So who preordered a Steam Deck?

After countless failed attempts, got my 512 GB Deck reserved!

 

It's an interesting idea if you're into that niche. I was just reading about it over at dsog. The size is kinda weird though, really wide. I guess they are trying to get some of that nintendo market but idk, those guys are like apple adherents lol

https://www.dsogaming.com/news/valve-has-announced-steam-deck-a-new-gaming-handheld-pc-device/

• CPU: AMD Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
• GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
• RAM: 16 GB DDR5
• Storage: 64GB, 256GB, 512GB versions; expandable with MicroSD cards
• Display: 7″ diagonal, 1280x800 (16:10), 60Hz LCD touchscreen
• Audio: Stereo speakers that “pack a punch,” says Valve, 3.5mm stereo jack, dual mics, multichannel USB-C/Bluetooth output
• Controls: Two analog sticks with capacitive touch, D-pad, face buttons, analog triggers, bumpers, assignable grip buttons, “view” and “menu” buttons, gyro
• Trackpads: There’s two of them, and Valve says that they have “55% better latency compared to Steam Controller.”
• Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Wired connectivity: USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-mode support; up to 8K @60Hz or 4K @120Hz, USB 3.2 Gen 2
• Battery: 40Whr, “2-8 hours of gameplay”
• Size: 11.7″ x 4.6″ x 1.8″ (298mm x 117mm x 49mm)
• Weight: Approximately 1.47 lbs (669 grams)

 

Nope, not my jam.
Don't care for hand held gaming.

 

I decided not to when I estimated we were looking at low-medium settings at 720p. It's an interesting release but I really don't need or want a handheld. I'm sure there's plenty of people that will be happy with it though for what it is and what it can potentially do for a handheld emulation device etc.. I really have no interested in that.

I had that little rush when it was announced of considering it, but it's not going to add anything to my gaming life and at that price I'd rather just upgrade my GPU when they get back to something approaching sane prices.

Yeah, having a Nintendo console isn't even remotely about the console itself or the power or really even the ecosystem (online service, shop, etc..) as Nintendo has always been garbage at that. It's strictly about Nintendo games and being the only place to get them.

 

I got the 256gb variant held for me. It looks cool. I have a lot of small indy games that would be cool on the go.

And I gave that loading 3rd party apps blurb a good side eyeing.

 

Is it on-device render only or does it have streaming capabilities as well?

 

I'd assume it can do steam in home like just about any other device.

And you can load 3rd party programs so I'd reckon you could could probably find something linux capable out there.

 

I figured that would be the case I Just didn't see anything about that when I buddy was showing me. I would have more interest just for the capability since the main game I use a controller with is horizon zero dawn which is pretty hard on pc's

 

When I had a 3ds it was awesome how they did the 3d capability, I only ever got good 3d games like MGS3/yoshi/mario but they get old after a while. Nintendo systems keep decent resale value as do the game cartridges, it's kind of like just trading out among used buyers. If one was going to do emulation this would be a better value than switch tbh.

 

I stared at the reserve page for half an hour before talking myself out of it. I'll wait for reviews, especially to see if the $399 version or the 256gb has the functional nvme slot on the board as well. Valve's tech/PR team gave an interview that said the devices were "not user upgradeable" but I'm hoping that is just a translation of "don't open this, we will void your warranty." or some such nonsense.

 

That's part of why I want it. Take some indies with me and my library of hand ripped roms. Lmao

 

I can't help but think of Steam machines when I see the Deck, more so when I see Valve wanting other vendors to make their own. There was two issues with Steam Machines. The first was game availability, which Proton has fixed for the most part. The other was the OS ...does moving to Arch fix this enough? Valve seemed to try to be an upstart against Microsoft around W10 launch and now again with W11. I think it's a gamble running basically the same play, but done better plus the portability factor trying to make the difference. I hope it works because it seems SteamOS 3 is a step meant to lead to something else.

I'm not sure if I'm going to buy one as I don't need the portability in this form factor at the moment.

 

Oh yeah, Steam Machines, I 'member those! This was the first thing that came to my mind. Maybe Valve will succeed this time better.
Wonder if users will be able to install Windows on it though. IIRC Proton still lags in performance behind Windows (although there apparently are instances where it performs better).

Yeah lol. Looking at Nintendo camp it seems like it's a one big cult, which is hard for me to understand... Seems like they get the same Mario game every year and are extremely happy about it. But with Switch at least finally they started to get some variety like Doom 2016, The Witcher 3, Skyrim, etc.

 

Nintendo makes great games that have super wide appeal and are usually worth the price of admission into their hardware. I'm not even going to try to argue that. I think at least branching out a little was smart to try to maybe get some of the money that was being spent getting an additional platform, it would probably convince some of the fence sitters that were considering it.

My guess Valve was like.. well.. we can build something comparable in power to a switch. They probably also had enough metrics from Steam installs of people getting those portable PCs that are similar to Steam Deck to try to get a read on how many people were interested in something like that form factor. Factor in how hard it is to get even a modest GPU right now and it's a sort of win. Though, they would have had to have been designing this years ago before that was a problem, you can't spin this up in a year and a half. Also makes sense why they have been continuing to put considerable effort into Proton.

 

Yeah that's a pretty high entry price to me, but at least it's more open than a switch would be ie more open OS/i/o ports, watch movies/tv from your own microsd etc I just think for that wide of a product, almost 12", you may as well get a very small laptop for more versatility sans high level gaming. The resolution isn't exactly killing it on this either. Seems like it'd be dumped in a backpack in a closet somewhere after 6mos to me. Unless you sit on transit a lot everyday where a small laptop might not be as easy to use. But I'm all for more manufacturers and systems.

 

Turns out, the SSD in the device is an M.2 SSD, not soldered on. But it supposedly is not meant for end-user replacement. It makes the base $399 model far more tempting than previously.
https://videocardz.com/newz/steam-d...lot-but-valve-does-not-recommend-upgrading-it
https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech (now updated to reflect the socketed SSD information)
Although, anyone pre-ordering any model now would be getting it at earliest Q2 of next year (Q3 for the 512 GB model).

 

This will be far more powerful than the switch and more like a base PS4 (Steam decks 1.0 ~ 1.6TF vs the Switches .15 ~ .4TF) . I think people forget the switch is running on an 6 year old architecture and doesn't support the more efficient and expanded feature set (VRS, Dynamic scaling Faster storage, etc). I love my switch and certain parts of the catalogue but imo they aren't the same thing whatsoever...this being an actual portable gaming PC.

 

Yea, thats what I plan to use it for. I drive bus and if I get to pick my stuff right I have a 20-40 minutes EoL.

And can sit up to 12 hours a day in a bus or yard if I get cover. Lol

Throw some emulation on it and some AA and indies. Mmmm perfect. Lol

 

It's a pass for me. Never even heard of this thing until I noticed this thread. My switch which mostly just collects dust lately is enough for my handheld needs )

 

I don't think people that want a Switch care about its performance, it's about the Nintendo exclusives.

 

I can def agree on the exclusives but I'd argue the point that an affordable mobile pc gaming device would be as desirable for many people.

 

I don't think they will even get spitting distance to Switch sales but Valve has enough data to know if it would be worthwhile or not, which bodes well for what metrics fed into them thinking this was a worthwhile investment. I think the first volley with the Steam Machines of the mid 2010's was most likely just a gamble, probably some of that eaten by the OEMs making Steam Machines.

 

Handhelds have always been a niche, but previously, you were forced to actually buy (or pirate the games with a flashcart). With only Nintendo actually understanding the market with their Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, and DS series, with a few misses along the way (Wii-U, etc). The Sony PSP was probably the only other decent effort but still couldn't touch Nintendo.

But Valve is actually tapping into a huge gold mine here. Because instead of actually having to buy a bunch of exclusive games, you can just play your existing Steam Library games or use it as a handheld PC, that isn't much worse in power than full fledged BGAbooks from several years ago. Having gaming on the go, without having to carry around a bulky laptop with you, and not having to spend any money on new games, is giant untapped potential.

They're doing what the GPD Win 3 and AYA Neo are failing to do. And what Dell and Razer failed at.

 

is a gtx 1050 enough for 720p? yes
im impressed i think ill pass though as i just got a s21 ultra for mobile gaming and enjoy the 3200-1440p 120hz oled screen..i think alot of android games look like pc games on low/medium...there is no doubt a market as android gaming is number 1 and switch is doing pretty darn good....huge market actually

 

Really good points, I look at how many games some people have in their steam library and am astounded. I get it the sales can be irresistable but at some point you just won't have time to even try all of them let alone actually like them enough to play them all the way through. Well this can be an in between, on the go, way to sample the hundreds of games already bought while doing other things not at a desk etc. I only really played my 3ds either traveling(I'm no road warrior most of the time), in front of the tv on the couch or a lot when I first bought it or got a new game of which I only ever got 4-5 total of the top games. At some point it had been sitting for so long I just sold it all and after all monies collected wasn't out more than about $40 for the whole system and games. I could see the resale on this being a good way to gift a bunch of owned games as a sales hook too. That and steam isn't going anywhere as a platform and did it right unlike nintendo which is clunky and restrictive.

 

Plus this thing is going to make 60% keyboards sell like hotcakes. Just throw a Pok3r, Ducky, or some other mini keyboard in your backpack and a wireless mouse and receiver and maybe some sort of small hard mouse pad and now you can get some serious work done.

Next year is going to be interesting. We'll have something to point our pitchforks at besides Intel's ADL launch and extremely expensive DDR5.

 

interesting....i think this thing is pretty flipping cool...and im sure alot of others also think so..but the price?

 

It would definitely cause me to dip into some of the less graphically intense games in my backlog that I haven't played if I was to get one lol

 

i have more than a few games id like to play on the steam deck so i went to buy one and its not available till summer 2022???wtf im not waiting a year

 

That's probably about the same amount of time we'll be waiting for GPU prices to be reasonable.

 

Didnt nvidia raise their pricing again on the Ti variants? Or was that just the 3080Ti ?

 

i thought crypto was crashing...ie cheap gpus and lotza them

 

Ethereum dipped to 1750 per coin and is back at 2000. Instead of hoping for crypto crash you are more likely to see either 2 scenarios.

A. People give up when the merge occurs on Ethereum switching from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake

B. People mine something else, of which there are plenty of options and some miners are already switching to rake in coins in the event difficulty spikes on coins they think have promise.

 

I like Nintendo games; look forward to them. Never liked small form factor gaming though and haven't bought into any of it. I'm not carrying this thing around without a backpack, messenger case, etc. If I'm going to do that I can just throw my Spectre in there and have a significantly better screen and work platform and still play older games. That thing is thin and light enough you can hardly tell you're packing it. So it isn't just the small form factor, I see no use case.

My kids on the other hand dig this thing and it sounds like they're all getting one.

 

yeah its just not the same when you get older....when i was a kid I had a portable sega system and played sonic all the time, i loved grabing it before i was grounded and played the thing till i was tired, i enjoyed the escape.....now that im older this system appeals to me but not in the same way....if i buy it..it will just be another toy in my collection.. but i cant see myself putting in serious time on it.

 

If my area had decent public transportation I would probably be more interested

 

yeah I dont know if i'd use one of these in public would be an embarrassing experience...like my life is so sad I need an escape while travelling versus conversation with a human. man have we gotten sad...I wonder what people will be saying and engaging in within the next ten years or so...

 

In Korea, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan no one ever spoke to random people on public transit, we played PSP/Cell phone emulations, read a book. Embarrassing? Hardly. Its practically an expectation that people will occupy their time while awaiting their destination.

Nintendo Switch falls into the same category as well.

 

yeah I live in canada and we tend to talk to each other but its turning into little china fast./.more and more dependance on technology

 

Most of my buddies live in Alberta, I dont hear much about public transportation being better or more efficient than just driving so with that its probably just a culture difference, nothing wrong with that

Even farmers depend quite a bit on technology

 

yeah I know thats where i live....southern alberta.....born and raised on vancouver island BC ...miss it but albertas ok...

I was going to say is it still worth mining bitcoin and how much money does it typically generate versus costs....just noticed it in your sig.

 

For most people getting now BitCoin is not profitable outside of ASICs. Ethereum is dicey because you dont know when they will switch off of Proof of Work (GPU mining) to Proof of Stake (GPU mining byebye). So if you you get in now, know that you may not hit ROI on ethereum and either just accept that fact or panic sell later lol.

There are a multitude of coins other than Ethereum, a lot of people see promise in Raven and ERGO looks to have potential as a mining coin especially if you have HBM cards and/or 3080 and up. You could mine some shiba inu or dogecoin for the lolz and just hold on to it in the odd event you get another meme flair up.

For profitability many things come into play, but the obvious one is electricity vs how much of a particular coin you mine per day. Minerstat (while not perfect) has a pretty good list of GPU's and relative coins, lays it out pretty well. If something looks interesting you can google from that point forward to find details not included in the more general guides

Eth is up right now so its kind of hard to say for certain but if it continued this pace then it would be around 1100 in mined coin vs 100 electricity cost. For the last few weeks I was around 850/950 per month. But keep in mind its hard to recommend Eth right now when the merge is around the corner without a hard date for the switch to Stake. It would be like telling you get this amazing gas truck just to learn that your city intends to switch to all diesel in a few months.

 

Reserved myself a 512GB model but for Q2 2022, so will wait for actual hands on reviews to see if it's worth buying by then.

 

Same boat. I got my reserve about 4 hours after that went live. I had not been paying any attention to any new hardware so I didn’t even know this was coming. I was considering getting one of those inwin devices for awhile so this was a no brainer for me.

 

im sure when this comes out i'll buy it for couch gaming but I sure hope 2 tera flops is enough for 720p

 

Gaben says it'll play everything. Always trust the Gaben... Most notably when the Gaben is requesting you part with your funds...

In other news
https://videocardz.com/newz/steam-decks-rdna2-gpu-is-much-faster-than-aya-neos-vega

That sentence should say Steam Deck is 59.4% faster IN DOOM: ETERNAL, though it quite possibly could translate to most other games as well.

 

How can you check what shipping round did you pre order ? Steam was messing up and I am afraid that I did not get in the first round.

 

Go to the the Steam page you ordered on and check below the model you ordered should look like this

 

Man this thing will get me if it succeeds. I hardly play my switch because I know someday it will go away and I will lose all my games. My Steam PC games I've been able to play on every computer I've had since I joined in 2004. I prefer my DRM free games but even Steam games would be better than Switch.

 

Saw this today, looks like it may be win11 compatible.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Valve...sses-in-initial-hands-on-videos.554373.0.html