Slow Steam downloads

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Naekyr

47 posts

Geek

#245459 5-Feb-2019 09:54

I'm trying to diagnose why my downloads are slow on Steam and only Steam

I have a Vodafone Fibre connection - speedtest.net and fast.com both show 950MB/s down and 500MB/s up

I have managed to pull up to 75mbps on many game downloads from PSN, Origin, Uplay and others - but interestingly enough all of these services download the game files first, then install them - this is important to remember

As for Steam, I've tried using different download regions to no avail, the download speed is uncapped and yet all my downloads go straight to 8.1mbps and then stop dead in their tracks and will not go any higher

The point of difference I can see is that Steam downloads AND installs files at the same time

I'm wondering if maybe my SSD is too slow for steam? I've got a 1TB Samsung 860 Evo SATA III SSD - the drive is 40% full at present

Will my steam download speeds go up if I move to a NVME SSD or is the slow downloads caused by something else?

Thanks

dt

1152 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2173289 5-Feb-2019 10:59

have you tried setting your download location within the steam options?

Quic Broadband

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Naekyr

47 posts

Geek

#2173292 5-Feb-2019 11:02

Yes I've tried New Zealand, Australia, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, UK and Singapore

UK and Singapore the download speeds are even slower but everywhere else I've tried is 8.1mbps

dt

1152 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2173340 5-Feb-2019 11:17

unreal, I wonder if vodafone throttle the steam cache then? i dont believe it will be your SSD if everything else is downloading at above 8.1

Might need to wait for another Vodafone customer to comment

Im with orcon and I think they have a local steamcache so I get line speed on my fibre gig connection! woohoo

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2173344 5-Feb-2019 11:26

Steam shows a speed in MEGA BYTES a second and speedtest shows you a speed of MEGA BITS. 1BIT is 1/8th of 1 BYTE.
This is why, 75X8 and you get a big number. This will be bottle necking at your PC.

You also quote your speed as 950MB/s which is not going to be possible on a 1Gb/s fibre connection. The size of the B is also relevant. So, please come back to us with this newfound info and let me know if you still got a problem!

Why am I the only person here that notices this with @hio77 lol???

1GB/s = 8Gb/s

1KB/s = 8Kb/s

1MB/s = 8Mb/s

1Gb/s = 125MB/s

hio77

'That VDSL Cat'
12999 posts

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Lizard Networks

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#2173346 5-Feb-2019 11:32

Coil:

Why am I the only person here that notices this with hio77 lol???

I put benefit to the poster that they weren't making this mistake.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Naekyr

47 posts

Geek

#2173365 5-Feb-2019 12:00

Coil:
Steam shows a speed in MEGA BYTES a second and speedtest shows you a speed of MEGA BITS. 1BIT is 1/8th of 1 BYTE.
This is why, 75X8 and you get a big number. This will be bottle necking at your PC.

You also quote your speed as 950MB/s which is not going to be possible on a 1Gb/s fibre connection. The size of the B is also relevant. So, please come back to us with this newfound info and let me know if you still got a problem!

Why am I the only person here that notices this with @hio77 lol???

1GB/s = 8Gb/s

1KB/s = 8Kb/s

1MB/s = 8Mb/s

1Gb/s = 125MB/s

Ignoring my mistake with the units

It takes much much longer to download game files off steam compared to the other services I’ve tried
Even PSN which is know for being slow downloads large game files much faster

gaddman

224 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#2174058 6-Feb-2019 16:51

I've tested on a few Vodafone Fibre Max connections and get in the 100-300Mbps range (12-42MB/s). What speed are you getting (8.1 Mbps or 8.1 MB/s), and what router and firmware version? It's almost certainly not your drive unless it's near-death or you're abusing it some other way, doubtful even CPU/mem (but check it).

hio77

'That VDSL Cat'
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#2174061 6-Feb-2019 17:03

gaddman:

doubtful even CPU/mem (but check it).

Steampipes dedupe and compression can be pretty cpu heavy at times actually...

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.