Some important details have emerged about Valve’s Steam Deck handheld console-meets-PC — particularly about its target performance level and whether you can actually install your own NVMe SSD to upgrade storage.
In a video interview from IGN, Valve stated that the Steam Deck’s 800p display, capable of up to a 60Hz refresh rate, will be targeting 30Hz for gameplay. In other words, the Nintendo Switch comparisons might go a little deeper than the surface, as many games on that platform run well below 60 frames per second. Though, given that most PC games offer a trove of graphical settings to fine-tune, the Steam Deck should be able to achieve smoother gameplay at the cost of graphical quality if you’re willing to knock down a few settings, depending on the game of course.
Further to the Steam Deck 2 announcement, just Valve also provided new information on how the media controller-and-condenser audio source is connected and how the console will take over actual gameplay for those rare occasions when you’re not plugged into your glorious local multiplayer.
Valve stated that to achieve its targeted 30Hz it used the powerful dual-core Umaru266, and further that the handheld has a “heavy emphasis on GPIOs”, i.e. those small lines of logic which make up the “circuit board” of our electronics. These include switches which release electricity when you click and images which light up when you play (video game analogies, right?).
This is not a massively helpful information tidbit, as many USB hubs, in fact, are powered by huge numbers of GPIOs and a large number of other components connecting them because those high-current devices are the only way modern computers can have more than 1 USB connection. Instead, you should think of the Steam Deck as displaying an on-screen game controller, while the game controller in turn is driving audio to your ears.
The way that this all works is by having an SSD (an NVMe solid state drive) installed via a USB boot disk available as a secondary storage option on-board the Steam Deck. Because the SSD is used as a secondary storage, Valve also also implimented a firewire port on the left-hand side of the console to allow the placement of mDos devices on-board. It’s a godsend if you’re planning on playing Fortnite or running a SteamOS Steam Machine, but many other games are still going to require an external SSD to run properly.
On the question of installing your own SSD into the handheld, Steam Deck co-founder and chief technology officer TokTok Lee assured us that there’s no “technical hurdle” to installing an SSD onto the Steam Deck, at least not at this stage. “Anything is possible after the Steam One launch,” Lee said. “All we have to do is increase the storage capacity.” A small indie-focused flash drive — the kind you’d find in a game console — is sufficient for a small update.
The other piece of the puzzle is the Steam Deck’s onboard NVMe storage, which is based on the firm’s famous Steampogo SSD technology. Lee assured us that the Steam Deck’s onboard storage can output NVMe file shares at 30Gb/s. He didn’t go as far as to say that the SSD support is finished, but he stressed that both capacities will be expandable.
The operating system that the Steam Deck 2 is coming out in isn’t very impressive, however.
While the Steam Deck will be running on top of a Linux OS, the company has stated that the first units produced will be aimed squarely at Microsoft’s Xbox line (thanks, NeoGAF).
According to Valve, the Steam Deck will be Garmin’s first-ever Windows-powered handheld, and it should be free to use with all of their fitness tracking products. Just don’t expect to be eating Cheetos like Rocky Balboa at the movies.
It seems that the initial units of the Steam Deck will roll out in the US in First Come First Served (FCFS) configuration as delivered by OEMs. These will have a 6.3" full HD display and a 128GB SSD. In contrast, the Steam Deck 2 will arrive in First Come First Served (FCFS) configuration with a 9.7" display and 1TB SSD.
The base Steam Deck 2 will cost $59.99, while an SSD version is priced at $109.99, each of which will come with a case and two controllers.
The hardware specification of the new Santa Cruz X1 is perhaps most interesting. The UEEX 10" handheld features an 8.4" OLED-panel with a maximum resolution of 1920x1440 and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Touted by the device’s manufacturers as having a “Full HD” display, the X1 shares many of the same hardware features as the Steam Deck 2 and is alleged to boast a 90Hz refresh rate. Coupled with the 6GB of GDDR6 memory, equipping the device with that kind of performance on a Linux-based OS should be a dream come true for casual PC owners looking for a handheld PC experience — especially if manufacturers like XSEED ever decide to build and sell a version of the X1 that matches the Steam Deck 2’s full HD panel.
Connecting a USB storage device and using an SD card reader will be as simple as it always has been on Steam Stations. Either the device will appear as a virtual drive in the Steam app, or you will need an app like Newsteam (or PCSX2) to install the OS to the SSD of your choice.
Stream Deck price
The Steam Deck 2 will also feature Google Daydream-capable headphones called XG headphones shown in the recently debuted Steam Machine Concept. The XG Pro is going to retail for $499 USD, while the cheaper XG Air is rumored to retail for $300. Additional optical (non?)noise canceling (ANC) features of the “XG Air” include digital noise reduction, a built-in microphone, RGB lighting, and the ability to connect hearables like your phone or gaming headset over Bluetooth wireless.
Valve did not give a rough release date for the Steam Deck, but did mention it would be launching within the second half of 2020, so we should know more soon.
While the Stream Deck resembles a modern console in shape, architecture, design-feeling, and overall appearance, it is powered by the open source Linux operating system. Doing away with proprietary components, Steam Deck enables developers to quickly and easily port their games to the Steam Deck, which will be a native SD-card-based solution. Steam Deck is a PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 6 inspired solution, and will utilize custom chips made by Corsair, that enable it to boast a significantly higher CPU and GPU performance than competitors.
However, in an ideal world with ideal SSD storage performance, the Steam Deck would in all likelihood run at native 1080p with a variable 60Hz refresh rate anyway. Ignoring such circumstance however, the Stream Deck’s NVMe SSD slot lets DIY tinkerers have their cake and eat it too: purchasing an included 500GB SSD and installing it yourself. All the details are available on Steam’s official forum.
Meaning that as long as Steam Deck’s source code is not copied, it could theoretically retail for actually cheaper than most existing high-end SSDs.
Although not mentioned in the official release, there will also be a subsystem designed to edit and pair Steam videos so that owners can quickly add games to their Steam Deck library. Thus far, Steam’s smart twin-screen concept has varied depending on the game or application. Then again, so have smart TVs before them, just look at the Roku 4K: it looks fine, but it also does not have many interesting game options, nor integrated machine learning for that matter. At least not until AI Smart Assistant gets better.
Valve successfully co-developed Steam Machine, which will be another gateway into a full-fledged living room PC experience. No doubt even more would be attracted if they were given the possibility to custom-build an extremely customized Steam Machine. In this way, you’d get a wonderful public-facing version, that is more intuitive and appealing to consumers, alongside a very low-cost version that could serve those with a brief interest in themselves and a deep-seated appreciation for the otherwise perhaps daunting PC hardware business. Of course, the appeal of a very hipster-chic Steam machine will also have influenced the choices of the developers.
With the Intel x86-64 architecture upon us, such a solution will undoubtedly leave curious PC users with quite a few questions .
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