Download speeds on Steam are inconsistent, especially when not using a full gigabyte connection.
Download speeds on Steam are inconsistent, especially when not using a full gigabyte connection.
Hello,
My Steam downloads are slowing down significantly and fluctuating rapidly. I've already cleared my Steam DL cache, switched DL servers, increased DL bandwidth limits, checked the read/write speeds of my external SSD, adjusted Steam's priority in Task Manager, and even reinstalled the application. Another concern is that pre-allocating downloads usually takes around 20 to 30 minutes, suggesting a possible issue with R/W to my SSD. This situation becomes more confusing because I have several CODs on the same external SSD, and through the Blizzard launcher, they consistently download large updates at about 60-80 MB/s, whereas Steam typically manages around 5 MB/s (I have a wired gigabit connection). ALSO, when the download begins, it first runs smoothly for about 2 minutes at 60-80 MB/s, then drops below 10 MB/s for most of the download, pausing completely before briefly returning to around 30 MB/s. My SSD can handle up to 560 MB/s read (tested), while Steam uses only 3-5 MB/s.
The Steam was originally placed on your internal SSD, but now it's running on a different external SSD. Did you simply reinstall Steam to the external drive?
Yeah, it turns out that keeping steam on the SSD really speeds up installations a lot. I can now download big games in less than three hours.