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Valve’s Steam Deck in our hands

Switch-like Steam portable is coming this December


two people playing co-op with two Steam Deck units



The Steam Deck is a new handheld device from Valve for playing PC games on the go, the company announced Thursday. The Nintendo Switch-like device is set for release in December starting at $399.

Previously rumored as the “SteamPal,” the Steam Deck is a portable PC that’s slightly larger than the Nintendo Switch. It features a 7-inch touchscreen, two thumbsticks, a D-pad, and a four-button layout. There are also two trackpads — one on either side of the machine, under the thumbsticks — to allow for increased precision. The Steam Deck has eight triggers on its back: four on the device’s shoulders and four more where the ring and pinky fingers rest.

The Steam Deck will run games from players’ existing Steam libraries. Players will simply log into their account, and their friends and catalog should follow them onto the handheld. The Steam Deck is capable of running PC games on its own hardware, without the power of the cloud. Videos released by Valve show people using the Steam Deck to natively play games such as Baldur’s Gate 3, Crusader Kings 3, Disco Elysium, Hades, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Players can also purchase a dock that allows the Steam Deck to run on a TV.



Inside, the Steam Deck boasts an accelerated processing unit (APU) built by AMD. Its CPU is based on the company’s Zen 2 microarchitecture and tops out at 3.5 GHz. The GPU contains eight RDNA 2 compute units running at up to 1.6 GHz, delivering peak performance of 1.6 teraflops. The system packs 16 GB of RAM and a microSD card slot, allowing users to expand upon the built-in storage. The Steam Deck’s 7-inch screen is an LCD with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 60 Hz refresh rate at a 720p resolution of 1280x800. The Steam Deck also features a dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi radio — it’s compatible with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks — and Bluetooth 5.0 for controllers, accessories, and (unlike the Switch) audio.


At launch, the Steam Deck will be available in three models with different storage options. Valve says there are no performance differences between the three versions — aside from the speed of the flash memory, which will provide varying read and write speeds.

The $399 base model offers 64 GB of storage in the eMMC format. The next model up costs $529, and packs faster storage courtesy of a 256 GB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD; it also comes with an “exclusive Steam Community profile bundle.” The top-tier Steam Deck, at $649, includes a 512 GB NVMe SSD that Valve refers to as “high-speed,” although it is still a PCIe 3.0 drive. In addition, this model’s screen features “premium anti-glare etched glass.” The unit comes with an exclusive carrying case and exclusive virtual keyboard theme, on top of the cheaper models’ bonuses.

Steam users will be able to reserve any of the three Steam Deck models (for a fee) starting at 1 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 16 — as long as they made a purchase on the Steam Store at some point before June 2021. If not, they’ll have to wait until 48 hours later.
 
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Seriously ! Why do you want to KNOW ? gaming, movie's, sometime's music and eating junkfood...
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CerebralTiger

Expert
Apr 12, 2007
19,839
5,868
129
Islamabad
Lmao @ "off to a good start" when no numbers have been provided. Choti choti khushiyan Steam Deck owners ki :ROFLMAO:

Meanwhile, the Switch will surpass PS4 sales this quarter :LOL: 🤜
 

Radical

FUCK Y 'all !
Jan 25, 2009
12,850
632
129
30
Switch Shmitch! Playstation is still the undisputed king in all of gaming!

Hail to the KING PS2!! :p
 
Jun 5, 2009
1,625
47
54
My 2nd queue date is coming up, wonder if i should pick up? It'll be close to $700 after taxes for the 512 gb version though. Is it worth buying or wait a year or two for the 2nd version (hopefully they will make another)?
 

Exabyte999

Newbie
Mar 29, 2022
19
23
4
@Thugnificent they will probably not make another version for some time, but they said they will. I’d say it’s worth it to just buy it since you can sell it in Pakistan for $100 less than you bought it for when the new one comes out.
 

Necrokiller

Expert
Apr 16, 2009
13,594
5,124
129
My 2nd queue date is coming up, wonder if i should pick up? It'll be close to $700 after taxes for the 512 gb version though. Is it worth buying or wait a year or two for the 2nd version (hopefully they will make another)?
They will make a successor but I wouldn't bet on it coming in a year or two.

Infact, I wouldn't be surprised if Valve expands to a SFF "SteamBox" after this with a new iteration of the Steam Controller.
 
Jun 5, 2009
1,625
47
54
@Thugnificent they will probably not make another version for some time, but they said they will. I’d say it’s worth it to just buy it since you can sell it in Pakistan for $100 less than you bought it for when the new one comes out.
True, funny thing is, i posted in here this morning and just now got my invite. Bought it $701 after taxes though :S

They will make a successor but I wouldn't bet on it coming in a year or two.

Infact, I wouldn't be surprised if Valve expands to a SFF "SteamBox" after this with a new iteration of the Steam Controller.
Yea Steam machines might make a comeback, this time around SteamOS is a whole lot better and they have worked on linux gaming a lot too. They should make it themselves instead of giving to other overprices manufacturers such Dell Alienware etc.

Anyways, bought the Steam Deck, lets' see when it arrives.
 

NaNoW

Administrator
ADMIN
Feb 5, 2008
11,350
433
89
Karachi, Pakistan
True, funny thing is, i posted in here this morning and just now got my invite. Bought it $701 after taxes though :S


Yea Steam machines might make a comeback, this time around SteamOS is a whole lot better and they have worked on linux gaming a lot too. They should make it themselves instead of giving to other overprices manufacturers such Dell Alienware etc.

Anyways, bought the Steam Deck, lets' see when it arrives.
nice, congrats!


Is there anyway to have Xbox Gamepass games without going through XCloud?
 

NaNoW

Administrator
ADMIN
Feb 5, 2008
11,350
433
89
Karachi, Pakistan
ohh boy...it seems like there is ...but its quite complicated and you need to basically reinstall SteamOS and install Windows 11 and bunch of libraries



 

Necrokiller

Expert
Apr 16, 2009
13,594
5,124
129
It's like any other PC. Partition the drive and install a custom bootloader. It's pretty basic stuff if you've ever had a dual boot setup. But I guess most people just use VMs so it can appear tricky.

Valve's official boot loader wizard won't be ready any time soon as they plan to release it with the public SteamOS3 image.

Another easier option would be to use an external SSD so you don't have to deal with partitioning and installing a boot loader, but that's not ideal for everyone.
 
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venom

Lado-K-Lashkary
Mar 15, 2007
2,757
256
88
Karachi
I dont know if this is a fair comparison or not but I'm currently in 2 minds whether to get Steam Deck (256GB) or the series X. Which one do you guys recommend ?
 

iampasha

Seasoned
Apr 4, 2013
2,749
1,474
129
28
Karachi
I dont know if this is a fair comparison or not but I'm currently in 2 minds whether to get Steam Deck (256GB) or the series X. Which one do you guys recommend ?
Better yet, series S and a steamdeck. Series S is on sale on Amazon for $250 with an extra controller and the steamdeck is available without reservations now
 
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Necrokiller

Expert
Apr 16, 2009
13,594
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I dont know if this is a fair comparison or not but I'm currently in 2 minds whether to get Steam Deck (256GB) or the series X. Which one do you guys recommend ?
They both serve a very different purpose.

But as a new piece of tech Steam Deck is undoubtedly a more exciting device to me than a traditional console.

@iampasha 's suggestion is a good balance here unless performance metrics like fps and resolutions really matter to you. In that case, Series S will disappoint you.
 
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    What is peoples obsession with Battle Royale genre. 6 minutes to find a match, 3 minutes to setup a match, 2 minutes to land, 10 minutes for scavanging maybe 2 3 gunfigts and its over. Multiplayer landscape is looking absolute dogshit.
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    I usually stay away from animes. Vinland saga changed the way i look at my life, and my experiences within. I recommend every breathing human being to watch this animated masterpiece at least once fromstart to finish.
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    Vinland Saga > Berserk
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    Necrokiller Necrokiller: Consoles can't even catch a break in titles developed exclusively for them 😢