Digital Foundry-Valve Steam Deck Spec Analysis: Can It Really Handle AAA PC Gaming?

[Playstation Tablet 1,725]

 

[Twinblade★ 3,920]

Apparently you can just pop any M2 SSD in it and upgrade the storage capacity that way. That makes the $400 unit way more viable.

[PuNKy_LeMmInG 172]

16gb of memory on a handheld   thats some serious textures

[Mr. House 3,371]

TSHBFR by Valve 

[Playstation Tablet 1,725]

tbh this thing is a good XBox alternative.

[TLHBO 2,162]

 

I got one of these with a Ryzen 5 6c and I can tell you they punch above their weight given the size. It's only limiting factor is no dedicated graphics and no GDDR5, throw that in as Valve has done and they will handle the 1200 x 800 resolution easily.

[jehurey 3,230]

7 hours ago, TLHBO said:

 

I got one of these with a Ryzen 5 6c and I can tell you they punch above their weight given the size. It's only limiting factor is no dedicated graphics and no GDDR5, throw that in as Valve has done and they will handle the 1200 x 800 resolution easily.

that device can be connected to an electrical socket, and therefore, the APU in that thing can be clocked higher.

 

what you guys are not getting is that Valve got a 4-core APU from AMD, probably one of the lowest ones from their most recent line.

 

BUT its getting downclocked because its running on battery.

 

They already advertise a battery length from as long as 8 hours, to as little as 2 hours.

[Remij 4,679]

17 minutes ago, jehurey said:

that device can be connected to an electrical socket, and therefore, the APU in that thing can be clocked higher.

 

what you guys are not getting is that Valve got a 4-core APU from AMD, probably one of the lowest ones from their most recent line.

 

BUT its getting downclocked because its running on battery.

 

They already advertise a battery length from as long as 8 hours, to as little as 2 hours.

Except you can plug the Steam Deck in when you dock it..  

[jehurey 3,230]

28 minutes ago, Remij said:

Except you can plug the Steam Deck in when you dock it..  

which defeats the purpose

 

did you actually think that in your head and thought to yourself "yup............that's a good response, I'm going to go ahead with that" ????

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by jehurey

[Remij 4,679]

10 minutes ago, jehurey said:

which defeats the purpose

 

did you actually think that in your head and thought to yourself "yup............that's a good response, I'm going to go ahead with that" ????

 

 

Uh, no it doesn't.  It's a multi purpose machine... idiot  

 

You quoted TLHBO who posted a device which only works one way.....  The Steam Deck can work that way too... despite being a portable... YOU made the comparison possible  

 

 

All you need to know sweetie... is that it shits all over a fucking Switch... lmao keep waiting for that Pro  

Edited July 18, 2021 by Remij

[TLHBO 2,162]

1 hour ago, jehurey said:

that device can be connected to an electrical socket, and therefore, the APU in that thing can be clocked higher.

 

what you guys are not getting is that Valve got a 4-core APU from AMD, probably one of the lowest ones from their most recent line.

 

BUT its getting downclocked because its running on battery.

 

They already advertise a battery length from as long as 8 hours, to as little as 2 hours.

It goes a little higher in at its peak boost but that's irrelevant because you don't want these things running at peak all the time anyway and they never do.

 

My point was these little things pack a punch and that's the APU by itself. Based on performance I've seen, once you add in GDDR5 and an actual GPU they can easily handle games at the resolution they're aiming for. Remember how good PS4 games can be and that's on a really weak CPU.

 

I'm not sure why so many sheep seem to be trying to downplay the hardware as It's not likely to be a competitor to switch in the marketplace.

[Remij 4,679]

1 minute ago, TLHBO said:

It goes a little higher in at its peak boost but that's irrelevant because you don't want these things running at peak all the time anyway and they never do.

 

My point was these little things pack a punch and that's the APU by itself. Based on performance I've seen, once you add in GDDR5 and an actual GPU they can easily handle games at the resolution they're aiming for. Remember how good PS4 games can be and that's on a really weak CPU.

 

I'm not sure why so many sheep seem to be trying to downplay the hardware as It's not likely to be a competitor to switch in the marketplace.

Jehurey hates Valve.  You can disregard anything he says about it.. lmfao

[TLHBO 2,162]

3 minutes ago, Remij said:

Jehurey hates Valve.  You can disregard anything he says about it.. lmfao

I remember people hyping the hell out of these AMD zen processors and all that nonsense a few years back. One of them was probably you

 

But yeah seeing it in action it's really impressive. I always had a bad impression of laptop processors and the like but these Ryzen zen 2 processors have a lot of potential, easily enough for a handheld games machine when paired with a GPU.

 

It really feels like the sheep are a bit unhappy the NIntendo Pro only ended up being an OLED screen and then Valve announces this. They had penis envy with Vita for years even though it flopped.

[Remij 4,679]

2 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

I remember people hyping the hell out of these AMD zen processors and all that nonsense a few years back. One of them was probably you

 

But yeah seeing it in action it's really impressive. I always had a bad impression of laptop processors and the like but these Ryzen zen 2 processors have a lot of potential, easily enough for a handheld games machine when paired with a GPU.

 

It really feels like the sheep are a bit unhappy the NIntendo Pro only ended up being an OLED screen and then Valve announces this. They had penis envy with Vita for years even though it flopped.

Yeah haha.  They are pretty powerful for portable workloads for sure.  It's going to be interesting to play around with this stuff and compare a bunch of different things to it.

 

And yea for sure.  The Sheep are pretty undeniably bitter right now about the Switch OLED not being any kind of upgrade performance-wise.  Like you said... then  Valve comes out and announces this and suddenly all those games that are both on PC and Switch are just instantly there and best on the Steam Deck LOL..  Then there's the fact that this thing will emulate every Nintendo console right up to the Switch.  

[jehurey 3,230]

4 hours ago, Remij said:

 

Uh, no it doesn't.  It's a multi purpose machine... idiot  

 

 

they're already walking back the handheld part

 

and then proceeds to port beg (again). LOL

Edited July 18, 2021 by jehurey

[jehurey 3,230]

4 hours ago, TLHBO said:

It goes a little higher in at its peak boost but that's irrelevant because you don't want these things running at peak all the time anyway and they never do.

 

My point was these little things pack a punch and that's the APU by itself. Based on performance I've seen, once you add in GDDR5 and an actual GPU they can easily handle games at the resolution they're aiming for. Remember how good PS4 games can be and that's on a really weak CPU.

 

I'm not sure why so many sheep seem to be trying to downplay the hardware as It's not likely to be a competitor to switch in the marketplace.

well, they're not going to add a dedicated GPU.

 

Its just the APU..........thats both the CPU and GPU processor on the same die.

 

And with that, the ENTIRE APU must run at a certain voltage.

 

I'm not even certain they're using the newest line of AMD APU's, that would be the 5000 series.

 

 

But those are Zen 3 based, and Valve's specs clearly says that they are using a Zen 2

 

So.....its probably AMD's 4000 series. And the lowest advertised TDP for those are usually around 35W, and this unit is going to be running on 15W.

 

Actually 4W to 15 W.

 

Notice how it says "up to" 1.6 TFLOPS.

 

Its only logical to assume that if it runs at the upper end of their advertised speeds, that's why Valve is also saying there's a battery life as low as 2 hours.
 

A handheld that runs for 2 hours. So what's the point?

[Remij 4,679]

39 minutes ago, jehurey said:

they're already walking back the handheld part

 

and then proceeds to port beg (again). LOL

Walking back the handheld part  

 

 

You're REALLY stupid  

[TLHBO 2,162]

3 hours ago, jehurey said:

well, they're not going to add a dedicated GPU.

 

Its just the APU..........thats both the CPU and GPU processor on the same die.

 

And with that, the ENTIRE APU must run at a certain voltage.

 

I'm not even certain they're using the newest line of AMD APU's, that would be the 5000 series.

 

 

But those are Zen 3 based, and Valve's specs clearly says that they are using a Zen 2

 

So.....its probably AMD's 4000 series. And the lowest advertised TDP for those are usually around 35W, and this unit is going to be running on 15W.

 

Actually 4W to 15 W.

 

Notice how it says "up to" 1.6 TFLOPS.

 

Its only logical to assume that if it runs at the upper end of their advertised speeds, that's why Valve is also saying there's a battery life as low as 2 hours.
 

A handheld that runs for 2 hours. So what's the point?

Yes it very much sounds like it's based on the 4000-U series which also ran at 15W. That's what I was comparing it to. These were for ultra thin laptops so it makes sense they were picked for a handheld rather than the ones designed for high end gaming laptops. They have a lot less real estate to work with and a smaller battery.

 

Valve has a custom chip though, it's all going to depend on the graphics performance of that thing but since they've built a system dedicated to gaming I would expect they have something sufficient. Also of note is that the 4000 U series ran on shared DDR4 memory, not LPDDR5 like the steam deck will.

 

I think it will be fine for handheld gaming at 800P. Even if it couldn't run the latest games well.....how would that be any different to Switch? which either doesn't get games or it gets downgraded ports. Why is this being held to much higher standards than Switch? This doesn't need to offer a desktop experience because desktop steam is actually a thing. With Switch however the one unit is all you have, so if the big screen experience blows then it blows with no alternative.

 

 

[Remij 4,679]

9 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

Yes it very much sounds like it's based on the 4000-U series which also ran at 15W. That's what I was comparing it to. These were for ultra thin laptops so it makes sense they were picked for a handheld rather than the ones designed for high end gaming laptops. They have a lot less real estate to work with and a smaller battery.

 

Valve has a custom chip though, it's all going to depend on the graphics performance of that thing but since they've built a system dedicated to gaming I would expect they have something sufficient. Also of note is that the 4000 U series ran on shared DDR4 memory, not LPDDR5 like the steam deck will.

 

I think it will be fine for handheld gaming at 800P. Even if it couldn't run the latest games well.....how would that be any different to Switch? which either doesn't get games or it gets downgraded ports. Why is this being held to much higher standards than Switch? This doesn't need to offer a desktop experience because desktop steam is actually a thing. With Switch however the one unit is all you have, so if the big screen experience blows then it blows with no alternative.

 

 

It's going to be just fine... and for $50 more than the Switch OLED, it offers MUCH MUCH more.

 

This will run the vast majority of PC games out there, and they can all scale to the device.

 

This thing SMASHES any of it's competition... any other comparisons or "concerns" from haters can simply be disregarded.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Remij

[Goukosan 2,255]

10 hours ago, TLHBO said:

I remember people hyping the hell out of these AMD zen processors and all that nonsense a few years back. One of them was probably you

 

But yeah seeing it in action it's really impressive. I always had a bad impression of laptop processors and the like but these Ryzen zen 2 processors have a lot of potential, easily enough for a handheld games machine when paired with a GPU.

 

It really feels like the sheep are a bit unhappy the NIntendo Pro only ended up being an OLED screen and then Valve announces this. They had penis envy with Vita for years even though it flopped.

 

No one and I repeat no one envied the Vita.... how delusional are you?