Valve is bringing much more than an "incrementally better" update to the
Steam Deck - here's what we know about the handheld's huge tech upgrade

Date:
Tue, 22 Oct 2024 14:02:28 +0000

Description:
There wont be incrementally better yearly products according to Valve designers Steam Deck 2 is aiming for a massive tech upgrade.

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Despite the aging AMD APU that powers the Steam Deck , it continues to be one of the best PC gaming handhelds on the market setting the gold standard for its competitors like the Asus ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go to follow.

And its because of this that, in a recent interview with Reviews.org, Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Yazan Aldehyyat confirmed that the planned successor to the device will boast some serious tech upgrades. According to Yang, Valve isnt planning on incrementally better yearly releases. Instead, Valve is planning to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before [it ships] the real second generation of
Steam Deck.

This all matches with what we currently know about the Steam Deck 2s release, thanks to the multitude of reports discussing the Steam Deck successor. Back in March 2023 for instance, Yang told the publication Rock Paper Shotgun that "a true next-gen Deck with a significant bump in horsepower wouldnt be for a few years."

During Tokyo Game Show 2023, Valve coder Pierre-Loup Griffais told CNBC that the team is hard at work on the current Steam Deck, but in terms of what
comes next, "were kind of looking at this performance target that we have as
a stable target for a couple years." Meaning that we wont be seeing the Steam Deck 2 until at least 2026.

This all makes sense since Australia finally got its hands on the Steam Deck. Before, gamers had to purchase the handheld from third-party importers, but now they can officially buy the device through Valve itself. The future of Valves Steam Deck 2 is bright

Though Valve hasnt stated what kind of chip theyre looking to power the Steam Deck 2, we at least know that itll definitely pack quite the punch. AMDs latest mobile processor, the Ryzen 7 8840U, already has a leg up on the currently used Aerith AMD APU in terms of power.

According to Batman Arkham Knight test results from X (formerly Twitter) user Cary Golomb, the new processor supports 7% more frames per second (fps) than Steam Decks current model, with the 8840U getting 51.7fps and the Aerith 48.3fps. Keep in mind that this is off 10W of power, which is what the Steam Deck uses now in other words, this new mobile chip can squeeze out more performance at the same level of battery life efficiency.

Obviously this wont be the chip that Valve goes with, as itll be wildly outdated by the time the Steam Deck 2 drops. But its certainly promising that the components it needs to fulfill the promise of a massive tech spike will
be waiting once Valve is ready. You might also like Steam Deck 2 is planned, Valve assures us Steam Deck 2 could be way more powerful and might feature
an unexpected twist Sorry gamers, the Steam Deck 2 is a long way off



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/steam-deck/valve-is-bringing-much-more-than-a n-incrementally-better-update-to-the-steam-deck-heres-what-we-know-about-the-h andhelds-huge-tech-upgrade


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