Steam Deck ~ PC Switch

[PlayerEmers]

Battery life is average.

I find it a bit lacking tbh. I can squeeze 4+ hours playing something really light, but most of the time battery lasts about 2 hours for me (even less because i like to keep battery between 20%-85%). But I guess this kinda "works" for you: you dont want to waste hours and hours consecutively playing on handhelds. Taking a breather is good.

Have you tried adjusting the tdp? A lot of indie and older games don't require the full power and can run on 3 or 4 watts. Having a 65w power bank also extends the battery life quite a bit.

Yeah, i change tdp all the time and even limit cpu clock speed sometimes using decky power tools. It definitely helps but it doesnt do miracles.
I also undervolted cpu/gpu on the bios.

edit: worth noting that when I said battery lasting 2 hours, its mostly for games that are actually demanding (graphically or because the engine/game itself is janky with shit code and runs like ass and sucks the power out of the deck)

 

[cruel]

I'm getting 4h+ battery with a 40 fps limit on most less demanding or emulated games.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Is this thing USBC rechargable. I know some portable power bricks are pretty fucking fantastic and pretty small tbh. This one I use for my phone and shit is great. And the HUB i bought that plugs into the wall or power cord charges that fucker fast. I need to time it but I swear full charge from 0 to 100% in 40m to an hour maybe less.

 

[The Decline]

Is this thing USBC rechargable. I know some portable power bricks are pretty fucking fantastic and pretty small tbh. This one I use for my phone and shit is great. And the HUB i bought that plugs into the wall or power cord charges that fucker fast. I need to time it but I swear full charge from 0 to 100% in 40m to an hour maybe less.

It needs 65w to charge while playing, but yes usb c charging works. This adapter dock came out recently and it has some pretty good reviews.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

For mine I have much more fun tinkering with it to get old or un supported games to work but playing on it is still kind of meh for me. If I didn't always have access to my PC then I would probably like that but that is rarely the case.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Battery life is disappointing but nowadays that isn't as much of an issue as it may have been in the past, since today electrical outlets are literally everywhere.

I don't think this could possibly substitute a PC (some people claim it does but that has to be crazy talk) but as a portable gaming device it's likely the best there has ever been? At least for us PC gamers. I mean you get two analog sticks with capacitive tips (this is how you are supposed to use the gyro, you just touch the stick without pressing and it activates), you get a d-pad, two track pads, four back grips and the gyro, and you can remap all of them with extensive functions they really went out of their way as best as they could.

Just tried Red Alert 1 and i'm getting better at using the track pad, though it still doesn't feel natural. I also loaded up Dark Souls Remastered which is nuts. Like i said it's surreal that i can just load up stuff from my steam library on a portable device. Considering all i had to work with until now was Android i'm still mystified by it.

 

[Biscotti]

Concerning the IPS display. If it's any consolation, the screen lottery continues in the OLED model. Except instead of backlight bleed it's mura this time. In case you don't know what that is, it's apparently some inherent flaw with OLED displays when it comes to uniformity in displaying darker colors. Imagine a permanent film grain effect when playing darker games, and just as with backlight bleed some screens have it worse than others.

Overall I really like the OLED screen but I'm not sure what I hate more between the two. I don't know if it's the niche form factor and the limited supply, but the screen seems to be the one part where Valve really sucks at QC.

 

[tritosine2k]

Valve really sucks

 

[whydoibother]

I don't think this could possibly substitute a PC (some people claim it does but that has to be crazy talk)

If all you play is Slay the Spire and Binding of Isaac and similar games, it can. Many people only play such games.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Valve really sucks

I'm sorry OLED can do this? Are we sure they aren't just sticking VA screens in those devices and telling people it's OLED?

 

[FreshCorpse]

Second issue is that the thing is so large the screen can't be easily reached, meaning you can't reliably use the touch screen in combination with the analog controls.

It's rare occasion for me to use touchscreen while playing it. When it happens, its usually because of random controller bugs that forced me to use touch or im just lazy to click an option using the trackpad/stick.

My understanding is that the majority of these OLED screens are now manufactured as capacitative so it making an OLED screen a touch-screen is effectively the default for people who are buying and assembling parts (in this case, Valve).

For me the touchscreen has turned out to be essential as many games pop windows dialog boxes for minor errors such as the network being unavailable or whatever. Without the ability to click through via touch I wouldn't be able to get some games I care about to the main menu without faffing with the input settings.

Battery life is disappointing but nowadays that isn't as much of an issue as it may have been in the past, since today electrical outlets are literally everywhere.

I don't think this could possibly substitute a PC (some people claim it does but that has to be crazy talk) but as a portable gaming device it's likely the best there has ever been?

I suppose battery depends on your usecase. I usually play for circa 2 hours at a time, often in my house (eg: in the lounge armchair) and when I'm done it goes straight back into the dock to fast charge. I also use it while travelling but in that case I'm anyway bringing along (for preparedness reasons) a 20,000 mah battery which I can use to top-up if necessary. I don't tend to have problems with battery life.

Emudeck is pretty good and I have been using it to play PSX games (ridge racer, wipeout 1-3, old gran turismos) rendered at 4k with corrected texture warping, on a big screen. Those are pretty cool.

Another notable thing about this device is that because it is x86, widevine (broadcaster video DRM) works. Fuck DRM ofc - but that means that I can watch F1 on my TV using the dock without connecting the television itself to the internet (always a mistake IME). I have the mid-level OLED, no regrets except maybe the case could have been less bulky.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Do these batteries get overcharged and weaker over time rather quickly. Example is my greenworks batteries for my string trimmers. When I bought them about an hour each. Now, barely 20 minutes if lucky.

 

[PlayerEmers]

Do these batteries get overcharged and weaker over time rather quickly. Example is my greenworks batteries for my string trimmers. When I bought them about an hour each. Now, barely 20 minutes if lucky.

From what I read, you can safely let the deck plugged all the time because it has power passthrough. Been using mine for a year and a half, battery capacity still seems the same. The desktop battery sensor still shows 100% battery health/last full charge hitting the 40Wh mark (which is within official spec).

However, the desktop battery sensor is a bit wonky and not accurate sometimes: I forgot to charge the deck a couple of times, making it force shutdown at 0% battery. The few times that happened, the battery life was lower (94%-97%) and the last full charge indicated was about 36-37 Wh. (charging till 100% fixed the sensor stats back to 100%/40Wh)

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

What is the average charge time from 0 to 100%?

 

[PlayerEmers]

Oh I never kept track of how long it takes from 0 to 100 (mostly because I always try to keep the battery within 20-85% charge), but im pretty sure is at least +2 hours if you use the original charger like I do.

 

[Lyric Suite]

So i just noticed that my internal drive is already below 20GB. I still have 100GB left out of my 256GB card, with 64 installed games total. So the cache has already eaten up my internal drive, though apparently you can just move it out onto the SD card and make a symbolic link back into the internal drive. This means i can hold off in buying an internal drive (saw a 1TB one for like 90 euros which is a bit steep for now).

I think i'll hold off in tinkering further until i get a dock. Really hard using the desktop like this.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I just noticed the newer Ipads have a max of 3Tb storage. But they're no gaming stramdeck by a longshot.

 

[Alphard]

So i just noticed that my internal drive is already below 20GB. I still have 100GB left out of my 256GB card, with 64 installed games total. So the cache has already eaten up my internal drive, though apparently you can just move it out onto the SD card and make a symbolic link back into the internal drive. This means i can hold off in buying an internal drive (saw a 1TB one for like 90 euros which is a bit steep for now).

I think i'll hold off in tinkering further until i get a dock. Really hard using the desktop like this.

as a former owner of Steam Deck ( bought at launch) , i'd advise against a dock, unless you want to play at lower res.Deck is already pushing it's limit in modern games at 720 p . if you try full hd you'll notice even harder the portable nature of the hardware. i have returned my jsaux dock bought on amazon for this reason

 

[FreshCorpse]

So i just noticed that my internal drive is already below 20GB. I still have 100GB left out of my 256GB card, with 64 installed games total. So the cache has already eaten up my internal drive, though apparently you can just move it out onto the SD card and make a symbolic link back into the internal drive. This means i can hold off in buying an internal drive (saw a 1TB one for like 90 euros which is a bit steep for now).

I think i'll hold off in tinkering further until i get a dock. Really hard using the desktop like this.

What's in that cache? If it's mainly shaders and shit then probably less than ideal to shift that off to an sd card

 

[The Decline]

So i just noticed that my internal drive is already below 20GB. I still have 100GB left out of my 256GB card, with 64 installed games total. So the cache has already eaten up my internal drive, though apparently you can just move it out onto the SD card and make a symbolic link back into the internal drive. This means i can hold off in buying an internal drive (saw a 1TB one for like 90 euros which is a bit steep for now).

I think i'll hold off in tinkering further until i get a dock. Really hard using the desktop like this.

as a former owner of Steam Deck ( bought at launch) , i'd advise against a dock, unless you want to play at lower res.Deck is already pushing it's limit in modern games at 720 p . if you try full hd you'll notice even harder the portable nature of the hardware. i have returned my jsaux dock bought on amazon for this reason

Pretty sure he's going to use the dock for ease of use in desktop mode rather than gaming.

 

[Lyric Suite]

So i just noticed that my internal drive is already below 20GB. I still have 100GB left out of my 256GB card, with 64 installed games total. So the cache has already eaten up my internal drive, though apparently you can just move it out onto the SD card and make a symbolic link back into the internal drive. This means i can hold off in buying an internal drive (saw a 1TB one for like 90 euros which is a bit steep for now).

I think i'll hold off in tinkering further until i get a dock. Really hard using the desktop like this.

as a former owner of Steam Deck ( bought at launch) , i'd advise against a dock, unless you want to play at lower res.Deck is already pushing it's limit in modern games at 720 p . if you try full hd you'll notice even harder the portable nature of the hardware. i have returned my jsaux dock bought on amazon for this reason

Pretty sure he's going to use the dock for ease of use in desktop mode rather than gaming.

Yeah i need a mouse and keyboard if i gotta tinker around with the system like this is too annoying.

Anyway, been playing the second Doom episode and i still find the screen kinda of small. We'll see if i can adjust to it over time if not i'll just play those games that work better on it. The next one might actually be Icewind Dale just because you can zoom around.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Amazing. I bought a screen protector, from JAUX which apparently is supposed to be a reputable brand. Takes me forever to make sure there's no specks of dust anywhere, i go apply the screen and the damn thing doesn't fit into the guiding frame lmao. I fumble around but i make a mess and have to throw out the thing. Package comes with a second one, which also doesn't fit into the frame, and even comes with a speck of dust already in it. Right in the middle between the glass and the adesive plastic film protecting the sticky part. Had to put it by hand and i manage to apply the glass without getting any dust in it, except for the dust that came pre-packaged already lol.

Don't feel like spending another 10 euros just to redo this shit but wtf.

 

[Semiurge]

If only they started making desktops with SteamOS that can be used in kiosk mode, or desktop depending on your needs. If only. I've never bought a branded desktop before, but that might be the exception assuming the form-factors were standard and the parts easily replaceable.

 

[ind33d]

Do these batteries get overcharged and weaker over time rather quickly. Example is my greenworks batteries for my string trimmers. When I bought them about an hour each. Now, barely 20 minutes if lucky.

I have heard that you shouldn't leave the Deck plugged in all the time to avoid battery degradation, which is absurd for a device that is intended to function as a desktop replacement. Do they expect people to plug it in while in desktop mode then unplug it when you're finished?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I think all such battery chargers should have a mandatory shut off. If the device loses some % after shut off oh well but overcharging is a god damn sin to the electronic gods. I had a few mp3 player end up as such.

As to screen protectors, I hadn't initially thought on a SteamDeck protector. They make adhesive glass ones for the deck right? Even those can get a bubble.