Buzz
It's surprising to think that Valve's Steam Deck has been around for more than two years. When it launched, it was hailed as a game-changer for portable PC gaming, generating a massive amount of excitement. But with new competition flooding the market, has the Steam Deck's hype endured? Is it still worth purchasing, or are there better alternatives for portable PC gaming?
What exactly is the Steam Deck?
If you're not up to date with the latest in gaming, you may not be familiar with the Steam Deck. This compact device grants seamless access to your entire PC gaming library, offering support for Steam Deck-compatible titles and utilizing Steam's cloud gaming service to stream games directly from your PC to the device.
Both methods work reasonably well, depending on your internet connection, providing a convenient way to enjoy your favorite PC games while on the go. However, Steam’s cloud gaming experience can suffer if your internet speed isn't up to par.
How does it stack up against other portable PCs?
The Steam Deck is a capable handheld gaming PC, but its Zen 2 CPU may not measure up to some of the competition. For instance, the Ayaneo Next Advance is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U CPU, which outperforms Steam's custom AMD processor. Yet, the Ayaneo comes at a much higher price, starting around $1,300, compared to the Steam Deck's more affordable starting price of $399.
Let’s take a detailed look at the Steam Deck’s specifications:
AMD APU
CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
APU power: 4-15W
16GB LPDDR5 on-board RAM
It also offers three different storage configurations:
64GB eMMC
256GB NVMe SSD
512GB high-speed NVMe SSD
The storage variant you choose will impact the price, with the 64GB model priced at $399, the 256GB version at $529, and the 512GB model retailing for $649. Despite these differences in storage, all three versions share the same internal hardware.
Compared to other handheld consoles, the Steam Deck holds its ground, though it lags behind in terms of raw performance. However, Valve has optimized many games to make the most of the Steam Deck’s capabilities, with its cloud gaming feature ensuring that graphics and performance rely on your main PC rather than the handheld itself.
If budget is not a concern, opting for a higher-end model from Ayaneo or Asus's ROG handheld could provide better raw performance, but you’ll miss out on Steam’s seamless game and account management features.
Steam Deck Performance Overview
Since the Steam Deck runs on Linux, it doesn’t support every game available. However, there is considerable flexibility with the device; you can modify it to run a full version of Windows 11. Additionally, various community-driven solutions allow you to install games that aren’t optimized for the Steam Deck.
For gamers who want to enjoy some major triple-A titles, like Baldur’s Gate 3, The Witcher 3, and Red Dead Redemption 2, alongside a variety of indie games, the Steam Deck is an excellent choice. Hades is particularly enjoyable on the Steam Deck, as its visuals work well within the device's more limited power without sacrificing too much graphic quality.
However, some games, like Elden Ring, can cause the Steam Deck to overheat, making it difficult to play for long stretches. Due to its limited performance, more demanding games often run at 30FPS, even at the lowest settings.
In my testing, both Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 hit around 30FPS on the lowest settings. I wasn’t expecting significant improvements with Cyberpunk 2077 due to its known performance issues. I also observed occasional stuttering in Horizon Zero Dawn, though it wasn’t bad enough to make the game unplayable. When using cloud gaming mode, performance improved, but I experienced some input lag during intense moments as data had to be sent back and forth between the Steam Deck and the PC running the games.
Is the Steam Deck worth purchasing?
In the end, you’ll likely be able to run most triple-A and indie games on the Steam Deck eventually, although getting them to work outside of Steam might require some tweaking. However, due to the Steam Deck's limited power, expect some graphical issues from time to time, and don’t expect top-tier visual quality since it simply doesn’t have the muscle to handle that level of detail on its own.
If you’ve been considering picking up a handheld like the Steam Deck and don’t mind sacrificing some of the graphical fidelity found on full desktop PCs, it might be a solid purchase, especially if you can snag a good deal. Additionally, the Steam Deck offers plenty of emulation possibilities, though you’ll need to search for the right instructions to make it happen.
