Support NeoGAF

[Arsic]

As of this year Steam has become basically an unusable store front for me. I have 1000MB/S download speed, and no matter what I have done from the constant hours of following guides/advice online I can't get a consistent and good download speed. Sometimes it'll be 10MB/S, other times it can spike up to a nice 100MB/S for a bit, but the majority of the time it flat lines off a cliff into 0kb/sec for 15+ seconds at a time until it gives me about 5 seconds of download time again around 20MB/S.

This started becoming very noticeable when Gotham Knights came out. I have 0 issues even with EPIC and Xbox game downloads on GamePass PC. My internet speeds are good to go, my firewall settings aren't in the way, etc etc.

I've googled and many report this issue, and switching download city/servers hasn't fixed it either, or really anything you can think of.

Has anyone else encountered this recently? At this point I'm going to be forced to the EPIC game stores not because I want to, but because Steam has just become unusable. This is dial up days of speed where games take HOURS to download instead of the minutes it should. I'd settle for 30 minutes, but what's the point of paying for high speed net that works great for everything, BUT the one thing where I need it to get all the juice from it.

TLDR: Gabe Newell is a bitch.

 

[bender]

TLDR: Gabe Newell is a bitch.

 

[thebigmanjosh]

It’s always been like this. I remember trying to download Witcher 3 at launch with downloads hanging up and dropping to 10 Kbps.

 

[Arsic]

It’s always been like this. I remember trying to download Witcher 3 at launch with downloads hanging up and dropping to 10 Kbps.

Weird. For me, it's NEVER been like this until this year.

Why do folks circle jerk the platform so hard with a glaring issue like this for such a long time? EPIC isn't a great storefront by any means, but being able to download fast and consistent is at least a thing there.

 

[tusharngf]

Works for me on my 300mbps connection. Never faced an issue like this.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Right? I don't use Steam as much, but I recently did and the D/L speeds were capped even on my slow-ass internet.

As you mentioned, Epic doesn't have that problem -- which is surprising.

 

[Westify1]

other times it can spike up to a nice 100MB/S for a bit, but the majority of the time it flat lines off a cliff into 0kb/sec for 15+ seconds at a time until it gives me about 5 seconds of download time again around 20MB/S.

What are the rest of your system specs like? Unlike many other launchers, Steam decrypts all game downloads in real-time to the point where a slower CPU or non-SSD storage will absolutely bottleneck your speeds.

It's usually easy to confirm either way by keeping task-manager open during a download and observing if anything is pegged at 85%+ usage.

 

[thebigmanjosh]

Weird. For me, it's NEVER been like this until this year.

Why do folks circle jerk the platform so hard with a glaring issue like this for such a long time? EPIC isn't a great storefront by any means, but being able to download fast and consistent is at least a thing there.

Are you downloading to a HDD or SDD? IIRC I think I had a HDD at the time to that might be the issue

 

[Rykan]

Are you downloading to a HDD or SDD? IIRC I think I had a HDD at the time to that might be the issue

This actually makes a really, really big difference. I faced similar issues and the change from HDD to SSD pretty much solved it.

 

[buenoblue]

You know that ISP's measure there speed in Megabytes and Steam uses megabits right? There are 8 bytes per bit so 100MB download from steam would be 800mb from your ISP. Awkawrd

 

[Griffon]

Never had any problems.

Tho, keep in mind the downloads are compressed files, and can take some times to unpack depending on your computer (hence why the steam deck can't really download and play at the same time).

 

[smart_brazileiro]

I get 12mb down max no matter what. I don't know why.

 

[Zathalus]

I have 1Gbps. No issues here. Steam uses a CDN of course, so it could be a problem with your ISP and your local download location. Try using a VPN to see if it's not a routing issue.

 

[Bragr]

I usually get 30 or 40mbs max, but it needs to be installed on an SSD drive of course to handle that well. On Game Pass, the VPN always fucked the speeds, so I always turn that off, and then it works fine.

 

[Droxcy]

Most of the time it's the HDD/SSD. I have a 4TB HDD that steam just refuses to download quickly, but once I switch to my SSD or NVME I get my normal speeds.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Still works great for me.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

 

[Lukaku's First Touch]

I have the same issue. Got a super fast nvme ssd but steam caps out at 5mb/sec and I cant get it to go faster. It probably has to do with the install + download at the same time but I still feel something is capping it.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Does OP not know the differences between MB & mb?

Your 100mb is = to 10MB, for example mine is around 450mb and = to 45MB on the downloads.

I don't think it helps with how ISP's advertise to the regular joe these days.

 

[Skifi28]

No issues here. I only have a 200mbps connection, but it always maxes out on steam.

 

[mxbison]

Nothing changed for me, always been bad

 

[BadBurger]

Open a command prompt

Type powershell , hit enter

Copy and paste this command: netsh interface ip show global

Copy and paste the results here.

Edit: Oh, and after that first command, also do this one: Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty

Again, paste results

 

[Gaiff]

As of this year Steam has become basically an unusable store front for me. I have 1000MB/S download speed, and no matter what I have done from the constant hours of following guides/advice online I can't get a consistent and good download speed. Sometimes it'll be 10MB/S, other times it can spike up to a nice 100MB/S for a bit, but the majority of the time it flat lines off a cliff into 0kb/sec for 15+ seconds at a time until it gives me about 5 seconds of download time again around 20MB/S.

This started becoming very noticeable when Gotham Knights came out. I have 0 issues even with EPIC and Xbox game downloads on GamePass PC. My internet speeds are good to go, my firewall settings aren't in the way, etc etc.

I've googled and many report this issue, and switching download city/servers hasn't fixed it either, or really anything you can think of.

Has anyone else encountered this recently? At this point I'm going to be forced to the EPIC game stores not because I want to, but because Steam has just become unusable. This is dial up days of speed where games take HOURS to download instead of the minutes it should. I'd settle for 30 minutes, but what's the point of paying for high speed net that works great for everything, BUT the one thing where I need it to get all the juice from it.

TLDR: Gabe Newell is a bitch.

You most likely have a 1000Mbps connection speed, not MB/S. This means your download speed would be 125MB/s at most (unless you got 8Gbits which I find unlikely). I have a 1GBps connection and almost never see Steam go to 250MB/s, maybe 200 on a good day but most of the time it's around 100-150.

Have you done a speed test using speedtest.net? If you're getting a much lower transfer rate there too, then Steam isn't the problem. Check your RJ-45 cable (assuming you're not on Wi-Fi) and make sure it's Cat5e at least that supports Gigabit, Cat5 caps out much lower. The length of your cable also matters. Although doubtful, your cable loses its efficiency when it's too long (like 55 meters).

Another think that's unlikely is your motherboard not supporting Gigabit but you'd need some lower end trash or an ancient motherboard for it to be the case.

Finally, downloading on an SSD or HDD can make a huge difference too with the former obviously downloading and writing the data much faster than the former.

 

[Starbuck2907]

I remember once that during peak usage during the holidays one year my download was slow and appeared to be coming from servers Valve had rented in Hong Kong. It was weird. I usually never have any trouble but when usage is high things used to get wacky. Haven’t downloaded much in a couple of years though.

 

[Resenge]

I have never had anything but maxed out download speed on steam, it's my go to for checking download speed after an online speed test.

 

[Ferdimage]

I never had anything but maxed out download speed on steam, it's my go to for checking download speed after an online speed test.

Crazy speeds , which country?

 

[Resenge]

Crazy speeds , which country?

Uk

 

[RoboFu]

One possibility is that your isp is capping steam because of a lot of users.

My avg is 50 MB which isnt bad. thats 10 gigs in 3.5 mins.

 

[Gaiff]

Crazy speeds , which country?

It really isn't crazy.

 

[Drew1440]

I assume you're using direct ethernet instead of Wi-Fi or Powerline/MoCA adapters?
Also check the network activity in task manager and see if there are any other background proceses that are downloading.

 

[Ferdimage]

It really isn't crazy.

It is for us in Australia, I only get 12mbs max

 

[winjer]

I don't have a connection as fast as you, but never had issues with download speeds using Steam, outside of large Steam sales, when everyone is downloading their new games.

Try changing the server you are using to downloads games.

 

[flying_sq]

I have 600 down in NYC and I used to have gigabit in Pittsburgh, never had any issues. Usually that kind of behavior is drive/cpu related with decompression. But no issues with other clients is weird.

 

[M1chl]

I have never had anything but maxed out download speed on steam, it's my go to for checking download speed after an online speed test.

This is my general situation, since updating to 2.5Gbit/s internet.

 

[rodrigolfp]

I have 1000MB/S download speed

No, you don't. You have 1000Mb/s = 125MB/s.

 

[rodrigolfp]

It is for us in Australia, I only get 12mbs max

Move to Brazil. We have 700Mb and 5 cups.

 

[calistan]

Steam download speeds can be pretty bad for me too. Varies wildly - sometimes acceptably fast, sometimes painfully slow (like today) - but it's definitely the slowest out of any of the major gaming services I use.

This is in the UK, on a 1Gb connection. I set the Xbox downloading something for comparison, and that was hovering around the 650-700Mb area.

Speedtest result on the same computer (with two people working from home, possibly one video call, hope I didn't interrupt that...)

 

[Thirty7ven]

It’s very fast for me, get 50MB DL ez

 

[RoadHazard]

I don't think you have a 1000MB/s connection. Probably you have 1000Mbps, which means a theoretical maximum download speed of 125MB/s. So the 100MB/s you sometimes get isn't too far off.

Edit: Beaten many times, lol.

But yeah, the rest of that sounds shitty.

 

[poppabk]

Can't say I have ever noticed a problem.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Definitely happens to me every once and awhile. Never really quite understood why, and I have fiber.

905.5 DL & 901.7 UL doesn't always equate the same results unfortunately.

 

[TheMan]

OP it’s been the same for me for years. I can download a 100gb game in less than an hour via PSN but steam’s connection just won’t stay consistent

 

[Spyxos]

Wait, you can download on Steam with more then 10mb? Never ever i have seen this. And no matter what connection i used 50mb or 1gig.

My Psn speed is also always capped. No matter what i do...

 

[JCK75]

1000MB/S is a very unusual number for internet speed, I'm betting what you actually have like most of us is 1000mb/s
which is about 120MB/S

On Steam most gaming services 40-50MB/S is a really good download speed.

 

[Magic Carpet]

We have a 400 MBIT download (50MB/S) Speeds seem to be on point.

 

[ahtlas7]

I’ve had a steam account from day 1. Dl speed has done nothing but improve each year.
Maybe check your settings op?

 

[ViolentP]

I cap my downloads at 45MB/s and I hit that with almost every download. Just did it with Midnight Suns in fact.

 

[64gigabyteram]

I have 1000MB/S download speed,

 

[marjo]

Are you sure your ISP is not throttling Steam downloads? A few years ago, my ISP did that. I don't have any current issues.

 

[LordCBH]

I’ve got gigabit internet and steam gives me no download issues whatsoever.

 

[Kacho]

I feel ya OP. I had a similar issue when I was using Comcast. My download speeds would fluctuate wildly and mostly settle in the kb/s no matter how good my internet was. Since switching to FIOS, I generally cap out at consistent 22 MB/s on Steam.