Steam download speed does not match my connection speed

[Thomiaz]

I have a 128 MB/s download speed and I'm using an ethernet connection. The problem for me is that whenever I download steam it starts high at ~100MB/s, and then slowly goes down to 8 MB/s.

Whenever I pause and restart, or cancel the download and start again, it briefly starts high before it goes down again.

What can I do to keep my download speed high?

[nullable]

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/wqrdtv/comment/j19vd5g/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

You might try disabling Windows Write Cache.

Although earlier today a guy was complaining about disk usage and slow performance on a low performance NVMe drive and enabling Windows Write Cache seemed to help him quite a bit.

So I guess if it's disabled, try enabling it. If it's enabled try disabling it.

Generally Write Cache is good, so you might want it enabled most of the time.

[Satoru]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1190463758

[Thomiaz]

Originally posted by nullable:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/wqrdtv/comment/j19vd5g/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

You might try disabling Windows Write Cache.

Although earlier today a guy was complaining about disk usage and slow performance on a low performance NVMe drive and enabling Windows Write Cache seemed to help him quite a bit.

So I guess if it's disabled, try enabling it. If it's enabled try disabling it.

Generally Write Cache is good, so you might want it enabled most of the time.

Thanks for the help, but unfortunately, disabling write cache didn't seem to solve the issue.

[HIVEmind]

this helped me before, I think you should limit your download/upload in the settings. your ISP maybe throttling your downloads ceiling.

[HIVEmind]

pay attention the number when it rolls down

[RPG Gamer Man]

Originally posted by HIVEmind:

this helped me before, I think you should limit your download/upload in the settings. your ISP maybe throttling your downloads ceiling.

Mostly this is the cause. Don't anyone read their ISP's contracts when they sign up for internet? They could say in those they will increase what you pay by 500% and you would not even know...lol.

[silverhawk216]

Part of the problem is steam installs as it downloads games if it would install after it would speed up downloads cause as it installs it is splitting it's processing slowing down the download speed
its like trying to draw and color at the same time doable but far harder and can lead to error
Really needs a option to change this

[nullable]

Originally posted by silverhawk216:

Part of the problem is steam installs as it downloads games if it would install after it would speed up downloads cause as it installs it is splitting it's processing slowing down the download speed
its like trying to draw and color at the same time doable but far harder and can lead to error
Really needs a option to change this

It was fine in 2003, modern disks and cpus are much faster. Can't say I've had download errors due to the implementation in twenty years across a dozen systems... multi-tasking has been around for much longer.

Analogies are fine for explaining things you understand. But an analogy that just sounds ok may not define reality.

[Thomiaz]

I've done some experimenting, and it seems to be related to the drive I am using. The drive I use as default, an SSD struggles the most with this problem.

A different SSD that's s a lot smaller in size and a lot less suitable for me to download large games on, does somewhat match the speed I should be having.

Even my HDD has less issues with the download speed.

Although now I am aware of this problem, the only solution I've found online so far was to disable/enable write cache. Which didn't solve it for me yet when the first person to reply here suggested it. Anyone have new suggestions with this new information on how this can be solved?

[Teksura]

Originally posted by Thomiaz:

I have a 128 MB/s download speed and I'm using an ethernet connection. The problem for me is that whenever I download steam it starts high at ~100MB/s, and then slowly goes down to 8 MB/s.

Whenever I pause and restart, or cancel the download and start again, it briefly starts high before it goes down again.

What can I do to keep my download speed high?

Let's start with the basics.

First, the download speed you quoted is roughly 4 times the fastest home internet speeds in the world. So, that is not your real download speed.

Where did you get the 128 number? Did you get it from your ISP or from an internet speed test? Look again. Those give you your speed measured in Mb/s, not MB/s.

The difference being Mb/s measures Megabits per second; basically counting each 1 and 0 per second. This is mostly done by ISPs to give you a bigger sounding number because if one ISP offers 128 Mb/s and another offers 20 MB/s, a lot of people will assume the former is the better speed, when it is actually slower.

MB/s is what Steam gives you, which is MegaBytes per second. A Byte is made up of 8 bits and essentially represents 1 character's worth of data. This is a more useful number to actually be using because file size is measured in Bytes, not bits. Most everything outside of ISPs and Internet Speed Tests will use this number because, again, it's a more useful number than the inflated Mb/s whose main purpose is to make you think your internet speeds are faster by presenting you with a bigger number.


So, if we assume you aren't running super advanced Gigabit per second internet speed typically reserved for data centers, your download speed is actually 128Mb/s. That comes to 16 MB/s

The "100" you're seeing is most likely 100 KB/s as things start up. Look at the units next time, because a 100 MB/s download speed is, again, typically speeds reserved for data centers and don't get me started on how much that would cost you.



So, you're expecting 16 MB/s and only seeing 8MB/s.

Is there anything else on your network using data? If, for example, someone else in the household is streaming a video, that can take up some of your bandwidth.

Another possibility is other limiting factors, such as your disk write speed. Your system can't download and save files faster than it can actually write that data down on the hard drive.

[Thomiaz]

Originally posted by Teksura:

Originally posted by Thomiaz:

I have a 128 MB/s download speed and I'm using an ethernet connection. The problem for me is that whenever I download steam it starts high at ~100MB/s, and then slowly goes down to 8 MB/s.

Whenever I pause and restart, or cancel the download and start again, it briefly starts high before it goes down again.

What can I do to keep my download speed high?

Let's start with the basics.

First, the download speed you quoted is roughly 4 times the fastest home internet speeds in the world. So, that is not your real download speed.

Where did you get the 128 number? Did you get it from your ISP or from an internet speed test? Look again. Those give you your speed measured in Mb/s, not MB/s.

The difference being Mb/s measures Megabits per second; basically counting each 1 and 0 per second. This is mostly done by ISPs to give you a bigger sounding number because if one ISP offers 128 Mb/s and another offers 20 MB/s, a lot of people will assume the former is the better speed, when it is actually slower.

MB/s is what Steam gives you, which is MegaBytes per second. A Byte is made up of 8 bits and essentially represents 1 character's worth of data. This is a more useful number to actually be using because file size is measured in Bytes, not bits. Most everything outside of ISPs and Internet Speed Tests will use this number because, again, it's a more useful number than the inflated Mb/s whose main purpose is to make you think your internet speeds are faster by presenting you with a bigger number.


So, if we assume you aren't running super advanced Gigabit per second internet speed typically reserved for data centers, your download speed is actually 128Mb/s. That comes to 16 MB/s

The "100" you're seeing is most likely 100 KB/s as things start up. Look at the units next time, because a 100 MB/s download speed is, again, typically speeds reserved for data centers and don't get me started on how much that would cost you.



So, you're expecting 16 MB/s and only seeing 8MB/s.

Is there anything else on your network using data? If, for example, someone else in the household is streaming a video, that can take up some of your bandwidth.

Another possibility is other limiting factors, such as your disk write speed. Your system can't download and save files faster than it can actually write that data down on the hard drive.

I have 125 MB/s, not 128 which was my fault, but roughly 1 MB = 8 Mb. I have a 1 Gb/s, which is what my ISP advertises and what I get on speedtests online and what I roughly get at the beginning of my downloads(albeit a bit less for obvious reasons)

I know the differences and I put both values in MB for it to be less confusing. I guess this is inevitable.

And lol you think 1 Gb/s is 4 times the fastest home speed in the world? With my ISP could upgrade the plan to even have 4 Gb/s. I don't need it nor do I have the hardware to support it, but I doubt even that is the fastest "home connection speed".

But no thank you I am not blind, I know what the numbers say on my screen. I do not have a max speed of 100 KB/s lol. Cause when downloading it also shows your peak speed. Which is ~100+ MB/s. Would also take awfully long to download anything.

And regarding your questions later on, there should be no other limiting factors. My main SSD can write faster than 1 Gb/s. It's clear it's not a network bottleneck either as when downloading on my other smaller SSD the download does go up to ~100 MB/s. Download on my HDD does not download fast(~30 MB/s), but it does download as fast as it can write, where the HDD is the obvious bottleneck.

And yeah other people in my house are using the internet, which is why I don't fully expect the 125 MB/s either, but I've got 8 MB/s or sometimes it goes even lower on my SSD for seemingly no reason.