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We are not far from the release of the Valve Steam Deck: a handheld device that is said to be able to play any game in your Steam library. Essentially, its goal is to become the Nintendo Switch for PC games. Judging from our practical experience and recently leaked benchmark tests, it seems to be very suitable for fulfilling this promise.
That’s because it is not a game console, but a real portable PC. According to Valve, you can plug it into a monitor or TV, install applications and software, use it to watch streaming videos, etc., and even install other game stores on it. The Steam platform will run on the new version of SteamOS, which is Valve’s Linux-based operating system, but you can use Valve’s compatibility technology Proton (Steam Play), and even play Windows games without official Linux support. Uninstall SteamOS and install Windows.
However, this does not mean that if you pre-order, you will receive it this year, because the Steam platform website now displays the “expected order availability” for each platform version in the UK and the US after the second quarter of 2022.
Currently, if you deposit a deposit of $5 (£4), you can book the Steam deck. Fortunately, most of the initial complications in the booking seem to have passed.
If you decide to order, the $5 deposit will be used to pay for the Steam platform, but if you change your mind and decide to cancel, the deposit will be refunded.
“When inventory is available, customers will be notified in the order to make a purchase,” Valve said.
Steam Deck is currently only available for booking in the U.S., U.K., Canada and the European Union. The first pre-ordered Steam decks will be shipped in December, but with the increase in pre-orders, the expected delivery date has been postponed to 2022. Valve has become more and more ambiguous about when the delayed Steam Deck booking will be completed. New bookings only give a time frame of “after the second quarter of 2022″, which basically means some time after June next year.
On the other hand, you don’t have to deal with some of the challenges that you face when your booking is online for the first time. Steam’s servers were immediately overwhelmed, and customers who tried to book on the Steam platform faced timeouts and error messages. Others have seen the message that their Steam account was created too late to pre-order Steam decks, although many people have seen this message indicating that they have had a Steam account for many years (including some PC Gamer staff).
The price of Steam Deck depends on the version you want, and is divided into three different versions according to the storage size. Steam deck cost:
The more expensive Steam Deck version has faster NVMe SSD storage, while the cheaper version comes with a 64GB eMMC (embedded multimedia card) storage solution. At least, all three versions allow you to use MicroSD cards to increase storage space.
If you plan to upgrade the storage, you may need to spend more money on a faster MicroSD card to speed up the loading speed. We are not yet sure how the extended storage will work on the device, but some MicroSD cards will feel very slow next to a super high-speed SSD.
The Steam Deck specifications were announced by Valve together with the console itself, which means that we know everything under the console’s 7-inch screen.
For PC gamers, the most important thing to note is that Steam Deck runs on AMD APU, which we haven’t seen elsewhere. The chip is built around two key AMD architectures: Zen 2 and RDNA 2.
The Zen 2 architecture is the same as that in the AMD Ryzen 3000 processor. There are four Zen 2 cores in the Steam Deck, which can run 8 threads to meet your portable gaming needs at any time.
The RDNA 2 architecture is behind the graphics grunt of handheld computers. The Steam Deck comes with 8 CUs for a total of 512 cores. This is not a large number-Xbox Series S is equipped with 20 RDNA 2 CU-but it seems to be enough to run at 720p without too much trouble.
As mentioned earlier, Steam Deck has three different storage configurations: 64GB, 256GB and 512GB.
Ideally, we would all choose the 512GB model. The game is huge, and any game smaller than it will feel nervous. It is also equipped with a fast NVMe SSD, allowing bandwidth up to 3,000MB/s. However, this actually depends on Valve’s choice of SSD. The speed varies greatly between drives.
The 256GB model is equally fast and is a suitable choice for those willing to tolerate slightly less storage space.
As for the 64GB model, we don’t quite believe it. It is built with eMMC drives and cannot be compared with NVMe SSDs in terms of speed, but most importantly, its slim capacity is almost unimaginable for gaming PCs. Maybe as a standalone machine, but you’d better buy a Nintendo Switch.
All three provide MicroSD for further expansion. We suspect that the faster the MicroSD, the better the optimal game loading time.
Valve decided to use a 1280 x 800 monitor, through which you can enjoy the game anytime, anywhere. With a 60Hz LCD panel with 400 nits brightness, there is nothing to write about the Steam Deck touch screen. However, since it is only 7 inches large, its disadvantages may not be as obvious as one of the best gaming monitors.
Finally, Valve recently revised the RAM specifications of the Stream Deck, which actually improved the RAM specifications beyond its initial announcement. We are now looking for a 16GB quad-channel LPDDR5 with a speed of 5,500MT/s instead of the dual-channel RAM originally listed. For APU-driven machines like this, this is a big deal-the greater the memory bandwidth, the better the effect.
Valve stated that it has a basic 30 fps target for general game performance on the Steam platform, and the recently leaked development kit shows frame rate data in the wild, which is definitely true.
A user in China got a development kit and released many benchmark tests of graphics-intensive modern games. There is also DOTA 2. They also tested Shadow of the Tomb Raider, DOOM, and Cyberpunk 2077, so you do get a good performance spread.
As you might expect, cyberpunk is very demanding on the AMD chip at the core of Deck, but this is a game that runs under high presets. Lower the fidelity setting by a few notches, and you will be able to get a smooth game frame rate at medium or low settings.
Equally impressive are the characters in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Being able to reach 60 fps during Lara’s latest short trip without the help of the potato settings, this means that Steam Deck will truly become a competitor for handheld gaming PCs.
DOOM can also provide 60 fps when using a medium preset, while DOTA 2 is not the most intensive game, but it can still run at the highest preset of 47 fps.
And, considering that this is a non-native Linux game running on pre-release hardware, in fact, Cyberpunk 2077 is the only game that crashed—even if only once—well, that’s really impressive.
One of us at Valve tried to answer this question. Wes Fenlon wrote in his Steam Deck hands-on impressions: “When it runs, you can almost forget that the games you play on Steam Deck were never designed for portable machines.”
Of course it sounds like a high praise for Valve’s virgin handheld. Despite this, Steam Deck is still in its early stages, and the model that Wes uses is still months away from the finished product. We suspect that most of the work from now on will be done on the software side, mainly the Steam operating system.
“The new design of SteamOS 3 looks great, but it’s not as seamless as the console UI. But Valve has a few months to fix these errors. And in most cases, it just works.”
If you go to the Steam platform store page of the account where you made the Steam platform reservation, you will find the expected order availability under the cancel button (do not press this button).
However, please note: some members of the PC Gamer team with reservations have not yet seen the order availability update on the store page. We expect there will be updates in the next few days, so please be patient.
This is a tough “no” of Valve itself. Although in the news pictures, you can see that Deck is in the base, it supports the device at an angle, so you can see the screen. This is the promised USB Type-C Deck dock Valve has been talking about pre-release, or is it a ready-made number that we don’t know yet.
Valve has been talking about the gaming performance on its new handheld gaming PC, and stated that “all the games we want to play are actually the entire Steam library. We haven’t really found anything that can be invested in this device, it can’t” deal with. ”
“We have reached the level of performance required to run the latest generation of games truly without problems.”
The fact that Valve has been testing games on Deck last year without problems indicates that SteamOS 3.0′s update to Proton may provide greater compatibility with Windows-based games on its Linux operating system.
We know that a problem with Proton has caused some online games to be unable to run with it. It boils down to the incompatibility of anti-cheat software. However, this may be resolved in the near future, as Garry’s Mod and the founder of Rust studio Facepunch Studios have confirmed that the studio is helping Easy Anti Cheat seek to improve Proton support.
Kind of, yes. In contrast, the Nintendo Switch (standard version) measures 9.4″ x 4″ x .55″ and weighs less than a pound. So the Steam Deck is a few inches wide, half an inch tall, much thicker and heavier. The switch.
um, yes. Battery life doesn’t sound particularly good, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffis told IGN: “About 2-8 hours, depending on what you’re doing. You can play Portal 2 on this thing for four hours. If you limit it, Increase it to 30 fps and you will play for 5-6 hours.”
For games that do not require plug-in or charging devices, this is not a long time, and more demanding games will consume more battery power than Portal 2 in 2011. Take it with you when you travel or when you are away from the power outlet for a period of time.
There is a dock, but it is sold separately. Like the Switch, the Steam Deck also has a dock that allows you to connect it to a TV or monitor. The USB Type-C docking station will provide DisplayPort and HDMI output, an Ethernet adapter and three USB inputs.
However, the dock does not come with a Steam deck. Valve has not disclosed the price of the terminal or when it can be ordered.
You can-maybe more. Just like your PC, Steam Deck aims to be an open platform. You can install Windows on the Steam platform, or even other game storefronts, such as the Epic Store (you may have a bunch of free games in the library) or Xbox Game Pass. We just don’t know how non-Steam games will run on the Steam platform, but you can also play games in other libraries on the Steam platform, which is an exciting idea.
According to IGN, you can even wipe SteamOS completely from the Steam platform and use it to run Windows. He has some hands-on time to use the device. Pierre-Loup Griffis told IGN that Steam Deck “can run almost anything you can run on a PC.”
Valve designer Lawrence Yang said: “We don’t think people should be locked in a certain direction or a specific set of software they can install. If you buy a Steam Deck, it’s a PC. You can install anything you want. On it, you can connect any peripheral devices you want.”
It will definitely look like that! The previously rumored SteamPal may be a glimpse of what will become Steam Deck.
In fact, Valve admits that there are many names of Steam Deck prototypes that have not succeeded. Our favorite is “Ugly Baby”.
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Post time: Oct-26-2021
