Game Downloads Affecting Computer Performance (Need Help)

[MrDriftwood]

Hi all,

I have run into a very recent issue with my computer thats been causing me some anxiety. I noticed it for the first time when installing DOOM and have experienced it in every instance and test. The problem is this: whenever I download a game, it doesn't have to be from Steam, I tested it with Battlefield 4 as well, it appears that either after an amount of time or amount of data downloaded (not sure which), both the network and disk speed will collapse to almost non-existant levels with occaisional attempts to regain speed. This collapse affects the performance of my computer in a very negative way. Response time falls drastically, mouse jitters accross the screen, Start menu takes 4-5 seconds minimum to open and browsers won't open at all. When i tried installing from Origin, the results were even worse. The screen turned black (still backlit so it was still on) and once I entered some keys on the keyboard and used the mouse a bit, colored artifacts and tears appeared on the screen. In this instance, the only way I could regain control of my computer was to physically pull the plug. Each of these instances have been when I had tried to install games to my HDD. I have not tried to install games to my SDD yet, so I am not sure if the problem would persist. I appreciate any insight into my problem that any of you might have.

[Prowlcorp]

Please try to install to add to give us more to work with

[rotNdude]

Post your computer specs. It sounds to me like your drive is getting full.

[_I_]

or its a slow hdd

[banzaigtv]

If your PC performance is slow while downloading games, then you can try downloading when you're not using the PC. Even on some high-end PCs, downloading Steam games while gaming can result in lower performance. That's why I run games on my primary gaming rig and use another PC for downloading games. Then I copy the downloaded game folders from that PC to an external hard drive and transport it to my primary PC.

[_I_]

or if its a slow internet connection and your games are online

sp games should not be effected very much unless the destination dirve or cpu are very slow

[M.A.F.I.A Cannoli]

Downloding should only affect ping, run sfc /scanow

[_I_]

steam downloads stuff in stages

1. allocate disk space (in steamapps\downloading)
2. download to populate files (in steamapps\downloading)
3. unpack files (in steamapps\downloading)
4. move to correct location (steamapps\common)

only stage 2 will kill your ping

stages 1,3,4 use alot of disk activity

stage 3 uses alot of cpu and disk activity

[M.A.F.I.A Cannoli]

Originally posted by _I_:

steam downloads stuff in stages

1. allocate disk space (in steamapps\downloading)
2. download to populate files (in steamapps\downloading)
3. unpack files (in steamapps\downloading)
4. move to correct location (steamapps\common)

But gaming invoves RAM CPU and video, your HDD can be doing things and not affectd fps

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If you have a higher throughput ISP data plan for faster downloading; then you need drives that can keep up. Mechanical HDD? That is your bottleneck right there. Either that or having OS on mechanical HDD and that is also the drive you are downloading games to; this is a double no-no. Downloading to mechanical HDD and the HDD is a secondary drive; that should be fine. The OS generally doesn't care or slow down since it's not running of that drive.

[M.A.F.I.A Cannoli]

Ive never had a problem with HDD access while gaming since pre 2k......

Nothing like playing TFC and a virus scan starts

After that on SATA drives a game loads to RAM, as long as page file isnt being used the CPU strain of HDD activity is not much