[Weird] Download issues with Steam

[Stupid]

Hello,
So my Steam downloads are taking forever and keep jumping the speed around like crazy. So far, I have cleared my Steam DL cache, changed DL servers, uncapped DL bandwidth, tested my external SSD for read/write speeds, set the priority of Steam in task manager, and have even gone as far as reinstalling steam. Another issue is that pre-allocating downloads usually takes ~20-30 minutes, so I'm assuming that Steam is having an issue with R/W to my SSD. What makes this problem even weirder is that I have multiple CODs on the same external SSD and through the Blizzard launcher, they will download massive updates at ~60-80 MB/s consistently, while steam usually ends up DLing around 5 MB/s (I have a wired gigabit connection). ALSO, when the download first starts, for about 2 minutes, the download speed will be normal (60-80 MB/s) and then DROP to under 10 MB/s for the remainder of the download, even stopping completely, jumping back to around 30 MB/s, then dropping back down. My SSD is capable of 560 MB/s r/w, and Steam uses just 3-5 MB/s of that.

[Cathulhu]

Sounds like some software is interfering with Steam.

[Stupid]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Sounds like some software is interfering with Steam.

Now that would be interesting, I don't have a whole lot on my computer, I have steam games, blizzard games, a lot of coding/VM tools, and a lot of lab reports...
Could razer synapse / iCue cause this? other than that I'm not too sure what it would be

[Elucidator]

Steam has issues when you put a library onto an external drive.
exactly why, idk. You can minimize these issues by installing Steam itself on the external drive. (it causes caching and downloading to happen on the drive, so then it doesn't need to 'move' the files to the drive later)
Steam also validates each file way too often. (each chunk gets validated, to make sure the download went succesful). I think it uses hash validation to achieve this.

Download speed mostly depends on disk speed. In case of your SSD it would mean the connection interface (USB2.0 I guess) and the 'cache' on the interface. (its temporarily stored onto a chip before entering the ssd)
this is why an external drive performs ... less well than an internal one (since then the controller and cache would be on the motherboard)
You can test the drive's write speed with crystaldiskmark

summarized: I don't know why your download and install speed drops. I can only make guesses.

[Stupid]

Originally posted by Elucidator:

Steam has issues when you put a library onto an external drive.
exactly why, idk. You can minimize these issues by installing Steam itself on the external drive. (it causes caching and downloading to happen on the drive, so then it doesn't need to 'move' the files to the drive later)
Steam also validates each file way too often. (each chunk gets validated, to make sure the download went successful). I think it uses hash validation to achieve this.

summarized: I don't know why your download and install speed drops. I can only make guesses.

Go figure, I'm curious as to this being my issue so I might just have to delete a game and reinstall steam and the game to test this lol. I have tested my drive, its performing as expected and the USB interface used is 3.1. Will get back to you if that solves my problem or not

[Stupid]

Yup, that was my issue. Moved steam to the external SSD and bam, problem solved

[Elucidator]

GG
glad its solved for you (temporarily at least)
you can remove steam without removing your library, I think. In case you need to move steam again in the future (second external drive) You can link the two libraries later on then as well.
I hope steam's dev team fixes these issues at some point. I assume they know.