Oftentimes a good internet connection will not secure a stable and fast Steam download due to other factors that are limiting your download capabilities. Don’t worry though, as you can try the following steps to increase your Steam download speed. Especially if you are redownloading the full version of a game that required you to delete its Early Access version and even your save files.
Things you can try to help download your Steam Games faster
There are quite a bit of things you may want to try to improve your Steam download speeds. The obvious thing I would say is the least useful of the bunch, which is that you may want to improve your connection speeds by getting a better and faster internet connection plan. However, there may be some limitations harming your Steam download speeds and you don’t know it.
Change your Steam Download Region
One easy way to gain additional download speed in Steam is to change the Steam Download Region. Connecting to a server that’s located far from your current location will cause your download speed to become slower.
- Open Steam and select Steam, then Settings on the top bar.
- Select the Downloads option.
- Locate the Download Region section and select the region closest to your current location.
Change your Steam bandwith limit
One of the things that may be limiting your download speeds is the Download Restrictions that may be in place. If a limit is set, then, obviously, the Steam client will not download at higher speeds than your bandwidth limit.
- Open Steam and select Steam, then Settings on the top bar.
- Select the Downloads option.
- Locate the Download Restrictions section and select the region closest to your current location.
- Restart Steam to apply your changes.
Shutdown bandwith consuming processes
While attempting to download games over 100GB, stream the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in 4K, and let others play games online at the same time sounds like a great and fireproof idea with no type of consequences, the truth is that each online process consumes bandwidth. So, if you want to improve your Steam download speed, you will need to close any applications or processes that might slow down your Steam game download. That includes any YouTube videos, Google Chrome tabs, any streaming service, and other gaming clients. Closing an app may sometimes just minimize it and run it in the background, so be sure to end the process entirely.
- Search for Task Manager in the Search Bar.
- Locate any apps that may be using internet bandwidth.
- Right-click on the process and select End task.
Use an Ethernet connection for better stability and speeds
Finally, if you want a better connection, both in terms of stability and overall speeds, consider using an Ethernet connection instead of a wireless one. While using a wireless connection has its advantages, such as being able to connect remotely without the use of any cables, having a wired connection is by far more stable and faster than what any Wi-Fi connection may offer.
You can also check whether Steam servers are down or not by accessing this page here.
Steam is available on PCs.
Published: Aug 3, 2023 12:20 pm