Steam Download Speed Drops

Steam defines itself as 'the ultimate entertainment platform.' Its software, available for PC, Mac, and mobile devices, allows people to 'play, connect, [and] create.' Its gaming library has more than 2,000 titles and it has approximately 40 million users. If you're one of those 40 million, you know what a pain it can be to wait for a game to update or for a new one to download -- it's not the speediest process.

Here's how to make the wait time a little less painful:

I have 250mbps internet, which I can hit my max speed with origin, steam, bandwidth tests etc. Uplay I get a max of maybe 6mb/s if Im lucky, usually it will drop down to 1-2mb/s Have tried setting max bandwidth to 25mb/s, running as administrator, turning both on and off the auto proxy setting in windows. May 21, 2016  it start at 4 TO 4.5 MB/S then it start drop until 20KPS it then rise to 500 or 700 KPS and then drop 200KBS why that behavior soo slow download speed even changing server does not help speedtest.net show 35MP/PS DOWNLOAD SPEED while steam downloading at 20KP it happened today as I restored my w.

Open the Steam settings page. This can be accessed by right-clicking the Steam icon in the system tray and selecting Settings from the menu that appears.

How to boost your Steam download speed. Two of the settings here can help increase your download speed. First, make sure the drop-down labeled 'Approximate speed of your Internet connection.

In the Settings window, there will be many tabs full of all sorts of options and settings that you can play with. The settings we're interested in are under the Downloads + Cloud tab.

Two of the settings here can help increase your download speed. First, make sure the drop-down labeled 'Approximate speed of your Internet connection' is properly set to, well, the approximate speed of your Internet connection.

Second, play around with the Download region drop-down settings. Your best bet is going to be the closest location to you, but factors like the internet connection between you and that location or volume of traffic to that server may tip the scale in the favor of a server further away.

Adjusting these settings will require you to restart your Steam client before the changes come into effect. Hopefully you'll notice faster download speeds after the restart. If there's no change -- or worse, your connection seems slower -- play around more with the download region setting until you find a reliable, low-traffic server.

(Via Wonder How To)

Related stories

  • Turn your Android or iPhone into a controller for Flash games
  • Review
    Asus ZenBook UX32VD
  • Preview
    Hands-on with the Asus Zenbook Prime UX32VD

Have you ever noticed how slow Steam’s built-in web browser can be? Do you struggle with slow download speeds? Or is Steam just slow in general? These tips will help you speed it up.

Steam isn’t a game itself, so there are no 3D settings to change to achieve maximum performance. But there are some things you can do to speed it up dramatically.

Speed Up the Steam Web Browser

RELATED:5 Tips and Tricks to Get the Most Out of Steam

Steam’s built-in web browser—used in both the Steam store and in Steam’s in-game overlay to provide a web browser you can quickly use within games—can be frustratingly slow. Rather than the typical speed we’ve come to expect from Chrome, Firefox, or even Internet Explorer, Steam seems to struggle. When you click a link or go to a new page, there’s a noticeable delay before the new page appears—something that doesn’t happen in desktop browsers.

You may have made peace with this slowness, accepting that Steam’s built-in browser is just bad. However, there’s a trick that may eliminate this delay on many systems and make the Steam web browser more responsive.

This problem seems to arise from an incompatibility with the Automatically Detect Settings option, which is enabled by default on Windows. This is a compatibility option that very few people should actually need, so it’s safe to disable it—and easy to re-enable if you need to.

Press the Windows key to open the Start menu, type “Internet Options”, and then click the Internet Options shortcut.

In the “Internet Properties” window, switch to the “Connections” tab, and then click the “LAN settings” button.

Disable the “Automatically detect settings” check box, and then click “OK” to save your settings. You can then click “OK” again to close the “Internet Properties” window.

With any luck, the significant delay you experienced every time a web page loaded in Steam’s browser should now be gone. In the unlikely event that you encounter some sort of problem with your network connection, you can always re-enable the “Automatically detect settings” option.

Increase Steam’s Game Download Speed

Steam attempts to automatically select the download server nearest to your location. However, it may not always make the ideal choice. Also, in the case of high-traffic events like big seasonal sales and huge game launches, you may benefit from temporarily selecting a less-congested server.

Open Steam’s settings by clicking the “Steam” menu, and then selecting the “Settings” option.

In the “Settings” window, switch to the “Downloads” tab, and then select the closest download server from the “Download Region” dropdown menu. While you’re on this tab, make sure that Steam’s download bandwidth doesn’t have a limit applied.

You may want to restart Steam and see if your download speeds improve after changing this setting. In some cases, the closest server might not be the fastest. A server a bit farther away could be faster if your local server is more congested, for example.

Steam once provided information about content server load, which allowed you to select a regional server that wasn’t under high-load, but this information is no longer available. Steam still provides a page that shows you the amount of download activity happening in different regions, including statistics about the difference in download speeds in different US states, but this information isn’t as useful.

Accelerate Steam and Your Games

RELATED:What Is a Solid State Drive (SSD), and Do I Need One?

One way to speed up all your games—and Steam itself—is by getting a solid-state drive (SSD) and installing Steam to it. Steam allows you to move your Steam folder—which is at C:Program Files (x86)Steam by default—to another hard drive. Just move it like you would any other folder. You can then launch the Steam.exe program as if you had never moved Steam’s files.

Steam also allows you to configure multiple game library folders. This means that you can set up a Steam library folder on an SSD and one on your larger regular drive. Install your most frequently played games to the SSD for maximum speed and your less frequently played ones to the slower drive to save SSD space.

To set up additional library folders, head to Steam > Settings > Downloads, and then click “Steam Library Folders” button.

Steam Download Speed Drops To Zero

In the “Steam Library Folders” window, click the “Add Library Folder” button and create a new game library on another hard drive.

Steam Download Speed Drops To 0

The next time you install a game through Steam, you can choose the library folder to which you want to install it.

Steam

With the proxy compatibility option disabled, the correct download server chosen, and Steam installed to a fast SSD, most things Steam should be much faster. There’s not much more you can do to speed up Steam, short of upgrading other hardware like your computer’s CPU.

Steam Download Speed Drops

SpeedSteam Download Speed Drops

Steam Download Speed Drops

Image Credit: Andrew Nash on Flickr

READ NEXT
  • › Six Common Smarthome Mistakes Beginners Make
  • › What Can I Do with My Old iPhone?
  • › How to Stream UFC 242 Khabib vs. Poirier Live Online
  • › Free Download: Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows 10
  • › How to Overclock Your Computer’s RAM