Why Does Steam Download More Slowly Than the Riot Client?
Asked by
VelvetMango42
My downloads reach around 50 MB/s in the Riot client, and Steam has occasionally reached that speed too, but it usually stays between 10 and 20 MB/s, averaging about 16 MB/s. Could this be caused by a priority setting, my internet connection, or the Wi-Fi extender I've been using for several years? My PC is connected by Ethernet to the extender. Speed tests usually show results close to the 50 MB/s range, and the SSD seems to be performing normally. My system has a Ryzen 5 5600X, an ASUS TUF Gaming motherboard with Wi-Fi, and an NVIDIA RTX 3070.
Answers
Steam may be downloading compressed game files and unpacking or installing them at the same time. That makes the CPU and SSD work while the download is happening, so Steam can slow down even when the internet connection is capable of higher speeds. The Riot client may handle downloading and installation differently. Try downloading a smaller game and watch your CPU, disk usage, and network graphs. Also check that the SSD has at least 10–15% free space, since nearly full or DRAM-less drives can slow down during large installs.
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First compare the units carefully: download clients often show MB/s, while speed-test websites usually report Mbps. Since 1 MB/s equals roughly 8 Mbps, 50 MB/s would correspond to about 400 Mbps. If the speed tests are consistent with your expected connection, the difference is probably related to Steam’s decompression, disk-writing, or server conditions rather than a network priority setting. It’s still worth checking the extender by testing directly from the main router if possible, because an older extender can add instability or reduce throughput.
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VelvetMango42: That makes sense, especially the CPU workload. The SSD has plenty of free space, so I’ll try a smaller download and monitor the system usage.