- cross-posted to:
- linux_gaming@lemmit.online
- cross-posted to:
- linux_gaming@lemmit.online
Source is KeplerL2, who is generally considered a reliable source for insider hardware info, particularly on AMD GPU hardware and AMD SoC for consoles.
Previously I would have personally estimated Steam Deck 2 to release mid 2026-early 2027, but the recent info about an upcoming Steam Machine made me think that maybe I should push back that estimate.
Of course even if we assume this is reliable insider info, a lot can change in couple years, so things can definitely change.
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I love my Steam Deck OLED and would only really consider an upgrade for things that improve the experience or reliability. Being able to run low and medium-graphics games locally and stream everything else from my PC with Remote Play is awesome.
I’d only want things like:
- Hall effect or TMR sticks and triggers
- Better battery life(but honestly it’s already great)
- 1080p, but not at the cost of horsepower or battery
- More CPU and GPU power is never a bad thing but I wouldn’t want it at the cost of battery
- Cooler and quieter(it gets warm and loud on Forza 5, TABS, Helldivers 2, etc)
- Thunderbolt with external GPU support on the dock
- More storage is always a good thing and 2230 SSDs pretty much top out at 2TB
- The Bluetooth is laggy but I dunno, Bluetooth just kinda always sucks
and bloody hell Valve put the god damn xone driver in your SteamOS so I can use my Xbox wireless receiver without installing the driver after every update
It’s actually refreshing that a tech company isn’t putting out a barely upgraded yearly iteration just to cash in on fanboys/collectors.
I don’t want a new steam deck. I want a new steam controller and for valve to announce steam machines 2.0
Then we can finally watch windows die a (probably fairly slow, but steady) death.
New steam controller was leaked earlier this year, and leaks for the new steam machine came out a few days ago. So you’ll get your wish pretty soon probably.
What’s really cool is that in a lot of cases you can just load up the game on steam in linux and it just downloads and uses the same proton layers that the deck does. I run arch and in my testing so far it works, hampered by the fact that my test box is a very old a10 amd apu
The steam deck does benefit from common hardware. Valve will distribute prerendered shaders for the Deck’s GPU over steam game updates, so most of the time deck users don’t have to deal with shader stutter or wait for the game the render them itself during first startup.
Steam may share shaders between linux users with the same GPU, but I’m not sure. A new steam machine will definitely benefit from this though.
Steam may share shaders between linux users with the same GPU, but I’m not sure.
It does.
That’s fucking awesome, so as long as the proton layers exist for the steam deck, they’ll exist for (at least the distro your describing) Linux? Fuck I need to actually sit down and learn Linux one of these millennia.
Didn’t Valve say it was gonna be quite a while until they release a Steam Deck 2?
They said they would wait until there was a meaningful increase in the power or efficiency they could get out of the form-factor.
The OG deck launched 3.5 years ago, and since then not much has changed. The steam deck GPU has 1.6 TFlop of FP32 compute at 15W. AMD’s newest low-power APUs have 2.3 TFlop of FP32 at 28W - nearly double the power for a <50% theoretical performance gain.
A semi-custom APU (that removes the useless AI engine) would compare more favorably, but we are still talking about maybe 20% more performance, not exactly game changing for the cost.
That’s what I thought too. Add the fact that Valve time != normal time.
I think the zoomers dont really know what “quite a while” is.
Yes, but that was awhile ago that they said it as well.
Honestly, for me I don’t really need a new steam deck. The OLED deck is almost perfect already. I don’t know that a ton more processing power is necessary for me. Whenever I’ve wanted to play a more demanding game on my deck I stream it from either my desktop gaming rig, my ps5, or from Geforce Now. (Though i know obviously not everyone is going to have those luxuries) The only thing I think I would REALLY want would be a WiFi chip that doesn’t shit the bed if it doesn’t like the router your using.
Yeah right. If a new steam deck comes out in two or three years, I’ll probably be about ready to upgrade. Right now my existing deck is great and does all I need it to. Best bit of tech I’ve bought in many years.
I have an aging gaming computer (6700k, 2080ti) and as i get older the need for a massive desktop is financial shitty now and starting to feel unnecessary for me. Desktop mode in a dock feels great and most of my hardware/all of my storage is out in the garage in a rack. It’s a thin client I can game on.
I see plenty space to upgrade on battery relates masters, more deficiente processors would certainly allow that, whilst also enabling the deck to be used in 4K screens whilst docked with an actual decent performance and graphics.
Battery doesn’t have as much of an upgrade path as people think - you add more cells / energy in the same space, and you get the cause of those Samsung phone fires. It more commonly comes from processor efficiency improvements, which is hard when that’s mostly the domain of whoever coded the Windows-based video game you’re playing.
If it helps: Look up TDP customizations for your favorite games to play on Deck.
Oh… I kinda hope so… I just ordered a steam deck yesterday.
I meant to check this specifically before i ordered and i completely forgot
I got the OLED when it came out and it was the best purchase I made when it came to ‘consoles’
I don’t think I have turned my PS5 on more than a half dozen times since I got my Deck and that was just to play games like Beatsaber with the family.
The deck just offers way too much flexibility for games not to mention you can take it anywhere.
You’re gonna love it
Maybe if they could make the steam deck 1 actually available in aus/nz first so we can actually purchase them instead of everyone just having nintendo switches idk just a thought
I’ll ship one to you if you want
Thanks but things tend to have voltage or compatibility issues when made for a different market
Voltage won’t be an issue, it’s just USB c
The Steam Deck, like most mobile devices, don’t have issues with voltage as most don’t deal with it. It’s their charging cables that do that, which are external.
In the Steam Decks case, you just need a plug adapter as the stock USB plug that comes with it is rated for 110-240 volts. Your voltage is 230 volts, so no problems.
I’ve already had to do this, so already know it works. I’ve used my Canadian Steam Deck (110 volts) in Ireland (230 volts), and well as in Korea (220 volts). All I needed was a plug adapter, not a voltage adapter.
If you are still worried though, the Steam Deck is powered completely through USB C so you could just get a different USB C adapter to charge it. The stock plug charges at a rate of 40 watts, but can go slower though charging speed will show.
It’s 5 volts no matter where you are because you charge it via USB.
It’s been officially available in Australia since 2024. I don’t know about NZ though.
Til. Still not in NZ but might grab one next time I’m across the ditch
We? You, maybe. I just got the thing a year ago.
Ugh I just want to see the next gen if their VR.
I already have a beefy gaming PC and would much rather get an updated steam deck, that sucks
Yeah despite being an enthusiast for years my appetite for PC gaming hardware BS is running out and I’d love a really good dockable handheld to daily drive as my main PC.
It will release with half life 3 😂
Just upgraded the internal storage to 2tb.
I’m happy with my SD as is.
So basically when the hardware gets better and cheaper, like AAA games on medium 120fps stable, additionally it would use MicroSDexpress cards. Oh, and HDR and dynamic framerate on OLED (both at the same time) needs to be developed for small screens.
I don’t know why people are so eager for it, the deck is great, it’s a great purchase. I wish I had gotten the OLED, but I’m very very happy with it. I don’t see that it needs to be replaced annually or even every 2-3 years. It’s like the switch, why not go 4+ years before hardware drives that a new one is possible
I want to get a steamdeck but I feel (felt?) I’m too late in so I figured I’d just wait for the second one…
That’s a fair reason IMO. However, knowing that it might be a few years out, then it becomes “is it worth the wait”
The only reason I want the Deck 2 to release is to get a cheap Deck 1. I don’t really need one, so I’m not paying the price they’re asking for it. If 2 comes out and there are some cheap 1s people are getting rid of, I’ll probably snatch one up. Other than that, I think it plays about any game I’d want to play on it.
Because the capitalist system has trained the consumer to always want new, shiny things.
There you go, that’s the answer. Can’t just be happy with what we have, not even for a couple of years. Time to throw it away, get the new one!
PC gamers are very excited that there’s a handheld PC on the market thats made by Valve, but they don’t understand its meant to be a low-power gaming device. its not meant to be a 500+fps massive rig with all the trimmings and fixins.
They are trying to apply their upgrade logic/obsessive consumerism to a device that neither wants nor needs that in its own market.
This machine is incredible, it easily plays the backlog of 5000+ games I haven’t played before but of which a lot are way cooler than a lot of AAA being published today because it predates many current bad game development practices. DOS, NES, SNES, Wii, GB, GBA, GAMECUBE, PSP, PS1, PS2, SEGACD, … The list goes on. Steamdeck with Emudeck is a truly amazing experience. I don’t need a steamdeck 2 anytime soon.
same! i have recently been playing wow with friends on it and we are talking about doing a BG3 multiplayer game soon. and i use the steam deck as my daily gaming device!
its also my emulation setup as well. its just so good.
I wouldn’t even call it “low power”. More like mid
This has been a major annoyance I’ve had too with gamers. It was never meant to play games at 240fps with ultra graphics. It’s meant as a way to make “most” games playable on the road. A great low cost entry point, or something to compliment your big gaming rig. I don’t need an upgrade because it does what it does great, plays most games on decent settings well enough for the duration of a flight or trip. If you want ultra graphics, you will have to pay ultra prices and probably do a big desktop. Even “Steam Deck 2” will still probably only do 30-45fps games on medium, just newer games will be a bit more playable.
I want a higher resolution screen to make specific games more playable, by rendering text and stuff like that at higher resolution (while the rest of the game could keep targeting lower resolutions and get upscaled)
As described in more detail here; https://infosec.pub/comment/17743689
There is a zoom function. Haven’t tried it myself yet as I haven’t had the need yet. But there is on the deck.
I have good eyes, the zoom won’t help me because it doesn’t add pixels to the frame (maybe unless you’re downsampling?). I want more physical pixels, and then higher resolution text to make use of it!
When I first got the steam deck, I thought it was so great and used it all the time; I still do.
I told my wife that I liked it so much that I would buy the next one as soon as it released.
After having it for some time, I realized that all the games I play run on it easily and there is no real need to upgrade.
So, I plan to use this steamdeck until it it stops working. I imagine that will be a while as I’m going to repair it when/if something breaks.
I would like a smaller deck though, the current one is hard to hold if you don’t have big man hands
That’s a fair ask IMO. Not wanting a newer shinier one, just one that fits you better.
I want a second one because I know it’ll blow the first one out of the water, with the first one they had to figure out all the r&d from scratch, with the two they should be able to refine the hell out of it, I think there’s a good chance the 2 will be basically perfect. Shame they’ll never make a 3 though.
Ha!
Maybe they’re saving the conclusions to all their trilogies for the steam deck 3.
…too bad we’ll never get it though.
I’m not really sure what’s not perfect with the OLED already, lol. Maybe a second USB-C port would be nice, so we could charge it while using a non-hub device, or use a cheap hub to add even more controllers? That’s a minor, incremental improvement, though.
It could always be smaller/thinner/quieter, I guess, but I can’t think of anything I’d really want to change with my Deck. I have lots of minor pain points with other tech, but I literally can’t think of anything with the Deck, so I’m curious if you have any specifics, or if you’re just trusting that Valve has put some real thought and research into this and will surprise us with design changes for the better that aren’t obvious.
quieter
I mean, could it? Maybe it’s because my laptop fans sound like a goddamn Harley Davidson, but I feel like my SD is nearly silent.
Higher resolution. Not for higher resolution games, because at that screen size you won’t pick up everything anyway, but rather higher resolution for text and other visually smaller but important details. I want games to be able to tag a subset of extra important visual details for full resolution rendering, then everything else can keep getting upscaled
Hall effect everything, adaptive triggers, higher screen to body ratio, reduced weight, usb-c on top and bottom, enough performance to play spiderman 2 in particular on nice settings, 1080p, detachable siderail controllers, better haptics, better speakers. There’s honestly a lot wrong with the steam deck these things were all off the top of my head, if they fix everything on that list I won’t want any other gaming machine ever, though.
Adaptive triggers are fucking awesome
Hall effect joysticks would be great. The rest I don’t really count; obviously, better performance/bigger screen would be an incremental improvement, but I don’t need it. The OLED screen is plenty big enough.
I (personally) would never use detachable controllers and wouldn’t want more moving parts that could break. Haptics and adaptive triggers I don’t care about improving. For sound, I prefer headphones for when I want “good” sound, too, so that wouldn’t make a difference for me.
Even hall effect joysticks are only going to matter to me if my current joysticks break or develop play.
I really do think the current OLED is amazing.
You said you aren’t sure what isn’t perfect, I made a big list and you went “yeah but I’m fine with those imperfections” which is fine so stay with the original, but these are valid areas of improvement.
i’m not, especially the haptics and speakers suck, imo.
They aren’t going for detachable controllers, most likely. Theoretically they might make a future screen + SoC modular so you can swap a frame (it would kinda make sense from an engineering perspective to build the center similar to a tablet IF you can hit all required specs that way), but even for Valve that’s unlikely. They may prototype it but likely won’t release it.
Would OTOH be nice with a Steam Controller 2 which can fold flat to fit in the same case as the Steam Deck. Also not likely to happen 🤷
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Underpowered?! I can play fucking Elden Ring!
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How is that the standard for a thing that costs less than just my graphics card and is fully portable?? I don’t even need my gaming pc to do that shit.
For what it is, the steam deck performs exceedingly well.
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Why would you need 1440p on a small screen like that? I think 720p on the original switch was fine and see no need for anything with a small screen to have so hig resolution. Especially since that means less battery time, just waste of power.
You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.
Look, I see what you’re getting at, high end GPU improvements have slowed to a trickle and they just keep charging more. You’re not wrong that the business has changed and NVIDIA and AMD are squeezing.
However that is NOT what is happening with the Steam Deck. This is a simple engineering limitation. You cannot have a super powerful GPU in the form factor of the SD due to size, cooling, and power constraints. They can’t just magic these limitations away or throw money at it. To get what you want would not only cost more, but the SD would be twice the size if not more, sound like a jet engine, and have a 15 minute battery life.
Nobody under 16 should be on Lemmy
90 FPS @1440p
On a handheld? What even for?
60 FPS is already a meme on computer, even more now that certain companies hallucinate frames for their games with AI.
Yeah what an absurd comment lol… That said, the OLED model does do 90fps
Yeah I’m amazed at how the tiktok brainrot has made it impossible for a whole generation to understand that on a thing that you are going to hold far too close to your face, you don’t want to have to squint and dry your eyes at far too many things going on at the same time too fast. Monster Hunter 4 did wonders on the 3DS and that was a 244p game!
What handheld, wait no, console period can?
Most people don’t care that much to play at 90 fps on 1440p on a mobile device.
I suspect part of the issue is you’re a kbm player primarily?
Even on desktop PCs, you need a relatively recent gpu to play at that level, one of those gpus is almost the entire size of the deck lmfao
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I think you misunderstand what the Deck is. It’s a handheld laptop with a built-in controller with the express purpose of playing games. It’s not a GPU with a screen.
I feel you about GPU pricing, but the Deck is one of the few things I’ve bought in recent years where I didn’t feel buyer’s remorse, even slightly. How it’s priced is fair for what you get: an ultra-portable Linux gaming laptop. Plus, you get the added benefit of knowing that you’re further supporting gaming on Linux; Proton literally changed the gaming landscape, and Valve has directly partnered with Arch Linux.
I still frequently play my Desktop, but there are times when I just want to chill in bed, sit on the couch, play on vacation, and there’s simply no way I can take my desktop computer with me to those places.
Ultra Graphics at 1440p
Good Battery Life
Good PricePick 2.
Add these;
Cool to touch
Lightweight
See other comments, this was on purpose to make it more portable. The deck doesn’t need to be a powerhouse, it needs to be portable. We already have powerhouse desktops
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By definition it cannot exist. You can have a powerhouse or portable. The fact that they made the deck as powerful as they did is frankly amazing.
The ROG Xbox Ally X is rumored to target 1080p at $899.99, ONEXPLAYER has models using the latest and greatest AMD AI 9 HX and 144hz at $900~$1K-ish, Aya Neo and GPD Win have some too.
There’s plenty options for “Powerhouse portables”, you just gotta be willing to pay for 'em.
100% agree. My only gripe is I wish I got the OLED.
Oh, and input lag in Rocket League.
I havent played it on steam Deck, usually on PC, but on console you can vastly improve the input lag with a few settings, mainly turning the vertical synchronisation off. Maybe it helps with the Deck too.
Yea I’ve done all the usuals, and it’s “OK” for casual play. Playing competitive on it is a no-go. It’s also much better with a wired Xbox controller on the right dock (some increase the lag, some actually make it better).
Cuz there are a lot of games that it can not run due to performance? I mean there are a lot of games on my wishlist that are waiting for a steam deck 2 so I can actually play them if i buy them… On top of that I have the OG LCD version and it’s not worth for me to upgrade to the OLED, a steam deck 2 on the other hand
Your question depends on your definition of “can it run”. To me, as a portable device I get 45 fps on the witcher on medium settings and that’s very playable. If you want to use it as a desktop and expect that the next version will rival a 5000 series GPU, that’s unrealistic.
In bg3 even with lowest settings I had 20 fps, in the last arc I had 2 fps even with 240p… I tired cyberpunk recently and it ran with 30 fps diped some times, which is playable I guess but my battery lasts 30-45 min… And the same issue I have the same issue with all AAA games, I can lower the settings to make them playable at 40 fps, but my battery life is so short that it’s not even worth playing.
In the first place with this it’s best to just compare price to performance with the competitors and even now the steam deck has lost its lead, and it will only get worse if Asus releases a better performing device every year.
The same thing happened with the valve index.
I’ve been playing cyberpunk and prey on mine recently and I’ve had no problems with either. I don’t count FPS unless it is annoying, but I’ve not noticed any problems with either. Prey looks gorgeous in fact.
I don’t think you can take a device like this and compare AAA titles on it, but even if we do then I think you can only compare it to other handhelds. Right now, checking the competitors they’re mostly on par right now for AAA performance. I stand by my other comments, if you’re looking for good graphics and good performance, a handheld is not the right device for you - you need to be looking at a desktop with an actual GPU and real power.
Those are real tradeoffs we make by going portable, we expect lower performance so we can get a longer battery life. We cannot have a long battery and great performance in a portable, they go against each other. If others are able to pull it off then yeah go with them, but every bit of performance they add means consuming more battery life.
I don’t want anything special tho.
Like give me 35-50% better performance and 35-50% better battery life and I am happy. This should be possible, after all iirc the CPU of the deck is 4 generations old and the GPU 2 generations. I mean the battery life we already got with the oled version so only the performance is missing
Nothing has indicated that a new Steam Deck is anywhere near a release or announcement. They said themselves time and time again that they would want a new Steam Deck to be a significant upgrade on the first one.
As long as a really big performance improvement is not possible there won’t be a new Steam Deck. And I don’t think running Cyberpunk 1080p instead of 800p counts. My bet is that as long as raytracing is as abysmal as it is now on APUs we can’t even dream of getting a new Deck.
Think console generations and not smartphone releases.
Not only that, but raw horsepower and battery life are always in a delicate balance in any portable device.
There are practical limitations when it comes to current battery technology. Not to mention heat generation and dissipation that comes with more powerful hardware.
