Apeture Desk Job
*** The Official Steam Deck Thread ***
- Thread starter DrCrabHands
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Currently playing through the Mass Effect trilogy on my OLED Steam Deck and it is fantastic. I get about 3 hours battery life running at 60 FPS. Just being able to relax on the couch instead of being at a desk is great. I have about 50 games installed on my 512GB model so I think I will be set until the upgraded Steam Deck comes out in a couple of years.
Out of interest, is that on SteamOS or Windows? I was under the (mistaken?) impression that Mass Effect had some awkward third-party launcher nonsense going on, despite being on Steam.
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I've just finished the first game on SteamOS. The only frustration is that you need to be online to be able to start the game (but it's fine anywhere with WiFI or where you can tether your phone). Once the game is running, though, you can lose connection. Before taking long trips / flights, I've just opened the game up and then put the Deck to sleep and it's resumed fine.
Thanks, is that the 'Legendary' version? I notice on the Steam store page that a third-party account is mentioned. Seems odd given that it's on Steam, which is already an account-based system...
Definitely enough here to explore. Thanks.Its certainly powerful enough and capable of playing just about anything. Even older games that dont work on Windows!
A few examples
It is - and EA make you log into their account regardless of whether you've bought through Steam. It's a minor hassle the first time you open the game but otherwise barely noticeable
Tried -50 but crashes, seem stable at -40.
I got the SD recently and mainly been playing Dave the Diver. Had to run a more demanding game to test the undervolting. Loaded up Titanfall 2 and blown away by how amazing it looks and performs. Still in awe that I'm running a full PC game on a handheld...what a time to be alive.
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Sounds like 50 older games! I've got about 10 installed on my 256GB and already out of space. I delete as I go though.
I thought -50/-20/-30 was stable after a couple of days gaming but had it randomly crash a couple of times. Raised it back up to -40, but after a few more days that crashed as well. Now rock solid on -30/-20/-30. Definitely lost in the silicon lottery in terms of GPU though, but -20 is still a decent result. -40 on the SoC looked like it was working but I was getting weird stability behaviour.
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Nearly all games from a few years ago or indy games. I think that is what the Steam Deck excels at though. It's a great way to play through your back log.
Oh yeah for sure. I'm playing so many more games in my library than I would have sat at the desk. I have a lot of my Indies on an SD card.
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The Steam Deck has got me back into PC / retro gaming. I just couldn't really be bothered sitting on my own playing games. Now I can sit next to my Wife and Daughter on the couch whilst they are watching Stacey Solomon cleaning someone's house or whatever whilst I play Super Mario World or Risk of Rain. Then I can take it with me whilst I wait in the car for my daughter coming out of one of her clubs.
A 4090 would be nice and all but I actually don't think I would swap my Steam Deck for one (If I wasn't allowed to sell the 4090!) because in many ways it would be a lesser experience overall. My plan going forward is to save loads of money sticking to playing older games (which are feature complete and less buggy) on the Steam Deck and ignoring the hype for new games. When a new Steam Deck comes out upgrade to that and then play newer games on that.
I think I probably have moved away from ridiculously expensive traditional PC gaming and may now be a full time portable PC gamer now.
I'm really tempted to get a steam deck (or the ally). I have a console so the triple A games on a big screen is covered but want something to play on the go around the house and outside. With these portable gaming PC's my only 2 concerns are the battery life (I am really forgetful about charging stuff) and the screen size for games where you have to read text. Would get a switch instead but my steam library (and it tons of unplayed games) makes a PC handheld the better option.
Personally would go for the Legion Go over the Ally though it is a bigger device and not without issues of its own, way too many quality control issues with the Ally (even the supposedly updated version). The Steam Deck is one of the better options unless you need Windows support.
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I can’t see past a SteamDeck. The OLED version especially has decent battery life especially if you’re not playing AAA games all the time. The SD has been designed as gaming machine from the ground up and that includes SteamOS which gives it a huge leg up over its Windows based counterparts. You pick it up and play games - no mucking about with Windows updates or launchers or any other hindrances.