Fast connection but limited speed and laggy performance
Fast connection but limited speed and laggy performance
Hey, I noticed you've been experiencing internet issues lately. Everything seemed fine until recently. Your speed drops significantly—down to around 500 Mbps and up to 500 Mbps—especially when downloading from services like Steam, Blizzard, Uplay, Origin, or the Microsoft Store. When you try to download something, you only get 7-10 MBps, and your ping goes way up, over 100-150ms. Even with Speedtest.net, the connection remains unstable, dropping to 40-50 Mbps while pinging Google. Using a Cat6 cable about 5 meters away from the router doesn’t help much.
You've already reset the router several times, reinstalled drivers, and even reset the switch, which supports up to 10/100/1000 Mbps. Your PCs are connected normally, but the problem persists. It’s also happening on your girlfriend’s PC, which has different hardware. I’m here to help you troubleshoot further—let me know what you think!
Regarding your download performance, it's normal for streaming speeds. Platforms like Steam don't support continuous high-bandwidth uploads, which means your connection will be limited. Your actual download rate will be affected by the slowest component in your setup—slow storage or CPU can prevent faster downloading even if you have good speed.
That's correct, I was achieving speeds above 50 MBps before. My system includes an i7-9700K processor, 32 GB of RAM, an M.2 NVMe SSD, and a standard SATA SSD for game downloads. Last week, while downloading Ghost Recon Breakpoint on Uplay, my download reached around 64 MBps.
Regarding the ping, understand that speedtest.net is mainly a comparative metric and has been reported to exaggerate internet performance. It acts more like a standard than a true reflection, so it might not always show your connection's stability accurately. Your latency shouldn't usually change due to other downloads, which seems reasonable. If any devices in your house control the network (like a switch or router), they might be handling other traffic instead of your gaming data. It could also help to ask your internet service provider to perform some checks.
Are you relying on your ISP's DNS servers? This can significantly influence your ping. Download speeds depend on numerous variables, making it difficult to pinpoint the cause. Occasionally, just restarting your modem resolves the issue. It could also stem from broader network problems. Many people overlook that cable internet is shared among users; higher local traffic reduces performance. With more individuals working remotely, this might be a contributing factor.
It's important to recognize that numerous ISPs use their own caching systems for Steam and major CDNs such as Akamai and Google. This introduces many variables to consider. However, if your ping increases to 100-150ms latency, it may indicate an issue with saturating the network interface. Are you sure you're connected via Ethernet, and have you unintentionally turned on any built-in Wi-Fi? If you're using Ethernet, do you have other computers in your home to test from, to confirm the problem isn't specific to your device?
My GFP has an Z390 Aorus Elite but no built-in Wi-Fi. It’s also showing this issue on my girlfriend’s PC, which has an older ASUS Z97 board and runs Windows 10 Pro.