Steam does more than just launch games. Its client has multiple features running in the background that consume system resources during your gaming sessions.
Steam web browser
Steam has a built-in Chromium browser for the store, community, and chat. Even when you're not using it, it may preload pages and maintain a cache.
Clear Steam web browser cache:
Steam → Settings → Web Browser → Delete Web Browser Cache and Delete All Browser Cookies.
Steam overlay
The overlay renders over your game (Shift+Tab). Even inactive, the injection hooks consume CPU cycles.
Disable globally: Steam → Settings → In-Game → uncheck "Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game"
Or per-game: right-click game → Properties → General → uncheck overlay for that game only.
Steam auto-updates
Steam updates games in the background even when you're playing (if enabled). During a match, a game update starting can spike disk I/O.
Steam → Settings → Downloads → uncheck "Allow downloads during gameplay"
Shader pre-caching
Steam pre-downloads shaders for Vulkan and DirectX 12 games. This happens when you install a game and when patches release.
The pre-cache is in steamapps\shadercache\. It can reach several GB per game. Safe to delete — Steam redownloads it as needed.
Steam client GPU acceleration
The Steam client UI uses hardware acceleration. On a GPU that's already gaming at full utilization, this adds overhead.
Steam → Settings → Interface → uncheck GPU accelerated rendering (requires restart).
Steam cache locations
%localappdata%\Steam\htmlcache
Cleared by the web browser cache option above.
IzanagiOP's Cleaner includes Steam Web Cache and Shader Cache cleanup. https://terweb.lt/
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