In context: Valve’s Steam Deck wasn’t designed to be a PC gaming beast, however that hasn’t stopped folks from testing how far it could actually go along with some augmentations to its capabilities. For instance, you possibly can connect an RX 6900 XT for a large enhance to total efficiency. It can be attention-grabbing to see if Valve will determine so as to add official eGPU assist to Steam Deck’s eventual successor.
The Steam Deck is a desktop pc at coronary heart and a handheld console in follow. Earlier this month, its BIOS was up to date with fTPM assist to permit customers to put in Windows 11. Microsoft’s new working system has some strict system necessities which have much less to do with CPU or GPU energy and extra to do with {hardware} security measures the corporate now needs to totally make the most of on client {hardware} and enterprise machines.
The efficiency of the Steam Deck is enough for its comparatively low-resolution display screen. However, YouTuber ETA Prime has determined to take issues up a number of notches and jury-rig a fats desktop GPU to Valve’s handheld console. The gadget does not have a Thunderbolt port for connecting an exterior GPU, so to do that, he used an adapter linked to the M.2 slot.
The drawback is that the OS and video games should run from the slower microSD storage. Furthermore, the Steam Deck will not boot should you connect an Nvidia GPU to it however will fortunately work with AMD Radeon playing cards such because the RX 6900 XT, which ETA Prime used within the experiment.
As you’d count on, the Steam Deck’s low-power APU struggles to feed a monster GPU just like the RX 6900 XT, particularly by the restricted PCIe lanes of the M.2 slot. Still, the contraption scored nearly 27,000 factors within the 3DMark Fire Strike take a look at and over 15,000 within the TimeSpy benchmark.
For reference, that is between 5 to 10 occasions sooner than with the Steam Deck’s iGPU. Gaming checks revealed an identical story, with the RX 6900 XT enabling the hand held console to realize properly over 60 frames per second at 4K in titles like The Witcher 3 and GTA 5 utilizing the utmost graphics settings. The similar wasn’t potential in current titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring, through which the setup struggled to output a relentless 60 framers per second even at 1080p, primarily due to the comparatively weak CPU.
Of course, most customers can obtain higher outcomes through the use of a cloud gaming service like Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming, supplied you will get it to work appropriately on the Steam Deck. In the meantime, Valve and AMD are nonetheless engaged on correct driver assist for Windows 11 and making sufficient Steam Deck items to fulfill the higher-than-expected demand from avid gamers.
