Slow steam download speed

I’ve tried all fixes suggested: dnsmasq, disabled ipv6, disabled http2. My usual download speed on windows is around 50 MB/s, on Garuda it’s about 10 MB/s. I tried to use Arch Linux instead of Garuda, same issue. A speed test gives the same speed as in windows. After I initially disabled ipv6 the download speed went to the usual 50 MB/s, but the next time I booted the pc it went back to 10 MB/s. Out of curiosity I booted my steam deck, entered desktop mode and hooked it to the same ethernet cable, 50 MB/s. So My thinking is somewhere something isn’t setup right. I’m using runtime Steam, not Native.

System:
Kernel: 6.15.5-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=2cb85728-873f-481b-b2de-163013fbc6d2 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.4.2 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.15.0
wm: kwin_wayland with: krunner vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda
base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: MAG X870E TOMAHAWK WIFI (MS-7E59)
v: 2.0 serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American
Megatrends LLC. v: 2.A30 date: 01/06/2025
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: N/A level: v4
note: check family: 0x1A (26) model-id: 0x44 (68) stepping: 0
microcode: 0xB404023
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 8 threads: 16 tpc: 2
smt: enabled cache: L1: 640 KiB desc: d-8x48 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 8 MiB
desc: 8x1024 KiB L3: 96 MiB desc: 1x96 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2985 min/max: 603/5272 boost: enabled scaling:
driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: performance cores: 1: 2985 2: 2985 3: 2985
4: 2985 5: 2985 6: 2985 7: 2985 8: 2985 9: 2985 10: 2985 11: 2985 12: 2985
13: 2985 14: 2985 15: 2985 16: 2985 bogomips: 150399
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 48 [Radeon RX 9070/9070
XT/9070 GRE] vendor: Sapphire driver: amdgpu v: kernel pcie: gen: 5
speed: 32 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-2 empty: DP-1, HDMI-A-1,
HDMI-A-2, Writeback-1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:7550 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Granite Ridge [Radeon Graphics]
vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x
process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
lanes: 16 ports: active: none empty: DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, HDMI-A-3,
Writeback-2 bus-ID: 7c:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:13c0 class-ID: 0300 temp: 43.0 C
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.18 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.8
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-2 model: Acer XV240Y serial: <filter> built: 2021 res:
mode: 1920x1080 hz: 165 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 93 gamma: 1.2
size: 527x296mm (20.75x11.65") diag: 604mm (23.8") ratio: 16:9 modes:
max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
device: 1 drv: radeonsi device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: radeonsi
surfaceless: drv: radeonsi wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.1.5-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (radeonsi
gfx1201 LLVM 20.1.7 DRM 3.63 6.15.5-zen1-1-zen) device-ID: 1002:7550
memory: 15.62 GiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 layers: 14 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
Radeon RX 9070 XT (RADV GFX1201) driver: mesa radv v: 25.1.5-arch1.1
device-ID: 1002:7550 surfaces: N/A device: 1 type: integrated-gpu name: AMD
Radeon Graphics (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO) driver: mesa radv
v: 25.1.5-arch1.1 device-ID: 1002:13c0 surfaces: N/A device: 2 type: cpu
name: llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.7 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe
v: 25.1.5-arch1.1 (LLVM 20.1.7) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: corectrl wl: wayland-info
x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 48 HDMI/DP Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 5 speed: 32 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab40 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Radeon High Definition Audio
[Rembrandt/Strix] vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 7c:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1640
class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio
vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4
speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 7c:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
Device-4: Micro Star USB Audio driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-12:2
chip-ID: 0db0:cd0e class-ID: 0300
API: ALSA v: k6.15.5-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8126 5GbE vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169
v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 09:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8126 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp9s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Device-2: Qualcomm WCN785x Wi-Fi 7 320MHz 2x2 [FastConnect 7800]
vendor: Foxconn Band Simultaneous Wireless driver: ath12k_pci v: N/A
modules: ath12k pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 2 bus-ID: 0a:00.0
chip-ID: 17cb:1107 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp10s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager,systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-12:5 chip-ID: 0489:e10a
class-ID: e001
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: N/A
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.73 TiB used: 109.2 GiB (3.9%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:1 vendor: Corsair model: MP700 PRO
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 126 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: EQFM22.3 temp: 50.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Corsair model: MP600 ELITE
size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: ERFM11.2 temp: 39.9 C
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%)
used: 109.2 GiB (11.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:3
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 616 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:2
ID-3: /home raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%)
used: 109.2 GiB (11.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:3
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%)
used: 109.2 GiB (11.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:3
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%)
used: 109.2 GiB (11.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:3
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 30.4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 48.2 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 43.0 C device: amdgpu temp: 38.0 C mem: 38.0 C
fan: 3 watts: 21.00
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.4 GiB used: 4.88 GiB (16.0%)
Processes: 422 Power: uptime: 9m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 12.14 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1835 libs: 563 tools: octopi,paru,yay
Compilers: clang: 20.1.7 gcc: 15.1.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish
v: 4.0.2 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.38
Garuda (2.7.3-1):
System install date:     2025-07-06
Last full system update: 2025-07-08
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
Failed units:

Check with speedtest++, fast.com,
exclude also the bit and byte “problem” :wink:
be sure no other apps use the network.

500 Mbps. Network’s fine

Ubisoft Connect downloads at around 60 MB/s, similar speed to windows.

I had neglected to configure dnsmasq porpertly, now it seems to be working. Steady 60 MB/s even after restarting the computer.

2 Likes

Can you share, what is this property that was and what it is now, which made the whole difference? Thank you.

1 Like

Most likely if this happens it’s a DNS issue like it was already mentioned.

I also had this issue, and the fix was also related to DNS.
I have a pi-hole and I was fiddling with its configuration and broke it without realizing. Steam was downloading at about 5-10 mb/s or even under 1 mb/s.

Quick fix: Manually set the dns servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in System Settings → WiFi & Internet → WiFi & Networking → your connectino → IPv4 → DNS Servers

Better fix: Find out what dns setting is misconfigured on your network. In my case it was a pi-hole that I broke. Fixed it and now everything works fine, Steam downloads at full speed.