Valve announces portable console: the Steam Deck
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July 16, 2021 •
Not to be confused with Elgato’s Stream Deck (yes, they’re one letter apart), Valve has announced it’s new gaming hardware: the Steam Deck. If you’re seeing Switch Pro vibes then this might just be the device that those rumors are based on.
The Steam Deck is equipped with an AMD APU with 4 Zen 2 Cores and 8 threads with 8 compute units of RDNA2 graphics and 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. This is how it stacks with current gen consoles, kinda refreshing to see all AMD here right?
| Categories | Valve Steam Deck | Xbox Series X | Xbox Series S | PS5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | 4-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 2.4-3.5GHz | 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT enabled) | 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with SMT enabled) | 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.5GHz with SMT (variable frequency) |
| GPU | AMD RDNA 2 GPU 8 CUs @ 1.0-1.6GHz | AMD RDNA 2 GPU 52 CUs @ 1.825GHz | AMD RDNA 2 GPU 20 CUs @ 1.565GHz | AMD RDNA 2 GPU 36 CUs @ 2.23GHz (variable frequency) |
| GPU Power | 1.6 TFLOPS | 12.15 TFLOPS | 4 TFLOPS | 10.28 TFLOPs |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 RAM | 16GB GDDR6 RAM | 10GB GDDR6 RAM | 16GB GDDR6 RAM |
| Performance Target | 720p @ up to 60Hz | Target 4K @ 60 FPS. Up to 8K. Up to 120 FPS | Target 1440p @ 60 FPS. Up to 120 FPS | Target TBD. Up to 8K. Up to 120 FPS |
| Storage | 64GB eMMC / 256GB NVMe SDD / 512GB high-speed NVMe SSD | 1TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD (2.4GB/sec uncompressed, 4.8GB/sec compressed) | 512GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD (2.4GB/sec uncompressed, 4.8GB/sec compressed) | 825GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD (5.5GB/sec uncompressed, typical 8-9GB/sec compressed) |
| Expandable Storage | microSD slot | 1TB Expansion Card | 1TB Expansion Card | NVMe SSD Slot |
| Disc Drive | N/A | 4K UHD Blu-ray | None | 4K UHD Blu-ray (N/A on Digital Edition) |
| Display Out | USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 | HDMI 2.1 | HDMI 2.1 | HDMI 2.1 |
| MSRP | $399 / $529 / $649 | $499 | $299 | $499 |
The Steam Deck has no shortage of control options with dual thumbsticks (that are too high IMO) and right below them are dual trackpads. The usual 4 buttons (ABXY), D-pad and 4 shoulder buttons are also available alongside a gyroscope for motion controls.
The screen is a 7″ 1280 x 800 touch screen for 720p goodness. Oh and look a headphone jack.
For battery, Steam has equipped the Steam Deck with a 40w/h battery that should last 5-8 hrs depending on load.
No word yet if Steam Link support is available but this is likely — steam link allows you to stream games remotely, launch the game on your more powerful machine at home and stream the controls and video to your device.
Pricing wise, it’s close to Nintendo’s new OLED Switch starting at $399 with higher tiers introducing more storage — in this case better since the lowest tier only has EMMC.
Reservations open July 16th at 1PM ET
source: Steam Deck
Tags: Steam, Steam Deck, Valve
