*** The Official Steam Deck Thread ***

[2StepSteve]

I see a large number of North American's had their orders delivered today..... ********

At least we should finally see some etched display vs non etched comparisons posted.

 

[teaston]

OLED model looks pretty decent. I want it, but I'm not sure I can justify it for a minor upgrade. Maybe I'll change my mind, but what I have works and battery isn't a huge concern for me right now. It's very encouraging to see that it was worth it for Valve to release a refresh though! Can't wait to see the next iteration.

It’s much more than a minor upgrade, every part of it has been improved, which adds up to a pretty major upgrade.

 

[Noxia]

I see a large number of North American's had their orders delivered today..... ********

At least we should finally see some etched display vs non etched comparisons posted.

Saw plenty on Reddit. In summary both had points where they looked better than the other but personally **** having anything other than glossy display on OLED. Certainly not worth paying extra purely for the glass anyway.

 

[Yrkoon]

Saw plenty on Reddit. In summary both had points where they looked better than the other but personally **** having anything other than glossy display on OLED. Certainly not worth paying extra purely for the glass anyway.

yeh i have the original 256 and dad has the matt 512, i actually prefer my display and i used it in a car on a sunny day recently, just need to tilt slightly to avoid the glare

 

[teaston]

I haven’t tried the matte deck, but if it’s like the JSAUX matte screen protector then I definitely wouldn’t want it, they ruin the clarity.

The Brotect matte protector is less matte though, so I have been happy with that.

 

[2StepSteve]

Saw plenty on Reddit. In summary both had points where they looked better than the other but personally **** having anything other than glossy display on OLED. Certainly not worth paying extra purely for the glass anyway.

The SD sub is full of absolute whack jobs. If I wanna feel somewhat normal, I browse through there

I'm always very careful with my devices but I will likely get a screen protector of some sorts. @teaston have you tried the standard JSAUX screen protector?

 

[teaston]

The SD sub is full of absolute whack jobs. If I wanna feel somewhat normal, I browse through there

I'm always very careful with my devices but I will likely get a screen protector of some sorts. @teaston have you tried the standard JSAUX screen protector?

Not yet, but I have a pack of them ready to try on my OLED.

 

[mountaincow]

Depends on what you value for sure, to me LCD to OLED is like going from a black and white tv to colour. Won't entertain a device without one.

Yeah the OLED panel is the main reason I want it.

 

[4Qman]

So I have the 1tb OLED etched screen on its way. I was stuck between the 512 and 1tb due to screen, etched Vs not etched.

If the etched doesn't perform as expected can I add a screen protector to remove the etched effect?

 

[Noxia]

The SD sub is full of absolute whack jobs. If I wanna feel somewhat normal, I browse through there

I'm always very careful with my devices but I will likely get a screen protector of some sorts. @teaston have you tried the standard JSAUX screen protector?

Yeah I avoid Reddit as much as possible. You can always spot a Reddit user by phrases they say and the way they write things lol.

 

[mountaincow]

It’s much more than a minor upgrade, every part of it has been improved, which adds up to a pretty major upgrade.

Depends on how noticeable these upgrades are to the consumer. Yes there are a fair number of improvements, but the things that stand out as valuable to me are battery life and the OLED panel. Battery life is great, but also not a huge concern to me since I barely ever take it out of the house. I'd definitely enjoy the OLED panel with smaller bezels, but I'm not going to try and justify spending more on something that is perfectly functional for me right now.
If performance were significantly improved too then I'd be all over it, but it's not.

 

[Noxia]

I'd say that if the consumer has at least one functioning eye then the screen upgrade is notable.

 

[teaston]

So I have the 1tb OLED etched screen on its way. I was stuck between the 512 and 1tb due to screen, etched Vs not etched.

If the etched doesn't perform as expected can I add a screen protector to remove the etched effect?

Yes you can, I saw a guy do it on a YT video

 

[teaston]

Depends on how noticeable these upgrades are to the consumer. Yes there are a fair number of improvements, but the things that stand out as valuable to me are battery life and the OLED panel. Battery life is great, but also not a huge concern to me since I barely ever take it out of the house. I'd definitely enjoy the OLED panel with smaller bezels, but I'm not going to try and justify spending more on something that is perfectly functional for me right now.
If performance were significantly improved too then I'd be all over it, but it's not.

Performance has been shown to be significantly better in certain games, which makes sense given the much more efficient and thermally improved APU, and the faster RAM. Plus the more energy efficient screen, giving more TDP headroom.

Also, I would guess that performance will be even more improved with future firmware and drivers, plus the possibility of maybe being able to overclock the chip and/or increasing the TDP, getting better performance with the same battery life as the LCD.

And so many other changes; improved thumbsticks, trackpads and shoulder buttons, plus wifi 6e, improved BT, separate wifi and BT antennas, larger & quieter cooling fan, improved disassembly and upgradeability/repairability.

Also, the framerate doubling should make a big difference, being able to run games at 45fps internal rendering, but getting 90fps picture.

 

[teaston]

Aye, interesting stuff. Think I might tinker with undervolting, done this on my GPUs for years. Given the smaller 6nm APU and the better cooling and thermals, is there scope for overclocking now too on the OLED versions?

I have just thought, the TDP is the limiting factor for performance, so I guess that overclocking won’t help unless you can increase the TDP above 15W.

 

[mountaincow]

Performance has been shown to be significantly better in certain games, which makes sense given the much more efficient and thermally improved APU, and the faster RAM. Plus the more energy efficient screen, giving more TDP headroom.

Also, I would guess that performance will be even more improved with future firmware and drivers, plus the possibility of maybe being able to overclock the chip and/or increasing the TDP, getting better performance with the same battery life as the LCD.

And so many other changes; improved thumbsticks, trackpads and shoulder buttons, plus wifi 6e, improved BT, separate wifi and BT antennas, larger & quieter cooling fan, improved disassembly and upgradeability/repairability.

Also, the framerate doubling should make a big difference, being able to run games at 45fps internal rendering, but getting 90fps picture.

Most of these are marginal improvements that don't really matter to me, with OLED and battery being the big ones that do. I've not seen any significant performance improvements. Please do share.

Don't take it personally. I'm not saying it's not good and isn't improved, but it's just not enough for me to justify the upgrade right now. If I didn't have one already I'd certainly be getting the OLED.

Also, framerate doubling? You mean being able to set the frame rate to half of the refresh rate? Is this some new marketing spin on something we've been able to do for years now?

 

[teaston]

Most of these are marginal improvements that don't really matter to me, with OLED and battery being the big ones that do. I've not seen any significant performance improvements. Please do share.

Don't take it personally. I'm not saying it's not good and isn't improved, but it's just not enough for me to justify the upgrade right now. If I didn't have one already I'd certainly be getting the OLED.

Also, framerate doubling? You mean being able to set the frame rate to half of the refresh rate? Is this some new marketing spin on something we've been able to do for years now?

I can’t find the video now, but basically most games have a small (around 5%) improvement in average fps. But the minimum fps is greatly improved in some games, as the APU isn’t throttling in demanding sections of the game.

The benefit of framerate doubling is improved input lag. I’m not actually sure if the LCD could do this, but the LCD is only a 60hz screen, so would only have worked up to 30fps internal.

 

[mountaincow]

I can’t find the video now, but basically most games have a small (around 5%) improvement in average fps. But the minimum fps is greatly improved in some games, as the APU isn’t throttling in demanding sections of the game.

The benefit of framerate doubling is improved input lag. I’m not actually sure if the LCD could do this, but the LCD is only a 60hz screen, so would only have worked up to 30fps internal.

Yes the LCD can do this. Any monitor can. You're not getting any improvements to input latency because you're not rendering or displaying any new frames. The benefit is that you display frames at a consistent rate, which tends to mean it appears smoother since the odd timing can appear stuttery. This is nothing new.

If you do find the video I'm interested in watching, but I still feel 5% isn't a large enough improvement for me.

 

[teaston]

Yes the LCD can do this. Any monitor can. You're not getting any improvements to input latency because you're not rendering or displaying any new frames. The benefit is that you display frames at a consistent rate, which tends to mean it appears smoother since the odd timing can appear stuttery. This is nothing new.

If you do find the video I'm interested in watching, but I still feel 5% isn't a large enough improvement for me.

It is new being able to do this at 45fps, as the LCD can only do it at up to 30fps.

As I say, the biggest improvements are on minimum frame rates. Average frame rates aren’t everything.

 

[mountaincow]

It is new being able to do this at 45fps, as the LCD can only do it at up to 30fps.

As I say, the biggest improvements are on minimum frame rates. Average frame rates aren’t everything.

But you can already set the refresh rate to 45Hz.. the reason to do it at 30fps/60Hz is that the display doesn't support 30Hz.