Arch Linux

lasbuni

Member

Registered: 2026-06-12

Posts: 3

[Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

About ~3 days ago my Steam game download speed went from ~800Mb/s (Megabits) to ~60Mb/s. Steam on my windows installation on the same machine was able to download using my max bandwidth. I tried some "fixes" online but none resolved my issue. I would also like to add that the only package change I made during this time was upgrading bash, and downgrading the package does nothing.

List of "fixes" I found and tried:
1. Adding steam_cfg to disable HTTP2 and force more CDN servers. (Arch Wiki Fix)
2. Disable IPv6.
3. DNS caching  (I already use dnscrypt-proxy with caching. Verified caching works with nslookup/dig).
4. Changing the MTU/MRU
5. Switching between Steam Flatpak and Pacman package.
6. Blacklisting Steam CDN Servers when only single job active. (Found on Steam Linux github issue, but my downloads already pull from many CDN Server with stable connection)
7. Confirmed my connection speed with speedtest.net/wget/speedtest-cli. (All more than 500Mb/s)
8. Disk I/O verified to be healthy using dd. (7GB/s Read/Write)
9. Verified the CDN server Steam is downloading from is the closest data center geographically. (dig + IP lookup)

I run:

download_sources

in Steam console and everything looks fine except for every single CDN server I'm downloading from is going at ~8Mb/s.

Any help is appreciated!
Also thanks to everyone in advance!

Github Issue I mentioned:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam- … sues/12082

Follow up edit:
I was using NetworkManager with dnscrypt-proxy as the only DNS resolver. However, it seems like Steam did not like this configuration anymore. After using cloudflare warp which automatically enabled systemd-resolved, Steam was able to utilize my full bandwidth. Ultimately I was still unable to figure out why this is the case (using wireshark and a bunch of other network utilities), but the solution was to use systemd-resolved as a stub resolver that points to dnscrypt-proxy.

Last edited by lasbuni (2026-06-15 21:55:06)

spychodelics

Member

Registered: 2009-06-08

Posts: 39

Re: [Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

Did you try a vpn?

lasbuni

Member

Registered: 2026-06-12

Posts: 3

Re: [Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

Did you try a vpn?

I haven't tried one yet, but I did try using USB tethering with my phone and I got the same behavior. Upon further research there was a Steam client update released on June 10th, so I'm guessing something is wrong with this release.

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 2,195

Re: [Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

there was a Steam client update released on June 10th, so I'm guessing something is wrong with this release.

doubtfull
my location: Magdeburg, Germany
nearest steam servers (both physical and logical by routing): Berlin (, germany, duh ... which other berlin do you think? that one in usa? isn't there also one in africa?)
my uplink: 500mbits down / 80mbits up

just did a test right now: actual sustained speed over about 10min: 483mbits - peak: 511mbits

package: multilib/steam from official arch repos

no shenanigans like disable http2 or ipv6 - pretty much as unmodified as you get from pacstrap

so, at least over here with the regular package (not steam-runtime, no flatcrap) and none of the listed "fixes" all works fine

ajgringo619

Member

Registered: 2023-05-06

Posts: 50

Re: [Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

Working here as well in the US. My Steam (package) hasn't been updated since 2026-05-25, although most of the time the client updates itself.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 76,244

Re: [Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

there was a Steam client update released on June 10th

About ~3 days ago my Steam game download speed went

That'd be June 9th, also https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … mmits/main was last updated 3 weeks ago.

did try using USB tethering with my phone

Is the phone in the same network segment (ie. you're using it as wireless ethernet cable but it still connects to the same router as the system itself)?

my windows installation on the same machine

3rd link below. Mandatory.
Disable it (it's NOT the BIOS setting!) and reboot windows and linux twice for voodo reasons.
(Though this would rather affect all network)

in Steam console and everything looks fine

Please don't paraphrase, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855 - post the steam logs.
Do you get the same behavior w/ a fresh (linux, not steam) user account?

@cryptearth

which other berlin do you think?

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_(B … C3%A4rung) - pick one

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spychodelics

Member

Registered: 2009-06-08

Posts: 39

Re: [Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

I suspect your provides is throttling, so using a vpn would be my first step.

lasbuni

Member

Registered: 2026-06-12

Posts: 3

Re: [Solved] Very slow Steam download speed

I suspect your provides is throttling, so using a vpn would be my first step.

I connected to Cloudflare warp and I am now able to download at my full bandwidth. However, the issue also seems to have resolved itself even after I disconnected from the tunnel.

Anyways, thank you very much spychodelics and seth for your help! I will mark this as solved although I've not been able to find the root cause of this issue.