What can cause computer lag when downloading?

[Jazman2k]

I suddenly ran into this problem I have never encountered before in my life.

Downloading anything from steam, GOG Galaxy, Origin etc. causes my computer to lag very badly.

Just few weeks ago my computer was running fine, and I've been able to play games even while downloading.

Now my computer lags so badly, I cannot even surf on the web at the same time. Mouse cursor lags, scrolling pages lags, everything stutters and lags.

CPU usage is normal, between 1-10%
Ram usage is normal: between 3-4gb
Disk usage is normal.
Checked SSD for errors, none found.
Optimized the disk. No help.
Scanned for viruses. Nothing found.

I have free space about 300 gigabytes on my SSD.

I have never had issues like this. Only thing I've done lately is:

-Install new W10 Home Update
-Install new steam update
-Install Epic Launcher and Kingdom Come game (could this be the cause?)
-Downloaded some subtitles for a TV show

Yesterday I installed Epic Launcher and downloaded Kingdom Come and while downloading I had no problems. Today I launched steam and started to download a game and noticed this massive lag.

I checked with other software and unfortunately GOG and others cause problems too when downloading.

What could cause this?

[Vector3D]

Originally posted by Raoul:

Originally posted by Randot:

I also had this issue for months now, and I always keep my drivers, OS and Software up to date

I tried all of this:
https://techcult.com/fix-steam-lags-when-downloading-something/

But as soon as I start to download something on the Steam client my entire system starts to lag during this download.

Yes, I have the Steam client on my C: drive, but I have set it to install products on other drives

I am running a Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3500 Mhz, with 32GB of ram on a MSI Z87 - G45 motherboard.
The Steam client is installed on an SSD

Check device manager for your network lan port driver version and compare on the MSI site: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z87-G45-GAMING/support#driver

I'd uninstall your current driver, restart and let windows install it's own driver and check if the issue still occurs, you can then decide whether to reinstall the killer network driver for your board that is listed.

I had problems with the now disabled onboard killerbitLAN, so I use a realtek instead (with the latest drivers)

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

What connection do you have? High Speed connections like Gigabit can suck up CPU cycles, but with that CPU it shouldnt be much of an issue..

Have you tried resetting your network connection?

The other thing that could cause it would be an antivirus or anti malware program with realtime scanning enabled..

Have you checked CPU usage of processes when doing a download to see if anything else is using the CPU or Drives?

may also want to consider making your own thread to avoid confusion with the OP

I do have a one gigabit internet connection, I also use Kaspersky and Malwarebytes - both free, and disabling them does not stop the lagging of the pointer.

Originally posted by _I_:

steam does decompress and copy while downloading
if playing games in the background it can cause longer load time and more cpu usage

steam -> settings -> downloads -> untick 'allow downloads during gameplay'

It's already set to this option.

Originally posted by CZI:

Anti virus and runtime scan.
Patching process would use a lot of CPU processing too.

...

[[☥] - CJ -]

I would get rid of Kas and just use MB

[Vector3D]

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

I would get rid of Kas and just use MB

I tried to close down Kaspersky while downloading, but there still just seems to be a drag on the mouse

[Zef]

Originally posted by Randot:

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

I would get rid of Kas and just use MB

I tried to close down Kaspersky while downloading, but there still just seems to be a drag on the mouse

Doesn't mean sh/t if the background processes and local services are still Running....

Hows your network traffic resource wide?

[Vector3D]

Originally posted by zef:

Originally posted by Randot:

I tried to close down Kaspersky while downloading, but there still just seems to be a drag on the mouse

Doesn't mean sh/t if the background processes and local services are still Running....

Hows your network traffic resource wide?

It seems to be my CPU being loaded when these lags accour, they are not constant..

"Hows your network traffic resource wide?" - what?

[Raoul]

Originally posted by Randot:

Originally posted by Raoul:

Check device manager for your network lan port driver version and compare on the MSI site: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z87-G45-GAMING/support#driver

I'd uninstall your current driver, restart and let windows install it's own driver and check if the issue still occurs, you can then decide whether to reinstall the killer network driver for your board that is listed.

I had problems with the now disabled onboard killerbitLAN, so I use a realtek instead (with the latest drivers)

Try it with the realtek driver, reason for suggesting was your system wide lag is only when you download right, do a manual size test of say 50mb or larger on: https://testmy.net/download
does your system lag no matter what and where you download from? test and let us know

Try disable everything unnecessary for the system to function in ccleaner>tools>startup then test again and if nothing is running in the background and you still lag when downloading anything then might be worth doing a windows refresh with the option to keep files and apps. That's if you are already sure it's not an overclock or hardware related issue.

[Vector3D]

Originally posted by Raoul:

Originally posted by Randot:

I had problems with the now disabled onboard killerbitLAN, so I use a realtek instead (with the latest drivers)

Try it with the realtek driver, reason for suggesting was your system wide lag is only when you download right, do a manual size test of say 50mb or larger on: https://testmy.net/download
does your system lag no matter what and where you download from? test and let us know

Try disable everything unnecessary for the system to function in ccleaner>tools>startup then test again and if nothing is running in the background and you still lag when downloading anything then might be worth doing a windows refresh with the option to keep files and apps. That's if you are already sure it's not an overclock or hardware related issue.

It's mostly only when I use a game provider client it lags, and worst is it with the Steam client.
I can download apps/files through MS Store, or over the internet and no lagging accours.

I just had a run trough CCleaner Pro's many options, and despite it claming to make my computer faster didn't it do much to this 'problem'.

[Raoul]

Is it mostly or only with game clients? Do a larger test on: https://testfiledownload.com/ and see if lagging occurs. It's important to make the distinction and also to check the driver for your lan is working fine as then it might be pointing to a storage issue or the windows update you mentioned messed up your system in some way maybe.. You might have to just do a reinstall and see if that fixes it as the shortest method.

Also try latencymon click start monitor then start a download that you know is going to make you lag, does it go into the red and what driver does it show?

[Vector3D]

Originally posted by Raoul:

Is it mostly or only with game clients? Do a larger test on: https://testfiledownload.com/ and see if lagging occurs. It's important to make the distinction and also to check the driver for your lan is working fine as then it might be pointing to a storage issue or the windows update you mentioned messed up your system in some way maybe.. You might have to just do a reinstall and see if that fixes it as the shortest method.

Also try latencymon click start monitor then start a download that you know is going to make you lag, does it go into the red and what driver does it show?

But it does not happen when I run a download in Chrome, it's mostly only the Steam client bugging

[Raoul]

Reinstall steam and see if that helps

[billyhoush]

I had this issue but have a different fix. I went into Device Manager and went through all the USB Hubs under USB controller and made sure under 'Power Management' that 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power' was unchecked.