Do games take several hours to download on Steam due to a slow download speed? While there isn't much you can do if the internet you have is slow, there are a few tweaks you can make within the Steam settings and Windows to speed up the download process if you think it should be faster.
Before blaming the Steam client, ensure your internet connection isn't slow and causing Steam to take longer than usual to download your games. Testing your connection speed is the best way to confirm that. You can test your connection on any speed test website.
Does Steam Limit Download Speed
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If your download speed is slower than usual, check out our article explaining how to boost your internet speed. If this helps get your internet speed back to normal, try downloading games on Steam again. If nothing seems to work, contact your internet service provider (ISP).
To begin with, you should allocate as much bandwidth as possible to the Steam app. You can do that by temporarily closing other downloads running in parallel, closing resource-hogging browsers, double-check that you're not streaming any content, and shutting down any apps that use the internet.
You can use the Task Manager (CTRL + Shift + Esc) to identify which processes are taking up the most network resources. Look in the Network column and close any non-essential apps that are taking up a lot of data.
Furthermore, ensure that Efficiency mode isn't enabled for Steam, which makes it a less-priority process. For more information on how to confirm that and disable efficiency mode, check out our article on efficiency mode.
Windows offers a metered connection option for users to limit their own bandwidth usage. Even though it helps save data if you're under a data cap, it can limit how apps use the available bandwidth. As such, a metered connection might slow down your downloads on Steam.
Your VPN's encryption and protocol and your distance to the server can drastically affect your internet speed. Therefore, if you access the Steam client with your VPN enabled, your game may take a long time to download. Thus, it might be worth disabling the VPN and see if that helps.
Like many apps, Steam keeps temporary download data in a download cache. If it gets clogged up, it can affect Steam performance, block the app from running properly, and slow down your downloads. Thus, clearing it might speed up your downloads again.
The speed of Steam's downloads is greatly affected by the location of the server that you get them from. By default, Steam connects you to the nearest server to provide you with a better connection, but if it's cluttered with traffic, it may not offer the best speed rate.
With the help of a global traffic map on the Steam download stats website, you can see which servers are closest, have less traffic, and offer good download speeds. Once you've decided on a server, follow the below steps to switch the region in Steam:
While other servers may offer better download speed, you can also wait until the load on the closest server goes down and download the game later. However, if changing the region does not improve the download speed at all, move on to the next step.
The Steam app throttles downloads if you've set it to do so when streaming, allowing you to stream at the best speed. This means you'll get good performance at the expense of slow download speeds. If your downloads are getting too slow, this might explain the problem.
Disabling your antivirus and Windows Defender may also help improve your internet speed. Our article explaining how to optimize Steam's download speed on Windows can help guide you on how to do this.
By implementing the fixes mentioned in the article, you should be able to speed up your Steam downloads. If none of them seem to work, the problem may be off of your computer and lie within your network. As such, it's a good idea to ensure your network is running as well as it should be.
Shan Abdul is a Senior Writer at MUO and HTG. Having used Windows for over a decade, he's accumulated plenty of experience with the OS. He's been writing on a variety of Windows topics for over five years, incorporating his expertise to teach readers how to get the most out of their Windows devices and resolve issues with the operating system.
He has been writing professionally since 2016. He joined MUO in 2021, and his work has been viewed over 20 million times since then. Outside of writing, he spends his time exploring the cryptocurrency market and gaining insights into general trading.
The Mallard is, to this date, the fastest steam locomotive ever built, having gone about 203 km/h (126 mph), though I've been wondering if it's possible for a steam locomotive to go even faster, or if there's a physical/structural limit to their speed-
For steam locomotives, the limits of speed are affected by mass, friction, aerodynamic drag and power. As stated in the question, the Mallard was the fastest steam locomotive, and it achieved this by virtue of its streamlining.
The PRR 6200, as a steam turbine driven locomotive was not much slower than the Mallard, 110mph/177kph vs 126mph/203kph, and it was not streamlined. Apparently, it suffered from the disadvantage that its steam turbine was directly coupled to its wheels.
Extrapolating from those two locomotives, a streamlined steam turbine locomotive with a 2 or 3 speed gearbox, or an electric drivetrain could conceivably exceed the Mallard's speed record, though I would not expect speeds to exceed 150mph/241kph under light, streamlined load conditions.
The problem with steam engines is that they require large quantities of both fuel and water. By making the steam turbine a closed-loop system with a condenser, the necessary mass of water can be reduced considerably, and by using fuels such as heavy fuel oils, the mass of fuel can be reduced, as well as eliminating the need for both a fireman and a driver.
However, even with a geared or electric, closed-loop steam turbine, streamlining and titanium construction, I would expect a locomotive on a regular passenger service might typically reach speeds on the order of 150mph/241kph.
The limit on train speeds has much less to do with the train than you'd think. The main limiting factor for trains, since before Mallard, has been track quality. In the UK, Intercity 125 trains never ran at 125 mph in normal service - average speeds were always under 100 mph, a speed which the existing Deltics could already achieve, because the track wasn't smooth enough for them to run any faster.
Again, track is your issue here. You're grossly overestimating what "straight" means. Sure, your trains wouldn't need fancy tilting rolling stock to take corners fast. But you'd still need multiple carriages with articulation between them, because there's a limit to how straight and level you can fit rails, and how straight and level they will stay over time. You could maybe make them a bit longer, but not significantly more. Regular railway carriages in the UK are 60ft, whereas the Shinkansen carriages clock in at 82ft. Bigger, but not dramatically so.
Now this is your big assumption. Before jet passenger flight became common, "a reasonable timescale" was simply as long as it took, because there wasn't an alternative. Sleeper trains were the norm for any kind of long distance trip, and you just planned for however many days it took to get there. Russia still runs trains through Siberia, and Australia still runs trains across the Nullarbor Plain. The fact that it takes a few days to get across a continent is not exactly a limit.
The thing with a steam locomotive is that "an hour on the track is an hour in the shop", even at conventional speeds. Given that Mallard didn't survive its record run completely unscathed, the rigors of such high-speed running would take a toll on just about any steam locomotive design to the point where the economics of maintenance would favor just about anything else for regular high-speed revenue service.
As a result, you'd probably see mainline electrification on such a line as soon as someone ran the numbers on how much they were spending to maintain their locomotives, as well as the increased track maintenance costs that'd be caused by the quite severe pounding loads associated with a steam locomotive.
While steam turbine locomotives existed back then -- these units used a direct-drive or single-speed geared system, sometimes with intermediate crank arms in the drive mechanism as well. This made them very steam hungry at low speeds, and the fine mechanics of a steam turbine would not help the topic of maintenance costs either.
This leads us to the solution that was already in play then, and what modern HSR above the 125mph/200kph mark almost universally uses as well: overhead electrification with AC power. The 11kVAC 25Hz New Haven electrification had already been in service for two decades at that time, and the performance benefits of not having to drag a generating plant around with your train were well-known in the art even then, with the Pennsylvania Railroad installing a similar 11kVAC 25Hz system in what is now the Northeast Corridor at that time. (That PRR electrification is still in service today with some minor upgrades and plant renewal over the years -- the only reason it's not capable of 150mph+ operation "as is" is due to catenary tensioning issues.)
Electrification has other benefits as well. Electric traction eliminates pounding loads, and also makes multiple unit operation eminently practical, where the traction motors and controlgear are spread throughout the coaches instead of being all in a locomotive. This also plays nicely with the notions of streamlining that became popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s, based on early wind tunnel work and the development of the Jacobs bogie that improved high-speed dynamics greatly.
The answer from Monty Wild covered the mass optimization part, except for the fuel. Others have also answered with stuff about rail quality issues etc. and I have nothing to add there. That being said, there is one more technology path that could be well worth exploring. 152ee80cbc
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