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Forums - PC Discussion - The Official Steam Deck Thread

 

Will you buy one?

Yes, I'm excited to get one. 20 34.48%
 
No, I don't think so. 22 37.93%
 
Maybe, I need to see how ... 16 27.59%
 
Total:58
Captain_Yuri said:

As great as Valve's optimization is with Elden Ring, you also have these other cases where Sonic Generations drops to 15 fps (and Horizon Zero Dawn issues based on LTT video) even though that's a verified title not to mention how terrible the desktop experience has been.

That's very strange. I just played Sonic Generations for half an hour and it ran fine. Most of the time solid 60 fps, in some area transitions it drops down for the fraction of a second in the 40 - 59 fps area.

Perhaps you had downloads in the background while playing? I'd recommend to disable background downloading. 



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Conina said:
Captain_Yuri said:

As great as Valve's optimization is with Elden Ring, you also have these other cases where Sonic Generations drops to 15 fps (and Horizon Zero Dawn issues based on LTT video) even though that's a verified title not to mention how terrible the desktop experience has been.

That's very strange. I just played Sonic Generations for half an hour and it ran fine. Most of the time solid 60 fps, in some area transitions it drops down for the fraction of a second in the 40 - 59 fps area.

Perhaps you had downloads in the background while playing? I'd recommend to disable background downloading. 

Did you try Seaside Hill specifically? The framerate drops was really noticeable when I used the dash button. It is unlikely that it was due to background downloading because I tried other games and those ran fine. I even tried going back and the same issue was still there.

Regardless though, I did sell mine for now cause of the fan. I'll probably give it another chance sometime next year or when Steam Deck 2 comes out.



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850

Conina said:

Oh, and Xbox Cloud gaming seems to be working now on the Steam Deck (when you are in a WiFi area):

https://www.theverge.com/22985166/xbox-cloud-gaming-steam-deck-microsoft-edge-beta

When I tried that a few days ago with the Chrome browser, the Sticks and Buttons weren't responsive.

Have to check that again. Microsoft even has a page with detailed install instructions:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/xbox-cloud-gaming-in-microsoft-edge-with-steam-deck-43dd011b-0ce8-4810-8302-965be6d53296

Works great!

I played my daily quests of Forza Horizon 4 + 5 and a bit of MS Flight Simulator, Halo Infinite and Guardians of the Galaxy via Xcloud.

Probably the best way to play Flight Simulator on a mobile device without installing hundereds of GB flight data.

These Edge browser settings are also great for Stadia. Played "Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition" and "Rise of the Tomb Raider" with flawless 60 fps for a while. "Bought" these two games with the credits for signing up a test period of "Stadia Pro".

Next test: Geforce Now.

Last edited by Conina - on 19 March 2022

Conina said:
Conina said:

Oh, and Xbox Cloud gaming seems to be working now on the Steam Deck (when you are in a WiFi area):

https://www.theverge.com/22985166/xbox-cloud-gaming-steam-deck-microsoft-edge-beta

When I tried that a few days ago with the Chrome browser, the Sticks and Buttons weren't responsive.

Have to check that again. Microsoft even has a page with detailed install instructions:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/xbox-cloud-gaming-in-microsoft-edge-with-steam-deck-43dd011b-0ce8-4810-8302-965be6d53296

Works great!

I played my daily quests of Forza Horizon 4 + 5 and a bit of MS Flight Simulator, Halo Infinite and Guardians of the Galaxy via Xcloud.

Probably the best way to play Flight Simulator on a mobile device without installing hundereds of GB flight data.

These Edge browser settings are also great for Stadia. Played "Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition" and "Rise of the Tomb Raider" with flawless 60 fps for a while. "Bought" these two games with the credits for signing up a test period of "Stadia Pro".

Next test: Geforce Now.

Thnaks, Conina, for all the input in those posts. Always a super interesting read.



Captain_Yuri said:

So here's my thoughts on the Steam Deck after a few days of using it. I did post my initial thoughts on it if you want to read the long version here:

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9366656

But I didn't want to post it here until I used it some more to see if anything has changed but it's largely the same. So TLDR:

The Goods:
- It's very comfortable. Yes it's bigger and heavier than the switch but the ergonomics and distribution of the weight is really good.
- The speakers are insane. Better than a lot of laptop speakers that I have heard over the years.
- Suspend and Resume puts Windows to shame. Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves for not having this function. It makes me want to throw away my computer.
- Games loading from Microsd is very seamless.
- RTS and Unverified games can sometimes work extraordinarily well.
- When it all comes together, it can be an Euphoric experience.
- The battery holds up well if you tweak it right

The Bads:
- The fan is super loud because of how high pitched it is. If you are in a quiet room like in a workplace, it will be 100% distracting to others. The only good thing about it is that when you are in an empty area in Elden Ring and the fan ramps up, you know shit is about to go down. PS: The fan runs no matter what you are doing so even if you are doing something basic like watching youtube, you will hear it.
- Steam OS is janky AF
- And because Steam OS is janky AF, Windows issues mentioned in the Linus Tech Tips video makes the situation much worse.
- I tried PPSSPP with FFVII Crisis Core and oh boy, that audio crackling is not a fun experience.
- They need to revamp their verified games list because from my experience, verified games doesn't actually mean they will run well such as Sonic Generations in Seaside Hill. That shit drops to 15 fps.

Overall, I am not keeping it. It has quite a lot of reasons to like it... Hell even love it! But the main reason I bought this was because I wanted to take it to work. See I work in IT and currently, I bring my gaming laptop to my workplace and I play games on it during my downtime. My laptop is big, heavy and loud and the Steam Deck seemed like a great device to replace it. But the issue is the high pitched noise of the fan. It's loud enough to be distracting to others in a quiet place and because of that, it limits it's purpose in my use case. My laptop fans can get loud but they are loud in the white noise sort of a manor which is easy to tune out, the Steam Deck and it's variable high pitched fan on the other hand... Well based on my experiment at work, wasn't the case but it does depend on the environment.

Of course the other issue is software. I am sure a lot of it will be fixed given enough time but if there's one rule to follow in the PC space is to never buy something based on future promises so I have to judge it based on where we are at now. As great as Valve's optimization is with Elden Ring, you also have these other cases where Sonic Generations drops to 15 fps (and Horizon Zero Dawn issues based on LTT video) even though that's a verified title not to mention how terrible the desktop experience has been. If they are going to gimp Windows experience, they need to make sure their own experience is on par or better, not worse in so many areas. Like what is the purpose of having verified titles if they don't work properly or a desktop that doesn't have a proper functioning keyboard?

All in all though, I'll continue to keep my eye out because the potential of PC handhelds can truly bring a new era of PC gaming. Hopefully Valve learns from the issues of Steam Deck and fixes the loud fans and such when they release the Steam Deck 2. And by then, I'd imagine the software issues and such will also largely be fixed and the lingering questions of how new technologies like Direct Storage will perform will be answered. Till then though, I'll skip for now...

Regarding the fan noise, that is a huge deal breaker to me. If I got a Deck, I'd use it to primarily play around my family while we watch a show or something, either not listening to the games sounds or wearing a headset, like I do with my Switch when playing a single player game I'm not tremendously invested in. But if the device produced that much noise it will be really annoying to others.

I am curious, when I got my Razer Blade Advanced, one of the first things I did was try to address the heat. Did some research, found some tweaking you can do to the hardware specs via software I downloaded, which helped a little. But obviously buying a 5 spin cooling pad that propels it upward for airflow helped the most.

Anyway, back to the point, I noticed you said it would run the fans that loud even if you were just watching Youtube. On my laptop I have Razer Synapse, which allows me to manually change the fan speed. Is there not a way to do fan speed manual change on the Deck?



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I've got Fiber, and the only experience I have with a cloud game is on Switch, is the cloud experience much better with XCloud due to the Series X power boost? If so, I may be interested in the Deck to run games via cloud so the battery lasts longer and the fan isn't louder than a sonic boom.



Dulfite said:
Captain_Yuri said:

So here's my thoughts on the Steam Deck after a few days of using it. I did post my initial thoughts on it if you want to read the long version here:

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9366656

But I didn't want to post it here until I used it some more to see if anything has changed but it's largely the same. So TLDR:

The Goods:
- It's very comfortable. Yes it's bigger and heavier than the switch but the ergonomics and distribution of the weight is really good.
- The speakers are insane. Better than a lot of laptop speakers that I have heard over the years.
- Suspend and Resume puts Windows to shame. Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves for not having this function. It makes me want to throw away my computer.
- Games loading from Microsd is very seamless.
- RTS and Unverified games can sometimes work extraordinarily well.
- When it all comes together, it can be an Euphoric experience.
- The battery holds up well if you tweak it right

The Bads:
- The fan is super loud because of how high pitched it is. If you are in a quiet room like in a workplace, it will be 100% distracting to others. The only good thing about it is that when you are in an empty area in Elden Ring and the fan ramps up, you know shit is about to go down. PS: The fan runs no matter what you are doing so even if you are doing something basic like watching youtube, you will hear it.
- Steam OS is janky AF
- And because Steam OS is janky AF, Windows issues mentioned in the Linus Tech Tips video makes the situation much worse.
- I tried PPSSPP with FFVII Crisis Core and oh boy, that audio crackling is not a fun experience.
- They need to revamp their verified games list because from my experience, verified games doesn't actually mean they will run well such as Sonic Generations in Seaside Hill. That shit drops to 15 fps.

Overall, I am not keeping it. It has quite a lot of reasons to like it... Hell even love it! But the main reason I bought this was because I wanted to take it to work. See I work in IT and currently, I bring my gaming laptop to my workplace and I play games on it during my downtime. My laptop is big, heavy and loud and the Steam Deck seemed like a great device to replace it. But the issue is the high pitched noise of the fan. It's loud enough to be distracting to others in a quiet place and because of that, it limits it's purpose in my use case. My laptop fans can get loud but they are loud in the white noise sort of a manor which is easy to tune out, the Steam Deck and it's variable high pitched fan on the other hand... Well based on my experiment at work, wasn't the case but it does depend on the environment.

Of course the other issue is software. I am sure a lot of it will be fixed given enough time but if there's one rule to follow in the PC space is to never buy something based on future promises so I have to judge it based on where we are at now. As great as Valve's optimization is with Elden Ring, you also have these other cases where Sonic Generations drops to 15 fps (and Horizon Zero Dawn issues based on LTT video) even though that's a verified title not to mention how terrible the desktop experience has been. If they are going to gimp Windows experience, they need to make sure their own experience is on par or better, not worse in so many areas. Like what is the purpose of having verified titles if they don't work properly or a desktop that doesn't have a proper functioning keyboard?

All in all though, I'll continue to keep my eye out because the potential of PC handhelds can truly bring a new era of PC gaming. Hopefully Valve learns from the issues of Steam Deck and fixes the loud fans and such when they release the Steam Deck 2. And by then, I'd imagine the software issues and such will also largely be fixed and the lingering questions of how new technologies like Direct Storage will perform will be answered. Till then though, I'll skip for now...

Regarding the fan noise, that is a huge deal breaker to me. If I got a Deck, I'd use it to primarily play around my family while we watch a show or something, either not listening to the games sounds or wearing a headset, like I do with my Switch when playing a single player game I'm not tremendously invested in. But if the device produced that much noise it will be really annoying to others.

I am curious, when I got my Razer Blade Advanced, one of the first things I did was try to address the heat. Did some research, found some tweaking you can do to the hardware specs via software I downloaded, which helped a little. But obviously buying a 5 spin cooling pad that propels it upward for airflow helped the most.

Anyway, back to the point, I noticed you said it would run the fans that loud even if you were just watching Youtube. On my laptop I have Razer Synapse, which allows me to manually change the fan speed. Is there not a way to do fan speed manual change on the Deck?

Afaik there isn't yet. From what I have seen from googling, no one was able to find a way to adjust the fan other than to tweak things like lowering the brightness and etc like on Conina's post but that's not ideal. I think they will update it eventually with fan controls but that is part of my issue. Eventually it might be the device that I want but no one knows when that eventually will be so for me, it's just better to wait and see.



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850

CyberPunk 2077 with an optimized SteamDeck setting (mix of "high" and "ultra", FSR "balanced") = 30 - 60 fps.

51 fps average due to the screen limitation of 60 hz... without it probably higher.



For a smoother frame rate and in favor of battery life, you should of course limit it to 30 fps.



Conina said:

CyberPunk 2077 with an optimized SteamDeck setting (mix of "high" and "ultra", FSR "balanced") = 30 - 60 fps.

51 fps average due to the screen limitation of 60 hz... without it probably higher.



For a smoother frame rate and in favor of battery life, you should of course limit it to 30 fps.

Looks good from the video. How's the hands on experience with the game itself?



Plays really good with stable 30 fps so far. But there are still a few graphic glitches and the texts are really small.