Steam Downloads Crazy Slow

[Joncs]

Hey all,

The past 2 days my download speed on steam is being limited to around 2.5-5 MB/s, where I'm getting about 1 gig down from SpeedTest.net. Before this I was averaging 90-100 MB/s. I've done every fix posted on https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1082209554 and tested it on my girlfriends' PC too and she's having the same issues. I've restarted my router in hopes that it'd fix it, but still having the same issue. Any tips?

Thanks in advance.

[Bones]

I've been having the same issue for a few days. My friend was also having the same problem. Nothing changed on my end, speedtests are fine, and it's isolated to the Steam app. Tried to switch servers but to no avail.

Help please!

[RPG Gamer Man]

Could be due to holidays and alot of people from school are getting off due to holidays. Also, your ISP could be throttling your speeds too.

https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/internet/what-is-internet-throttling/

[Joncs]

引用自 Bones：

I've been having the same issue for a few days. My friend was also having the same problem. Nothing changed on my end, speedtests are fine, and it's isolated to the Steam app. Tried to switch servers but to no avail.

Help please!

Thanks for confirming that this isn't just an issue with us! We assumed it could be due to a steam update or something specific, but it's good to have reassurance.

引用自 RPG Gamer Man：

Could be due to holidays and alot of people from school are getting off due to holidays. Also, your ISP could be throttling your speeds too.

We thought so too, but after testing with Riot Games, Epic Games as well as EA launchers respectively, none of the other launchers are being throttled. It could possibly be because of an influx of people using the servers however I tested during non-peak times (10 am - 2 pm) today & yesterday and it remained the same.

[RPG Gamer Man]

You would have to contact your ISP provider to be certain though it is not ISP Throttling as many times it is in the fine print when you sign the contract for the internet company you sign up to. So they can get away with it without you even being aware of it. Like how people do not read the TOS for steam when they just easily click the button to "ACCEPT".

[Satoru]

Steam downloads are limited by

1) your CPU
2) your disk IO
3) your anti-virus
4) your ISP

Choose one

[RPG Gamer Man]

引用自 Satoru：

Steam downloads are limited by

1) your CPU
2) your disk IO
3) your anti-virus
4) your ISP

Choose one

Most of the time i find that my ISP causes my slowdowns when installing stuff. I mean all that streaming on tv, watching videos on your smart phone, etc eats up alot of data, so that is why ISP throttles. AS i said above, you would need to call their support and ask them if they are, as it is mostly hidden in the contract when you sign up with your ISP.

[Joncs]

引用自 Satoru：

Steam downloads are limited by

1) your CPU
2) your disk IO
3) your anti-virus
4) your ISP

Choose one

14700k, 970 Evo Plus, and microsoft defender. I wouldn't say it's my ISP as someone else commented they have the same exact issue as well as one of their other friends, and this just started happening 3-4 days ago.

[Nx Machina]

I get the same download speed on all PC clients. For example i have Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition on both Steam and GOG and they take the same amount of time to download.

Secondly Steam downloads are compressed therefore there are two process happening which can be independent of each other. Download and disk activity.

If your download speed drops check disk activity. If a game is updating check disk activity.

[Joncs]

引用自 Nx Machina：

I get the same download speed on all PC clients. For example i have Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition on both Steam and GOG and they take the same amount of time to download.

Secondly Steam downloads are compressed therefore there are two process happening which can be independent of each other. Download and disk activity.

If your download speed drops check disk activity. If a game is updating check disk activity.

Thanks for the info. As per my disk activity, it's limited to around the same as my download speed. If there is any unpacking happening from compressed files, my disk activity would rocket up to at least 100+ MB/s but it doesn't, so I don't believe the compressed files are the reason to why my steam download speed is lacking. Another reason for that, smaller games that are only 1-2 GB take 10-20 min, which definitely shouldn't be happening.

[Nx Machina]

引用自 Joncs：

Thanks for the info. As per my disk activity, it's limited to around the same as my download speed. If there is any unpacking happening from compressed files, my disk activity would rocket up to at least 100+ MB/s but it doesn't, so I don't believe the compressed files are the reason to why my steam download speed is lacking. Another reason for that, smaller games that are only 1-2 GB take 10-20 min, which definitely shouldn't be happening.

Disk activity can match the download speed BUT it can be and often is higher as the download will drop due to not being able to match the disk speed and the cpu needs to process all that data.

Steam reserves a space on your drive to download the game, in turn it creates a second area where the game installs and both areas are used.

If Steam is updating a game, it creates the download area, creates a copy of the game, processes the update in a third area and then overwrites files in the game install.

There is also the download region you are connected to. For myself i will switch the download region as that can make a difference. For example, switching to Hamburg during the day has benefits over London or Manchester, but sometimes it is Hamburg which is the issue.

And finally as already stated i get the same download speed on all PC clients, BUT they also have their own flaws. For example Cyberpunk 2077 on GOG Galaxy takes a long time to download as the speed is also variable and is a nightmare when there is a patch, in fact is quicker to uninstall the game and re-download it.

[Joncs]

引用自 Nx Machina：

引用自 Joncs：

Thanks for the info. As per my disk activity, it's limited to around the same as my download speed. If there is any unpacking happening from compressed files, my disk activity would rocket up to at least 100+ MB/s but it doesn't, so I don't believe the compressed files are the reason to why my steam download speed is lacking. Another reason for that, smaller games that are only 1-2 GB take 10-20 min, which definitely shouldn't be happening.

Disk activity can match the download speed BUT it can be and often is higher as the download will drop due to not being able to match the disk speed and the cpu needs to process all that data.

Steam reserves a space on your drive to download the game, in turn it creates a second area where the game installs and both areas are used.

If Steam is updating a game, it creates the download area, creates a copy of the game, processes the update in a third area and then overwrites files in the game install.

There is also the download region you are connected to. For myself i will switch the download region as that can make a difference. For example, switching to Hamburg during the day has benefits over London or Manchester, but sometimes it is Hamburg which is the issue.

And finally as already stated i get the same download speed on all PC clients, BUT they also have their own flaws. For example Cyberpunk 2077 on GOG Galaxy takes a long time to download as the speed is also variable and is a nightmare when there is a patch, in fact is quicker to uninstall the game and re-download it.

I understand all of that but my download speed on Steam was 90-100 MB/s earlier this week, and this really started happening after Tuesday. That's why I don't think this is related to disk usage, ISP or my download region, I believe it's from some sort of update that was processed. I do appreciate all of the information though, I just want to find the route of the issue since I've tried everything under the sun to try to fix it so far. And based off of @Bones's reply, he is having the same issue at around the same start date.

[Joncs]

This issue has been resolved naturally, seems it was just an issue on Steam's side.

[RPG Gamer Man]

引用自 Joncs：

This issue has been resolved naturally, seems it was just an issue on Steam's side.

Sometimes tuesday maintenance causes issues like this. Glad it got solved. The OP should mark this as solved.

[hamletsdead]

It's because Steam s*cks *ss. They literally have done nothing to make downloads faster, and their game launcher is a pathetic joke. Not to mention the TERRIBLE automatic update protocal that f*cks up every game. The devs at Steam should all commit seppuku and pass the torch to someone intelligent.

[Mike]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.