I've been using Zorin for almost a year now, recently had to reinstall to solve a dual boot issue, and since reinstalling Steam downloads have been throttled to hell and back. Before, and when on windows, I could get around 400-500Mbps download, and now while it definitely starts off that fast, it throttles very quickly. I'm currently running 17.3 core
My ISP does not do throttling nor do data caps, and this issue only exists on steam, every other large download has been very quick. I checked settings to make sure that I was using the same server to download, it's one only 100mi from where I live, never had congestion issues before, I'm using the same modem, router, and ethernet cable as before. In general there has been no hardware change.
I have already attempted the below fix, and it did not solve the issue.
You could try some of the tips in this Reddit post, it covers a lot of the usual suspects that may crop up from time to time when it comes to download speeds in steam on linux
Slow steam downloads? Try this! : r/linux_gaming
It includes a couple more options that the post you have linked. I will also say that just sometimes steam decides to have a day and be a little slower than usual. That being said, if you're doing them side by side and they're different at the same time, that's a bit different.
The reddit fixes didn't completely solve the issue, was much better than before. Downloading Cyberpunk took about 40 minutes, which isn't perfect but much better than the 3 hours it estimated before with throttling.
The download kept around 480Mpbs until the 16Gb mark, throttled a good amount, then typically stuck between 200 and 350Mbps until the final 5Gb where it bumped back up to 480. Thank you for the help!
Honestly my steam (for as long as I've been using Linux at this point) has almost always been throttling itself to around the 500mbps mark. While everything else will use my full gigabit speeds, steam decides that 500 is enough.
I can count the number of times on one hand the times steam decided to let the full speeds come through. I've just accepted it at this point, as nothing I've ever tried to do has let it go beyond that. For me it's ok as it's still stupid fast, but I could understand how others get frustrated with it.
I haven't done proper testing of this notion, but I wonder if Steam has different priorities for various titles. Some games I'll get over 100 MB/s (MB, not Mbps) and others in the same session struggle along at 11 MB/s.
I've definitely noticed that some titles are given some sort of preference for speeds, though I also haven't done any proper testing of it. For example, I noticed once in a while when I redownload Vermintide 2 it'll give me basically full speeds at the times I download (gigabit). But any other games, 500mbps is essentially the limit.
Then I noticed on small games, they often restrict the speed even more. Biomorph was one where I couldn't get it going past 50mbps for some reason (on more than one occasion). Luckily it's a smaller download, but it's just confusing to me. I'm sure they have some priority que shuffling on top of everything else, making any kind of testing incredibly difficult.
[Past history]
When I first started using Steam in the 2000's, all I got in download back then, was 500KB/ps. Then in 2012, I finally was able to download at 1MB/ps.
[Current Day]
I get up to the max, the same 30MB/ps as you do. I recently got updated internet speeds of 600MB, but I still have the old docsys 3 modem, so I will never see those speeds, unless I turn in my old modem, and get the new garbage WIFI built in modem they push now to everyone.
Also, in my experience, I've never seen over this number, from a speed test...
That screenshot was taken in 2022, and has never gone up. Infact, since my internet speed got upgraded, and a new neighbor moved in, I've seen that number go down a tiny bit. I don't know if its a congestion issue, or our ISP don't give a crud about us, and won't tune it.
Cause if I got 278 that day, and now I average around 250 these days, can't be my modem, its got to be the ISP, or worn out ground cable lines IDK. All I do know, is the ISP has been called out to check the lines for the new neighbor, they never came out, they didn't wanna.
With all that said, were both getting around the same speeds, and were both on Zorin OS, only a version apart from each other is all. Thank you for sharing those screenshots, showing the difference BTW.
EDIT: I just bought a new horror game called Beneath. I had a chance to take a new screenshot, which shows your download speed lines up with mine, with only a 2% difference.
