Steam download speed capped at 20mb/s

[Minimoskow]

I get about 600mbps bandwidth from my ISP and when connected directly to my modem, I see speeds up to 74mb/s.

When I'm connected directly to my router, I still see bandwidth speeds around 600mbps but for some reason Steam downloads will not exceed 20mb/s.

I have searched tirelessly online for a solution but have found none. Can someone please help?

[batman]

Sometimes it caps when other apps are open, so close them. if thats not the problem redownload steam and try to do it agian

[Satoru]

Steam Download Issues and How To Fix Them 

A Guide for Steam

By: Bodomi

This unofficial guide will go over different troubleshooting steps to fix download and connection issues with Steam. 简体中文 (translated by Vixinity) | 日本語 (translated by maruhoi1) You can also view this guide via Google...

Steam can obliterate 1gbps connections

Your downloads are limited by

1) your isp
2) your anti-virus
3) your disk IO
4) your cpu

[HanZy]

is this a real thing?

[Satoru]

Originally posted by HanZy:

is this a real thing?

People keep insisting steam is 'throtting' downloads despite the fact that steam was pushing literally 500TBytes/second of data during CyberPunk2077 launch to distribute day 0 patches. And it can easily push that much globally to do DOTA2 or CSGO patches.

Steam will obliterate users' connections.

[Supafly]

Steam defaults to Bytes where ISP and speedtest often do bits. 8 bits per 1 byte

Steam downloads in compressed chunks, once a chunk is down it gets decompressed and installed. If the CPU and/or drive is at or near 100% the DL will slow and may even stop until the decompress and install is complete.

Open Task manager and see what CPU and the Drives usage % is at when this happens

[Elucidator]

Use TCP Optimizer.
Disable useless windows features that slow downloads down.
Optimize your network software's configurations (update the driver as well)
Use cable (ethernet), instead of Wifi if possible (or sit within 5 meter distance from your nearest WiFi antenna)

[Minimoskow]

Just to clarify, I did not say Steam was capping my downloads.

In fact, I believe it is my router that is capping it since I get about 74mb/s download when plugged directly into my modem and only around 20mb/s when plugged into my router.

Also, my computer is not the issue. I have 7000mb/s M.2 storage and an i5-13600K.

[かぐや]

Originally posted by Minimoskow:

Just to clarify, I did not say Steam was capping my downloads.

In fact, I believe it is my router that is capping it since I get about 74mb/s download when plugged directly into my modem and only around 20mb/s when plugged into my router.

Also, my computer is not the issue. I have 7000mb/s M.2 storage and an i5-13600K.

The router is e-waste for you then.

[Supernova]

Originally posted by かぐや:

Originally posted by Minimoskow:

Just to clarify, I did not say Steam was capping my downloads.

In fact, I believe it is my router that is capping it since I get about 74mb/s download when plugged directly into my modem and only around 20mb/s when plugged into my router.

Also, my computer is not the issue. I have 7000mb/s M.2 storage and an i5-13600K.

The router is e-waste for you then.

It could be out of date or buggy firmware on the router, causing the problem. Always worth looking into before turning it into e-waste.

[HRL [ ! ]]

Nice good

[Minimoskow]

Originally posted by Supernova:

Originally posted by かぐや:

The router is e-waste for you then.

It could be out of date or buggy firmware on the router, causing the problem. Always worth looking into before turning it into e-waste.

Yeah the annoying part is it's a really good router (Netgear Nighthawk R7000P). I've tried updating the firmware, resetting it, checking all the router settings. but nothing seems to work.

[Lithurge]

Originally posted by Minimoskow:

Originally posted by Supernova:

It could be out of date or buggy firmware on the router, causing the problem. Always worth looking into before turning it into e-waste.

Yeah the annoying part is it's a really good router (Netgear Nighthawk R7000P). I've tried updating the firmware, resetting it, checking all the router settings. but nothing seems to work.

I used to use the same router and never had that issue, albeit my connection was only 40mb/s it would max it out.

That was through several firmware updates and using bog standard settings.

Edit
I've finally remembered why I stopped using it, my PC connected on the 2.4GHz bandwidth would keep dropping to a very low connection speed, it was temporarily fixed by resetting the network connection but would eventually drop again. With my current router I've not seen that behaviour.

Never had issues with anything connected to the 5Ghz bandwidth.

[Minimoskow]

Originally posted by Lithurge:

Originally posted by Minimoskow:

Yeah the annoying part is it's a really good router (Netgear Nighthawk R7000P). I've tried updating the firmware, resetting it, checking all the router settings. but nothing seems to work.

I used to use the same router and never had that issue, albeit my connection was only 40mb/s it would max it out.

That was through several firmware updates and using bog standard settings.

Edit
I've finally remembered why I stopped using it, my PC connected on the 2.4GHz bandwidth would keep dropping to a very low connection speed, it was temporarily fixed by resetting the network connection but would eventually drop again. With my current router I've not seen that behaviour.

Never had issues with anything connected to the 5Ghz bandwidth.

So I've been using a wired connection which keeps my downloads capped at 20mb/s for some reason. I just tried switching to the 5ghz wireless band and now I'm up to 30mb/s. An improvement but far from the 74mb/s peak I was getting when I first upgraded my internet speeds.

[Lithurge]

What speed do you get from a speedtest outside Steam?

[Minimoskow]

Originally posted by Lithurge:

What speed do you get from a speedtest outside Steam?

600-700mbps. Steam only utilizes up to 250mbps.