Thread: Steam Deck IOTI These Things, They Take Time
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Steam Deck arrived today and I'm loving it so far. The kids were wow'd ("It's like a giant Nintendo Switch!"). Got the dock, monitor, keyboard, and mouse all set up too plus some of the basic desktop utilities that I'd expect on a computer. Everything is mostly click-and-download, though there are some games that aren't compatible. Haven't messed with it hardly at all in handheld mode, just using it on the monitor.
 
I'd been resisting the urge to buy a Deck since launch, but I finally broke down and ordered an OLED model last week. It arrived today and so far it's been a good experience. Big for a portable device, but it's definitely more comfortable to operate than other portables I've checked out recently.

Biggest problem so far: Now I want an OLED monitor for my main PC setup.
 
Ordered the 512GB OLED model, plus the dock, kb, monitor, etc

Any accessories that I should have on my radar? I'll pick up a pair of the controllers at some point.

Pretty late to the party but I'll just put this out there for future visitors as well; I recommend getting a screen protector and a case, preferably with a stand too, for mechanical and cosmetic longevity.
This is what I got myself (amazon.co.uk), highly recommend it, no complaints. The screen protector is just glass so it probably doesn't matter which one you pick, in any case I bought the one from the same brand as the case I linked.
 
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Speaking of the Deck, here's a photo of me chilling in the wild with it after a little run.

GOPR0228-ALTA678098680735940675.jpg
 


In this video we take a look at AMD Frame generation on the Steam Dec OLED with NIXXES recently updated games we can now use FSR3 and Frame Gen on the Steam deck and it awesome! Keep in mind AMD Framegen works with other scalers also like IGTI and XESS.We test Spiderman remastered, Horizon Forbidden West, Ratchet and Clank and Ghost of Tsushima on the Deck OLED.
 
I'm really debating getting one while my PC is in downtime between cards. (I cancelled the one I ordered when we last spoke @Amorous Biscuit ).

Do people use there's often or has it collected dust? I see they are cheaper new on ebay and Valve honours the warranty for the product not the user which is the best way to do it.

Also etched glass or glossy? From research reddit tells me 5% worse screen for 50% less reflections with Etched.
 
I'm really debating getting one while my PC is in downtime between cards. (I cancelled the one I ordered when we last spoke @Amorous Biscuit ).

Do people use there's often or has it collected dust? I see they are cheaper new on ebay and Valve honours the warranty for the product not the user which is the best way to do it.

Also etched glass or glossy? From research reddit tells me 5% worse screen for 50% less reflections with Etched.

You have betrayed me for the last time.
 
I'm really debating getting one while my PC is in downtime between cards. (I cancelled the one I ordered when we last spoke @Amorous Biscuit ).

Do people use there's often or has it collected dust? I see they are cheaper new on ebay and Valve honours the warranty for the product not the user which is the best way to do it.

Also etched glass or glossy? From research reddit tells me 5% worse screen for 50% less reflections with Etched.

Mine is collecting dust but that's just because I don't go out enough to make use of the portability and I rather use my desktop when I'm home. I'm just not the target audience but the hardware is great otherwise
 
I'm really debating getting one while my PC is in downtime between cards. (I cancelled the one I ordered when we last spoke @Amorous Biscuit ).

Do people use there's often or has it collected dust? I see they are cheaper new on ebay and Valve honours the warranty for the product not the user which is the best way to do it.

Also etched glass or glossy? From research reddit tells me 5% worse screen for 50% less reflections with Etched.

I made a deal with the devil and told her I'd save mine until my birthday next month. :/

However, I watched a lot of videos and the general consensus is that the non-etched screen looks better than the etched glass. I went with the 512 OLED and I'll just put a bigger SSD in it; it looks really easy to do.
 
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I love mine, use it most days when I'm sat on the sofa next to the wife whilst she's watching whatever slop on the telly. Mostly play older emulated games or chip away at something like Legend of Heroes or Vampire Survivors. I don't really have to travel much so it's more convenient than having to turn on the PC which only gets used for MP or those big showpiece single player experiences.


It's a toss up between that and the Vita for my favourite handheld of all time tbh. The convenience, extreme customisation with things like Decky and huge library of games just make the Steam Deck a pleasure to use.
 
You have betrayed me for the last time.

I don't know I'm getting good at it now.

Mine is collecting dust but that's just because I don't go out enough to make use of the portability and I rather use my desktop when I'm home. I'm just not the target audience but the hardware is great otherwise

I'm in the same boat, only a heavy first 3-4 months until the 5090. I was telling myself I could sell it if I did never use it. That been said the odd times I do go on holiday/travel it would really come in handy.


I made a deal with the devil and told her I'd save mine until my birthday next month. :/

However, I watched a lot of videos and the general consensus is that the non-etched screen looks better than the etched glass. I went with the 512 OLED and I'll just put a bigger SSD in it; it looks really easy to do.

Yeah that's the impression i got. Well that and that you can't really go wrong with any screen. I don't think my oled tv or oped phone is etched in any special way and they are fine.
 
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I love mine, use it most days when I'm sat on the sofa next to the wife whilst she's watching whatever slop on the telly. Mostly play older emulated games or chip away at something like Legend of Heroes or Vampire Survivors. I don't really have to travel much so it's more convenient than having to turn on the PC which only gets used for MP or those big showpiece single player experiences.


It's a toss up between that and the Vita for my favourite handheld of all time tbh. The convenience, extreme customisation with things like Decky and huge library of games just make the Steam Deck a pleasure to use.

You could probably emulate the Vita games, which makes the Deck win by default!
 
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You're not wrong, but it was about the place and time and the Vita was such a wonderful little device that I hold fond memories of it.

Burn it. Set yourself free from the shackles of the past!

I feel like that about the N64 TBH, but I'm definitely taking my gaming PC over it ;)
 
I just recently updated the default 256Gig SSD to a 2TB SSD on my Steam deck(old version), installation was surprisingly easy.

Having owned my SD for about 2 years, I should have done this a long time ago as its awesome just to have a decent selection of games to play. I have a 1Tb micro SD card also.

I use mine regularly in the winter time, lovely sitting gaming on the couch with a nice open fire, summer time i only really use if if travelling/holidays.
Currently playing Mass Effect 2 which i hadn't played since release, finding it a bit more difficult with thumbsticks vs kb&m, its great to be able to pick it up for 30 mins here and there in the evenings, putting to sleep between sessions and resuming in a second, that really is one massive advantage the deck has over PC.

I have a decent PC also, 7800X3D,32Gig,4070Ti, 3TB Nvme,1 TB SSD.
 
I love mine, use it most days when I'm sat on the sofa next to the wife whilst she's watching whatever slop on the telly. Mostly play older emulated games or chip away at something like Legend of Heroes or Vampire Survivors. I don't really have to travel much so it's more convenient than having to turn on the PC which only gets used for MP or those big showpiece single player experiences.


It's a toss up between that and the Vita for my favourite handheld of all time tbh. The convenience, extreme customisation with things like Decky and huge library of games just make the Steam Deck a pleasure to use.

This is exactly my philosophy of use for this thing. There are plenty of times where we are chilling on the couch and I don't want to watch whatever she has on, so this will be super useful in addition to the Switch. I'm building a PC, and I wonder which I'll use more; I've honestly found myself liking the utility of being able to play in bed before I nod off or on the can or whatever. But for super cinematic experiences you need that bigger screen IMO.
 
I've honestly found myself liking the utility of being able to play in bed before I nod off

It cannot be overstated how game changing this is. I usually don't have any time to play until right before going to bed, my Deck was already worth it just for this fact alone.

Do people use there's often or has it collected dust?

Hands down the best piece of gaming hardware I owned since the original Playstation. Get it.
 
I'm really debating getting one while my PC is in downtime between cards. (I cancelled the one I ordered when we last spoke @Amorous Biscuit ).

Do people use there's often or has it collected dust? I see they are cheaper new on ebay and Valve honours the warranty for the product not the user which is the best way to do it.

Also etched glass or glossy? From research reddit tells me 5% worse screen for 50% less reflections with Etched.

At this point, I would definitely wait for an upgrade unless you can get it on a deep discount.
 
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For PC & Deck users, may I introduce you to the power of local streaming? It depends on your setup, but for me, the Deck also doubles for a local streaming client for the big TV in the living room, playing games through it that are actually running on my PC in my room upstairs. Granted, you don't specifically need a Deck for this, but it fits really well for this purpise especially if you have the dock hooked up to the TV already. It's absolutely fantastic.

At this point, I would definitely wait for an upgrade unless you can get it on a deep discount.

The upgrade is at least a couple years away from what I read.
 
The upgrade is at least a couple years away from what I read.

That would be wild… it already feels very long in the tooth. I think they will be forced to put something out within a year of the Switch 2's release.
 
That would be wild… it already feels very long in the tooth. I think they will be forced to put something out within a year of the Switch 2's release.

I don't think it was ever their intention to directly compete and follow along the other players, and attempt to run all the new AAAA games, it's more its own thing, Valve already stated for Deck 2 that currently there are no compelling APU's from the vendor (AMD) that offer huge upgrades while being in their target power profile.

The deck isn't Valve's lifeline and they probably won't be "forced to put something out", rather they'd do it when they feel the time is right.
 
I don't think it was ever their intention to directly compete and follow along the other players, and attempt to run all the new AAAA games, it's more its own thing, Valve already stated for Deck 2 that currently there are no compelling APU's from the vendor (AMD) that offer huge upgrades while being in their target power profile.

The deck isn't Valve's lifeline and they probably won't be "forced to put something out", rather they'd do it when they feel the time is right.

I think they are waiting because they know Steam Deck 2 will be the last steam deck they will make.

As for buying the Deck in 2024, I'm not sure the value is there absent a big sale. The thing was already requiring visual compromises on games like Hogwarts or Horizon to run at a stable frame rate when it came out.

These days most of my use with it is playing WoW on the couch while watching TV or playing a backlog game. It's rare to find time to play games on the desktop these days, so the deck and my switch are basically the only way I get to stay attached to the hobby.

That said, it really is a great piece of hardware and I'll be there day one when they release Deck 2.
 
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There's also the Ally X, but I have no idea how that compares the Deck. I am heavily into the Steam Ecosystem, hence why I'm more drawn to the Deck.
 
I don't think it was ever their intention to directly compete and follow along the other players, and attempt to run all the new AAAA games, it's more its own thing, Valve already stated for Deck 2 that currently there are no compelling APU's from the vendor (AMD) that offer huge upgrades while being in their target power profile.

The deck isn't Valve's lifeline and they probably won't be "forced to put something out", rather they'd do it when they feel the time is right.

Yeah, maybe... That would be disappointing, because it's the only Switch-like with PC hardware that actually works really well as a complete package. Would hate to see it be basically the weakest device on the market by the end of next year.

There's also the Ally X, but I have no idea how that compares the Deck. I am heavily into the Steam Ecosystem, hence why I'm more drawn to the Deck.

From what I've seen, the non-Steam Deck devices don't do well with sleep mode, which is an absolute deal breaker for me when it comes to handheld devices.
 
There's also the Ally X, but I have no idea how that compares the Deck. I am heavily into the Steam Ecosystem, hence why I'm more drawn to the Deck.

Buy the Deck for the end user experience. The hardware may be weaker than some of the other handheld PC (but also cheaper…). I think the ease of handling patches, compatibility modes, controller settings, mods, browsing games and the game's community, etc. give the Deck an edge. I really like the SteamOS.
 
Hardware is weaker for sure, but in all honesty, the number of demanding games that I actaully want to play, that aren't modern slop, or multiplayer, or both, is very slim, and most demanding games are probably one of those "big experiences" that I'd play on the big TV (via local stresming!), not on a little gameboy.

Again, I don't think it's necessarily the best way to view the deck as the "underpowered" device or judge it by its performance results at all. It's purposes lie in its flexibility of being both a streamlined console and a full fledged PC at same time, it may not play Dragon Age: Vileguard at 8K120, but it's the perfect emulation handheld.


There's also the Ally X

The battery life sucks I hear, plus no proper sleep since it's Windows, which I hear you can fix by installing Bazzite. DF's showcased Bazzite on the Ally:
 
I'm fairly realistic what games can be played handheld..by all acounts modern portables really blow my pre conceived notions out of the water. Like I hear you can play full versions of Red Dead 2 and Cyberpunk, that's just mindblowing to me.

I think id learn more to older games to be honest. Bioshocks and older Resident Evils, that kind of thing. I also want to play some meaty RPGs.
 
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I'm fairly realistic what games can be played handheld..by all acounts modern portables really blow my pre conceived notions out of the water. Like I hear you can play full versions of Red Dead 2 and Cyberpunk, that's just mindblowing to me.

I think id learn more to older games to be honest. Bioshocks and older Resident Evils, that kind of thing. I also want to play some meaty RPGs.

As long as you go in with realistic expectations, then it's great. You can easily run most 360/PS3 era games at 60+ fps maxxed out at 800p. Lots of PS4 era games run well enough too with settings modifications.

If you're primarily looking to play older releases, then you're golden. Definitely get the OLED model though.
 
As long as you go in with realistic expectations, then it's great. You can easily run most 360/PS3 era games at 60+ fps maxxed out at 800p. Lots of PS4 era games run well enough too with settings modifications.

If you're primarily looking to play older releases, then you're golden. Definitely get the OLED model though.

I'm team Oled for pretty much everything for the last 8 or so years. Just can't beat those inky blacks and a picture that dosnt go to shit at night! :D
 
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I'm team Oled for pretty much everything for the last 8 or so years. Just can't beat those inky blacks and a picture that dosnt go to shit at night! :D

And it's 90hz (which makes running at 45hz better, too) w/ great HDR support! Fantastic screen, tbh.

The only disappointment is no VRR.
 
The only disappointment is no VRR.

It's cool that it is available when you hook it up to a VRR display. Similarly, my LCD Deck can do HDR when displayed on my HDR TV, other companies would completely lock that to the new model.
 
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As long as you go in with realistic expectations, then it's great. You can easily run most 360/PS3 era games at 60+ fps maxxed out at 800p. Lots of PS4 era games run well enough too with settings modifications.

If you're primarily looking to play older releases, then you're golden. Definitely get the OLED model though.

I've played through a lot of RDR2 on my steam deck OLED and it looks great.