You can test if it is this by turning off Write Caching on the Device.

I think it may have to do with the Steam Client using a very old technique of writing (for 32bit operating systems basically), and it may just be a compatibility issue with Windows 11 and newer hardware / nvme SSD techniques. I really have no clue to be honest.

If you're running a laptop, It could also be power saving mode. Since Steam doesn't update properly (along side windows I mean), it's possible whatever method they use doesn't make your computer run on high power mode, and so, thinking it only requires low power, there maybe some bandwidth saturation issue going on there basically.

Try looking at your power settings.

[KripTed]

Originally posted by Elucidator:

Some samsung ssds also experience issues with the write caching setting, though normally using the software and a firmware update fixes it. This, what I describe at least, is an issue with Windows 11 btw. I'm not sure what or why exactly, but it is very localized to Windows 11.

You can test if it is this by turning off Write Caching on the Device.

I think it may have to do with the Steam Client using a very old technique of writing (for 32bit operating systems basically), and it may just be a compatibility issue with Windows 11 and newer hardware / nvme SSD techniques. I really have no clue to be honest.

If you're running a laptop, It could also be power saving mode. Since Steam doesn't update properly (along side windows I mean), it's possible whatever method they use doesn't make your computer run on high power mode, and so, thinking it only requires low power, there maybe some bandwidth saturation issue going on there basically.

Try looking at your power settings.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll check and update the firmware and possibly disable write caching. I’m on a desktop and it’s on high performance in the power options.

[󠀡󠀡]

When the issue happens, open up task manager, go to the Performance tab, and then click on CPU. From here make sure to switch the graph to logical processors rather than overall performance.
Now you can see what's happening on your system at a glance and where the potential bottlenecks are. You can see your video card, network, CPU and the utilization of each drive.
Try it and it should give you a better idea of where your issues are stemming from.

[KripTed]

Honestly. I'm pretty sure it's just Steam and it's terrible coding on how downloading and disk usage is while downloading. No other launcher does this. Nothing is out of the ordinary when checking the performance tab. There are no firmware updates for my SSD. Disabling write cache didn't work. It's either my SSD or Steam. But I'm leaning towards Steam since it's only been since their new UI. Tried it on both SSD's and it's still an issue. It's Steam.

[󠀡󠀡]

Originally posted by KripTed:

Nothing is out of the ordinary when checking the performance tab.

What did it show you when you were getting slowdowns. Was your C: drive being maxed out? Were any or all of your CPU cores maxed out?

If neither your SSD nor CPU were being maxed out when you're getting slowdowns, that would be disconcerting.

[KripTed]

Originally posted by quaixor:

Originally posted by KripTed:

Nothing is out of the ordinary when checking the performance tab.

What did it show you when you were getting slowdowns. Was your C: drive being maxed out? Were any or all of your CPU cores maxed out?

If neither your SSD nor CPU were being maxed out when you're getting slowdowns, that would be disconcerting.

Yeah nothing was maxed out. Everything else is fine. Gaming is fine, downloading on any other platform is fine, such as my browser, Battlenet, etc. It’s just when I download on Steam. I’ll try uninstalling and reinstalling Steam fresh. Maybe that might fix it. Maybe it’s a bug from updating from the old to new. I’ll see.

[KripTed]

Yeah. Reinstalling didn't do anything. I have no idea why it does this. It's like watching a slide show at times and even typing on the forums while downloading it stutters and skips, lags. When going into NVIDIA control panel and bringing down a panel to see selections. It's like watching a slide show at 1 fps. Same when browsing through task manager.