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Steam Deck |OT| Nintendo Switch 2

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
I am happy to pay up for a glass screen for more scratch resistance. Not a fan of plastic screens.
Thanks for the heads up! The 64gb seems like a steal otherwise.
the 512gb model also said october which would be fine if true (I doubt).
I would be happy to use your reservation haha but I am afraid how warranty and other stuff would work so better not
I only had the one res. I was tempted to look at one for the Mrs, but I don't know if she'd get enough use out of it to really justify the price tag. She very specifically likes to game at her desk.
 

chaseroni

Member
New unit is in, the whole process took 2 weeks total.
B button occasionally sticking still. sigh
Thinking about waiting to RMA this one since I don't want another one with the same problem.

Anyone know how long of a timeframe we're allotted to RMA?
 

PhaseJump

Banned
Getting mine tomorrow. I figure I'll spend the whole day in a window, watching FedEx trucks go by like:

sonic-im-waiting.gif
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
A plug-in to manage active CPU threads and frequency.

Loader:

PowerTools:


I could see this being used to save battery life with less demanding games, but could also benefit emulation.

Just responding to myself: I used this on my last playthrough of Journey. I noticed that for whatever reason the game was consuming massive compute despite being rather undemanding, one would think anyways. I reduced the clockspeed to half and reduced threads to six, and it went from an estimated 1.8 hours of battery life to 2.4, and the performance or presentation didn't suffer at all.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
any date for the dock yet?
Nothing yet.

Honestly, I'm surprised they're even going to bother with one considering that the USB-C connector is on the top of the unit. So, unlike the Switch, this won't be able to seat into / click into anything. It's just going to be a basic universal USB-C docking station, and it's going to look ridiculous.

I'd imagine something like this would be comparable, though I haven't tried it personally:

 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I got my Deck. Insanely loud whining fan in it.

No way in hell am I not RMA'ing this.

Damn, sorry. It seems like there's some model of fan out there in some units that never should have made it past QA. I hope Valve does ya right.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
I got my Deck. Insanely loud whining fan in it.

No way in hell am I not RMA'ing this.
Fuck. That's not normal. You can't even hear the fan on my son's unit over the game audio unless you point the vent towards yourself and get it within a foot of your ears.
 
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PhaseJump

Banned
Update fixed a lot of the fan noise problem, but it's still really bad when it ramps up. iFixit needs to source silent replacement parts. I'm going to mod the shit out of it ASAP.

53b3713d28f028d35d2f2702baf9ef941c4dd09b.gifv


Extremely disappointed in Volvo.
 
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sofakng

Neo Member
Fuck. That's not normal. You can't even hear the fan on my son's unit over the game audio unless you point the vent towards yourself and get it within a foot of your ears.

That's what has me so confused... I'm lucky enough to have a Steam Deck and I don't hear any annoying whine but the fan is LOUD. I've opened it and it's the "bad" fan (Delta) but I'm not sure if mine is defective or these things just sound like jet engines even when just sitting at the menu, etc.

It's so loud that's it's distracting and makes the experience much less enjoyable... :(
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
That's what has me so confused... I'm lucky enough to have a Steam Deck and I don't hear any annoying whine but the fan is LOUD. I've opened it and it's the "bad" fan (Delta) but I'm not sure if mine is defective or these things just sound like jet engines even when just sitting at the menu, etc.

It's so loud that's it's distracting and makes the experience much less enjoyable... :(
I don't think these louder fans are defective in the sense that they are probably functional, but highly annoying. I went into a completely quiet room in the house, and I can hear it kick on in the menu, but it's barely audible above the sound of sticks and buttons, and navigation sound effects. Tried out DOOM(2016) with the sound muted and it definitely kicked into a higher performance state. It's still not distracting or annoying. With the sound on I can't really discern it unless I point the vent towards me and move it closely. Mine is more like the sound of blowing bubbles with an unlimited breath. You can hear the air moving, but it's not loud or unpleasant.

All that's to say that it seems there's a fan lottery of sorts with the Deck. I feel for you, man.
 
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kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
Anyone have a microSD recommendation for me? I'm looking to put Win 10 on the card so I can play Lost Ark and Vermintide 2 on my deck.

I think I read win10 will need ~10GB so I was thinking 256GB should be enough but I really just want to only buy 1 and not have to bump it up later so maybe I should buy a 512GB?

I was looking at the Kingston Canvas Go! Plus 512 GB Class 10-UHS-I (U3) microSDXC but it is around $100 and I would prefer to spend around $50 instead.

What do you think? I have a couple of slower smaller cards lying around but was hoping someone could advise.
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Anyone have a microSD recommendation for me? I'm looking to put Win 10 on the card so I can play Lost Ark and Vermintide 2 on my deck.

I think I read win10 will need ~10GB so I was thinking 256GB should be enough but I really just want to only buy 1 and not have to bump it up later so maybe I should buy a 512GB?

I was looking at the Kingston Canvas Go! Plus 512 GB Class 10-UHS-I (U3) microSDXC but it is around $100 and I would prefer to spend around $50 instead.

What do you think? I have a couple of slower smaller cards lying around but was hoping someone could advise.
I've got a 256GB Sandisk card in mine. The 1TB model is on sale on Amazon this week for $125, and I've been tempted

 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
I've got a 256GB Sandisk card in mine. The 1TB model is on sale on Amazon this week for $125, and I've been tempted

Do you use it for expanding your steam library storage or are you also booting Windows? Do you feel 256 is enough and just want more?
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Do you use it for expanding your steam library storage or are you also booting Windows? Do you feel 256 is enough and just want more?
I haven't tried Windows yet (but probably will this weekend since they just added fTPM support). I've also been worried about the audio issues, as there is currently no audio driver that I'm aware of (although bluetooth headphones work I'm told). It's all felt very "beta" on the Windows side so far, and I've actually really come to love how easy the SteamOS interface is.

My go-to rule of thumb is to account for Windows taking about 40GB of space these days. The current system I'm on now, the Windows directory is 26GB. Windows likes to download and cache updates and make them available for rollback - which is cool but takes up a bit of space. There are ways you can clean up and consolidate old ones if needed, but it's a pretty slow process and something you'll need to stay on top of more and more the smaller size SD card you'd have. Also, keep in mind that a 256GB card formats as 238.419GB (due to them marketing 1KB = 1,000 bytes rather than 1KB = 1,024 bytes like it's supposed to be) so it's even less storage than you think.

It's all going to depend on what games you want installed at once. You mentioned Lost Ark and I belive that game is about 60GB by itself. Vermintide 2 says it takes 85GB! With just windows and those two games installed, that should give you about 40GB of additional space to play with. Some applications like Steam itself or a web browser will eat into that too.

Personally, I'd go for the larger card. The Sandisk I linked to above also had the 512GB card on sale for $59.99 if you're in the US, which is close to your $50 price point.
 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
Thanks jshackles jshackles I'll take a look at the one you mentioned. I was looking at the Kingston because of the advertised speed, which I figured would be pretty important here. I think you're right and my gut feeling that 256 wasn't enough is correct.

I do really like the native steam os as well and am very comfortable on the Linux desktop mode since it's not too far off from my work setup. But both the games I'm looking to play have anticheat that isn't yet compatible. Hopefully it gets there one day and I can just convert this card to overflow storage.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
Installed a amFilm tempered glass protector on my son's 256GB unit last night using the steamy shower method. Came out really good. I've always been happy with the quality and clarity of amFilm's screen protectors. Been playing DOOM(2016) which runs fantastic on the Deck. This area in The Foundry is really heavy, so you can't hit 60fps at Ultra settings. Switched to Vulkan, dropped to High preset, disabled DoF, reduced motion blur quality, and used Ultra lighting. Looks fucking awesome and maintains a solid 60fps with rare, unnoticeable drops to mid-high 50s, even during barrel explosions with multiple enemies.
amfilm2.jpg
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Installed a amFilm tempered glass protector on my son's 256GB unit last night using the steamy shower method. Came out really good. I've always been happy with the quality and clarity of amFilm's screen protectors. Been playing DOOM(2016) which runs fantastic on the Deck. This area in The Foundry is really heavy, so you can't hit 60fps at Ultra settings. Switched to Vulkan, dropped to High preset, disabled DoF, reduced motion blur quality, and used Ultra lighting. Looks fucking awesome and maintains a solid 60fps with rare, unnoticeable drops to mid-high 50s, even during barrel explosions with multiple enemies.
amfilm2.jpg
The coolest part about this is that you can tweak the settings to meet your preferences

My favorite parts of PC gaming come to a handheld, and I agree it's absolutely fantastic.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
There are noise comparisons on Youtube to show some of what the whine is like.






The fan loudly pushing air isn't a problem. It's the whining high pitched sound of the fan that ruins everything.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Spukc Spukc compared to the Game Boy Micro, almost every handheld gaming device will look like a beast

The Steam Deck is a chunky boi though, to be sure.

I saw my brother a couple of days ago for the first time in a few years. He's a DOTA 2 nerd, so I asked if he wanted to check out the Steam Deck. He thought it was awesome, but his first impression was "this thing is a lot bigger than I thought it'd be".
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
no no no no

not a chunky BOI
this thing is hilariously oversized,

IMG_0217.jpg


this is the case on a 16 inch macbook..
this is not ok lol
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
I love the size of the Deck. I'm 6'4"(193cm) and 260lbs(118kg) with decent sized hands. This is a manly-man's handheld. And besides, anything beyond a GBA isn't pocketable anyway, let alone a handheld PC this powerful.
 

Vinlaen

Member
It looks like I have the bad fan problem:

At first I thought it was just loud, but it's actually the high-pitch whistle that is driving me crazy and is literally making me not want to use it.

It seems like quite a few people are dismissing this as a non-issue and I have PLENTY of experience with loud fans (ie. PS4 Pro, 3080 Ti, overclocked CPU, etc) but this is different.

I'm going to try for an RMA but I wish Valve would just send iFixit some "good" fans and I would even spend my own money to purchase a replacement.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
Just for the fuck of it I ran DOOM(2016) uncapped, 960x540, FSR5, 90% res scale, low settings, and behold! 120fps DOOM on a handheld. The HUD elements suffer a bit, but this surprisingly doesn't look too bad otherwise.
doom120fpsuncapped.jpg
 
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rofif

Can’t Git Gud
As I've said above, the more I look at 512gb videos, the less I like the matte screen.
I prefer glossy screens like old glossy monitors, phone screens or lg oled.
On matte screens, the light gets diffused and reflection turns into blob... contrast while the same, can be perceived as a bit worse.
o the 2nd hand, the 64gb model is only emc memory. I wouldn't want to open it, so 512gb sd card is a must but I've seen that you cannot install shaders on it ?

Anyway - wtf. The last moment I've checked, I was getting for my nephew, not me :p
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I haven't tried Windows yet (but probably will this weekend since they just added fTPM support). I've also been worried about the audio issues, as there is currently no audio driver that I'm aware of (although bluetooth headphones work I'm told). It's all felt very "beta" on the Windows side so far
Quoting myself (and also paging kingpotato kingpotato ) because I just realized that the Deck currently doesn't support dual booting to Windows. Yet.

There go my weekend plans...

EDIT: apparently it's possible if you manually edit the EFI boot settings from the Linux side after installing Windows on the Deck. Hmmm....
 
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CrustyBritches

Gold Member
It looks like I have the bad fan problem:

At first I thought it was just loud, but it's actually the high-pitch whistle that is driving me crazy and is literally making me not want to use it.

It seems like quite a few people are dismissing this as a non-issue and I have PLENTY of experience with loud fans (ie. PS4 Pro, 3080 Ti, overclocked CPU, etc) but this is different.

I'm going to try for an RMA but I wish Valve would just send iFixit some "good" fans and I would even spend my own money to purchase a replacement.

I can handle what I guess you'd call generic fan noise, but that high-pitch shit would drive me nuts. That sucks ass, man. Here's a quick clip I shot with the phone about 18-20in away from the unit, playing Burnout Paradise. First with sound on max volume, then muted. I initially shot this with my iPhone, but the mic was picking up the sound much louder than you'd hear irl, so I switched to an older LG phone instead which was a better representation of the type of noise coming from the unit at playing distance...
 
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kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
Quoting myself (and also paging kingpotato kingpotato ) because I just realized that the Deck currently doesn't support dual booting to Windows. Yet.

There go my weekend plans...

EDIT: apparently it's possible if you manually edit the EFI boot settings from the Linux side after installing Windows on the Deck. Hmmm....
Someone on Reddit mentioned they got it to work and was playing Lost Ark, but I misread their comment and realized they weren't using a microSD card, but a USB C Thumb Drive. I guess it's possible on the SD card, but there are many more hurdles and performance is a real issue. I am going to keep looking for now, there's bound to be some good videos.

Side note, I've been using my deck in desktop mode with a bunch of peripherals to play Warhammer 40k using table top simulator and it's been amazing. I love the deck! I keep my browser, discord and a few other apps on the little screen and play on my monitor. It's obviously not the absolute best performance in TTS, but it's not bad either. In handheld mode I've been playing Valhiem and it's great how it "just works" in that configuration as well.
 

Fredrik

Member
First impressions:

I’ve been playing Elden Ring. On a handheld.
🤯

I just went with the default settings, iirc it was 1280x800, high. Some stutter but still awesome.

I’m impressed!

Screen looks great too.

Wi-Fi maxed out my internet speed.

Controls feels tight. Very nice.

I played some Legend of Grimrock too, not ideal controlwise using the analog but I got to try the trackpad, feels really nice.

Fan sounds kinda like a jet, not in loudness but in sound character. I can see this being a problem for some, something to improve for Deck 2.
 
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RobRSG

Member
Did somebody manage to play USFIV with proper cutscene playback?

Just for perspective: out of the box, the game works fine but most of the intro cutscenes in the arcade mode are either missing audio or not playing. After the last update there is a bug where the video playback runs outside of the game if you don’t force Fullscreen in the config files.

I did some tinkering with GE Proton, but the recommended versions on Proton DB seem to be incompatible with the Deck.

By using the latest GE Proton, all cutscenes run but without audio.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I love the size of the Deck. I'm 6'4"(193cm) and 260lbs(118kg) with decent sized hands. This is a manly-man's handheld. And besides, anything beyond a GBA isn't pocketable anyway, let alone a handheld PC this powerful.

Yea, I am a hair over 6' with I guess pretty typical man-sized hands, and the Deck is just about the perfect size. My hands come to rest on it naturally, so that all of the buttons are easy to press while I have never accidentally hit the back paddles.

It's also important for people to remember that this device is a full-blown PC. It's not a glorified phone / tablet like so many other handhelds in this price range are. That comes with both benefits and drawbacks, but I think Valve really managed to get the size into a respectable place considering what's in the internals of this baby.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
Yea, I am a hair over 6' with I guess pretty typical man-sized hands, and the Deck is just about the perfect size. My hands come to rest on it naturally, so that all of the buttons are easy to press while I have never accidentally hit the back paddles.

It's also important for people to remember that this device is a full-blown PC. It's not a glorified phone / tablet like so many other handhelds in this price range are. That comes with both benefits and drawbacks, but I think Valve really managed to get the size into a respectable place considering what's in the internals of this baby.
And a lot of the extra width is due to the trackpads. Switch is a great little system, but the Joy-cons and the flat back profile makes my hands cramp. The visual impression that’s it so big belies the fact that the Deck is actually really comfortable.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
Steam Deck is a magnificent beast.

The only problem I have without the noise issue is that some games don't have updated posters in my UI, the icon you pick from. There is no easy way to change that in the game mode UI.

A bigger issue from that is how illegible some of the art actually is, and you can't see a title on the screen while hovering over it. Even clicking on the game, going into the sub menu with the "Install" button, there is a banner of art, but no clear game title without going to the far right, and clicking on the wheel cog icon for settings.

An example I see in my library: the game Astebreed: Definitive Edition. Weeb art, heavily stylized title logo, my eyesight is already half shot to shit... I didn't know what the fuck I was even looking at until I went into the menus.
 
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