Question Confused with actual download speeds ?

LORYT699

Prominent
Apr 6, 2022
182
2
595
Hi,
Can someone explain me how download (form browser or luncher) work?
I mean which are the factors that give you the download speed?
I m asking cause I have a Gb ethernet lan (my internet connection is 2.5Gbps with like 10 of ping on important servers(like google)and 0 in server near my city), the caple is a cat 8 with gold connectors(just a fency thing)and ssd with a good cpu and I get a way lower speed then I shuld get)
So I just want this info, how is processed a package while downloading and which are the factors that impact your dl speed.
I know that may is a bit long to explain so thank you very much
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Your download speed is also a function of their upload speed. Very few sites and servers have the bandwidth to completely fill everyone's download pipe.
Especially if it is a popular resource.

"a way lower speed then I shuld get "
Downloading what, from where?
This also may just be a difference in units. Megabits vs megabytes.
 

LORYT699

Prominent
Apr 6, 2022
182
2
595
Your download speed is also a function of their upload speed. Very few sites and servers have the bandwidth to completely fill everyone's download pipe.
Especially if it is a popular resource.

"a way lower speed then I shuld get "
Downloading what, from where?
This also may just be a difference in units. Megabits vs megabytes.
I know the difference between Mb and MB, I m graduating in computer engeenering.
I shuld get 80 or at least a 50MB/s from a 900Mb/s connection, from epic games launcher I can see exactly what it do but for example from the browser or steam I can t see when is writing or reading or downloading from net.
From just the net connection I get a 10 and some time up to 30 MB/s while the ssd goes at his speed
 

LORYT699

Prominent
Apr 6, 2022
182
2
595
Your download speed is also a function of their upload speed. Very few sites and servers have the bandwidth to completely fill everyone's download pipe.
Especially if it is a popular resource.

"a way lower speed then I shuld get "
Downloading what, from where?
This also may just be a difference in units. Megabits vs megabytes.
For you does this work or is a scam? Is just for epic games but it still a thing(the 2nd way)I ve seen some videos but I don t trust this things, you are an expert so...
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I know the difference between Mb and MB, I m graduating in computer engeenering.
I shuld get 80 or at least a 50MB/s from a 900Mb/s connection, from epic games launcher I can see exactly what it do but for example from the browser or steam I can t see when is writing or reading or downloading from net.
From just the net connection I get a 10 and some time up to 30 MB/s while the ssd goes at his speed
And again, you can only download as fast as they can upload.
This is especially visible in download games, especially a popular game or update.

They cannot saturate the full pipe to everyone on the planet at the same time.

More and more people are starting to see the fallacy of gigabit service at home.
Unless you have a dozen or so people all using the internet at the same time, a single user will never saturate a gigabit pipe.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
For you does this work or is a scam? Is just for epic games but it still a thing(the 2nd way)I ve seen some videos but I don t trust this things, you are an expert so...
That looks like a whole lot of falseness.

For instance, the first recommendation, regarding throttling
Right in the screencap, it says:
"Download throttling is set in kilobytes per second. 0 means unlimited."

Then they tell you to change it.
If 0 is unlimited, anything other than 0 would be limited. Correct?
 

LORYT699

Prominent
Apr 6, 2022
182
2
595
That looks like a whole lot of falseness.

For instance, the first recommendation, regarding throttling
Right in the screencap, it says:
"Download throttling is set in kilobytes per second. 0 means unlimited."

Then they tell you to change it.
If 0 is unlimited, anything other than 0 would be limited. Correct?
about this I ve to say that is bug, if you set 0 it goes slower then you type a big number, but I wanted that you see the 2nd method not the 1st, is that a trusty thing?
I m asking cause I see some streamers arround the world that on this clients have an high speed in dl, more then 100 MB/s, they can download a 3GB game is like 10 seconds, so I was thinking why they get a 3GB dowload in 10 seconds and the same download I take longer, some times it can take 10 to 30 minutes.
I understand that they have a limited upload speed for server but we are talking about epic games and valve, they have a lot of servers and theyr service are to upload games for theyr clients, so I think they actually can handle this speeds
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
about this I ve to say that is bug, if you set 0 it goes slower then you type a big number, but I wanted that you see the 2nd method not the 1st, is that a trusty thing?
I m asking cause I see some streamers arround the world that on this clients have an high speed in dl, more then 100 MB/s, they can download a 3GB game is like 10 seconds, so I was thinking why they get a 3GB dowload in 10 seconds and the same download I take longer, some times it can take 10 to 30 minutes.
I understand that they have a limited upload speed for server but we are talking about epic games and valve, they have a lot of servers and theyr service are to upload games for theyr clients, so I think they actually can handle this speeds
I don't use Epic, nor do I have a gigabit connection.

The first recommendation was so laughable, I stopped reading after that.
 
All that really matters is what a speedtest site says.

As I am sure you have tried you will see different values based on what server you pick even if they are in the same city. I think speedtest might pick some of them based on advertising. The best to use is a speedtest site provided by your ISP that way it never leaves their network.

The speedtest site downloads and uploads to a memory buffer or maybe it stores a temp file I have not dug in detail for years. In any case it is the same as a file download but it does not do stuff like a game launcher does like download multiple different files or do partial installs along the way.

Since all traffic in your machine follows the same network path difference between speedtest and other forms of download are either going to be software things in the app or some issue with server. Since most people use SSD it is not likely the file system on your machine anymore.

Figuring out why some apps download at different rates is hard to say. I know speedtest now uses a multistream download similar to torrent. Then again so does steam.
 

LORYT699

Prominent
Apr 6, 2022
182
2
595
All that really matters is what a speedtest site says.

As I am sure you have tried you will see different values based on what server you pick even if they are in the same city. I think speedtest might pick some of them based on advertising. The best to use is a speedtest site provided by your ISP that way it never leaves their network.

The speedtest site downloads and uploads to a memory buffer or maybe it stores a temp file I have not dug in detail for years. In any case it is the same as a file download but it does not do stuff like a game launcher does like download multiple different files or do partial installs along the way.

Since all traffic in your machine follows the same network path difference between speedtest and other forms of download are either going to be software things in the app or some issue with server. Since most people use SSD it is not likely the file system on your machine anymore.

Figuring out why some apps download at different rates is hard to say. I know speedtest now uses a multistream download similar to torrent. Then again so does steam.
I ve done a trace rute on the server I connect from epic and also a speed test with theyr server cause if you search a lot you can find that they give a lot of info for do this things(I think is a flex because they have really good servers) and the trace route was useless, while the speed test was like the speed test I took from everyother site, almost same speed and ping, I ve also seen that a lot of ppl have a download of 100MB/s so I m wondering if there is a bottleneck in my system or what?While I download patch or game I see the ssd that work normal while the download is arround 10MB/s and sometimes the dl have to stop for let the ssd write and sometime the opposite.
Basiclly I have a Gb card, a 2.5Gb net but I can use just arround 20?
As said some luncher have more speed and some other not but I got this connection for download things in 2 sec...
btw thanks
 
Way to many variables when you are testing to the internet. You best test of file transfer speed would be to copy a very large file between 2 machines in your house. You can see the rates in the resource monitor network tab. Be careful some are MBYTES and other a mbits
You could also say download through a web browser something like a windows install image from microsoft. Microsoft has some the fastest server farms in existence.

One common issue we see here is some bloatware loaded on pc related to so called "gaming network" accelerators. Some mother boards and video cards have it packaged with the driver install and unless you see it and uncheck it they load it. One common name is CFOSspeed but anything related to giving certain traffic priority or QoS you do not want. There is a lot of overhead running software like this and it can slow down very fast connections.

What I have found every since I got a faster connection is sure steam downloads a bit faster but on many game the install process still takes forever even on the fastest SSD. So maybe I saved 30 seconds out of a total of 20 minute install.
 
If SpeedTest and other services are giving you more or less what you should be getting from your internet package, then there's nothing wrong with your setup. Any issues with download speeds or whatnot at this point is an issue with either how the ISP is routing your traffic or how much the server you're downloading from can handle.

There's also the possibility that the game is downloaded in compressed chunks, and part of the download process is decompressing those chunks, which at that point it's CPU dependent.