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I hope Valve will release an updated SteamDeck with a new SoC featuring Zen4 instead of Zen2 and RDNA3 vs RDNA2, all on the smaller 4nm process, as the current

I hope Valve will release an updated SteamDeck with a new SoC featuring Zen4 instead of Zen2 and RDNA3 vs RDNA2, all on the smaller 4nm process, as the current SoC is kind of holding it back a bit. That would definitely boost performance and battery life. Wouldn't mind it if came with a price increase, as it would still be cheaper than a single high end GPU alone.

pdpi 4y ago
They would mind the price. All of the videos at the time of announcement highlighted how hard they tried to keep the price down.
prmoustache 4y ago
> I hope Valve will release an updated SteamDeck with a new SoC featuring Zen4 instead of Zen2 and RDNA3 vs RDNA2, all on the smaller 4nm process, as the current SoC is kind of holding it back a bit. > >That would definitely boost performance and battery life. Wouldn't mind it if came with a price increase, as it would still be cheaper than a single high end GPU alone. That would be a terribly unwise decision from Valve. If there is one sure thing about video games console systems, is that stability of the product is more important than outright performances. That is what makes them so successful over gaming PCs. If Nintendo or Sony was releasing a new model every 2 years and people couldn't run new games on the old releases, only a fraction of those users, the very hardcore gamers, would follow the upgrade path and most users would just leave the platforms. The best thing that can happen is the Steamdeck stays the same for 5 to 10 years and video game developers continue making sure their games run well on it.
- kibwen 4y ago
  I agree that it's too soon for a CPU refresh for the Steam Deck, but I disagree with the idea of thinking of it as a console. It's a PC, and PC game developers are already required to support a vast, unfathomable array of configurations far beyond what an upgraded Steam Deck would require.
  - prmoustache 4y ago
    It is definitely a pc but if you don't treat it as a console and start selling newer upgraded versions, it will soon be dead as a platform. It is not machine you can swap the GPU or the motherboard or upgrade the memory at will and pc game developers / companies mostly don't give a fuck about people who aren't using something at least close to the greatest and fastest unless it is a highly sold platform.
coffeebeqn 4y ago
And Thunderbolt. I’d love to slap a midrange external GPU on for when I want to play on my 1440p monitor.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  Thunderbolt is too expensive for the Steamdeck. USB 4 should do the same but cheaper.
  - coffeebeqn 4y ago
    Oh cool, whatever works and is affordable
  - thrwawy74 4y ago
    But USB4 is Thunderbolt?
    - vetinari 4y ago
      With USB4 the PCIe tunneling is optional; with TB it is mandatory.
      - izacus 4y ago
        Ehm, the specification is clear that all external ports should expose PCIe tunneling? Or is there something that changed?
        vetinari 4y ago
        I don't know what Microsoft based their claim about it (maybe their own requirements in Windows HCP?) From the spec: 2.1.1.5 USB4 Host Host contains: * A Host Router. * A USB 2.0 Host. * An Enhanced SuperSpeed Host. * A DisplayPort Source. Host can also optionally contain a PCIe controller or PCIe switch. A USB4 Host supports 20G USB4 operation (Gen 2). It optionally supports 40G USB4 operation (Gen 3) and 80G USB4 operation (Gen 4).
rlex 4y ago
There was interview with valve [1], and i'm pretty sure there will be no "steam deck 2" anytime soon. They want better battery and screen (tbh, my deck have pretty noticeable IPS glow in dark scenes), but that's it. So i expect "steam deck pro" to be like switch OLED compared to switch v1/v2 - better battery, better screen, same performance. Also, keeping current deck hw specs will allow developers to focus on single device when optimizing game for deck. Some games (i.e. cyberpunk 2077) already have dedicated "steam deck" graphics preset. Some (i.e. sons of the forest) have steamdeck: true/false variable in debug window. Maybe we'll see dedicated deck support in some game engines? Who knows. [1] https://www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview-late-2022 https://www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview...
- ip26 4y ago
  5nm zen4 can probably beat 7nm zen2 on efficiency, which would help battery life. Perhaps it isn’t a big enough factor to matter, however.
  - awill 4y ago
    probably?? A 3-4 year newer CPU architecture, and a 2 generation improvement on FAB. Yes.
- shmerl 4y ago
  Why wouldn't newer APU help for lower battery drain though? > keeping current deck hw specs will allow developers to focus on single device when optimizing game for deck That argument is used by incumbent console makers to refresh their hardware once in 5 years which results in it being horribly behind and holding games back as well. So I don't really buy this logic.
  - fbdab103 4y ago
    Then you can get into a situation where the refresh Xbox plays games better than the original release. That confusion about, "Is this game compatible" is not great for consumers.
gloryjulio 4y ago
The biggest upgrade would actually be the screen. I already found the screen resolution + meh ips made it unappealing to play demanding games anyway. For example, I could make monster hunter world to run at 60 fps but many games like this is just not designed for 720p. There are so many things on screen that are shrunk to few pixels and it just looks bad
- djmips 4y ago
  Games don't even work well on my older full-sized TV. The UIs seem geared towards high resolutions and people with really good eyesight.
- thebruce87m 4y ago
  They pair pretty well with Nreal Air glasses - now if only I could write a driver to make the screen stay in space rather than moving with my head.
- sosodev 4y ago
  I’ve found that forcing games to run at above native resolutions can help quite a bit. The aliasing that happens at the native res can be pretty bad even with high AA settings depending on the implementation. Also, the deck tends to have GPU headroom due to the awful CPU performance so you can do it for free usually.
  - gloryjulio 4y ago
    It's not just that. Many modern games are simply not designed for low resolution. 1080p is the barely minimum for them and higher resolutions would be even better. There will be too many objects on screen. When u shrink it to 720p, it's simply not viable anymore as the objects and textures have too few pixels to represent.
    - acomjean 4y ago
      Sounds like more of a game problem. The screen is about 200dpi which is pretty good. As more games test on the deck that should improve. I tried playing some steam board games on there, the text is readable but on a small screen it's not a good experience. It worked well with an external screen. It's a tradeoff between cost, performance, portability, battery life and resolution. They've done a nice job in my opinion.

pdpi 4y ago

They would mind the price. All of the videos at the time of announcement highlighted how hard they tried to keep the price down.

prmoustache 4y ago

> I hope Valve will release an updated SteamDeck with a new SoC featuring Zen4 instead of Zen2 and RDNA3 vs RDNA2, all on the smaller 4nm process, as the current SoC is kind of holding it back a bit. > >That would definitely boost performance and battery life. Wouldn't mind it if came with a price increase, as it would still be cheaper than a single high end GPU alone. That would be a terribly unwise decision from Valve. If there is one sure thing about video games console systems, is that stability of the product is more important than outright performances. That is what makes them so successful over gaming PCs. If Nintendo or Sony was releasing a new model every 2 years and people couldn't run new games on the old releases, only a fraction of those users, the very hardcore gamers, would follow the upgrade path and most users would just leave the platforms. The best thing that can happen is the Steamdeck stays the same for 5 to 10 years and video game developers continue making sure their games run well on it.

kibwen 4y ago
I agree that it's too soon for a CPU refresh for the Steam Deck, but I disagree with the idea of thinking of it as a console. It's a PC, and PC game developers are already required to support a vast, unfathomable array of configurations far beyond what an upgraded Steam Deck would require.
- prmoustache 4y ago
  It is definitely a pc but if you don't treat it as a console and start selling newer upgraded versions, it will soon be dead as a platform. It is not machine you can swap the GPU or the motherboard or upgrade the memory at will and pc game developers / companies mostly don't give a fuck about people who aren't using something at least close to the greatest and fastest unless it is a highly sold platform.

coffeebeqn 4y ago

And Thunderbolt. I’d love to slap a midrange external GPU on for when I want to play on my 1440p monitor.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago
Thunderbolt is too expensive for the Steamdeck. USB 4 should do the same but cheaper.
- coffeebeqn 4y ago
  Oh cool, whatever works and is affordable
- thrwawy74 4y ago
  But USB4 is Thunderbolt?
  - vetinari 4y ago
    With USB4 the PCIe tunneling is optional; with TB it is mandatory.
    - izacus 4y ago
      Ehm, the specification is clear that all external ports should expose PCIe tunneling? Or is there something that changed?
      - vetinari 4y ago
        I don't know what Microsoft based their claim about it (maybe their own requirements in Windows HCP?) From the spec: 2.1.1.5 USB4 Host Host contains: * A Host Router. * A USB 2.0 Host. * An Enhanced SuperSpeed Host. * A DisplayPort Source. Host can also optionally contain a PCIe controller or PCIe switch. A USB4 Host supports 20G USB4 operation (Gen 2). It optionally supports 40G USB4 operation (Gen 3) and 80G USB4 operation (Gen 4).

rlex 4y ago

There was interview with valve [1], and i'm pretty sure there will be no "steam deck 2" anytime soon. They want better battery and screen (tbh, my deck have pretty noticeable IPS glow in dark scenes), but that's it. So i expect "steam deck pro" to be like switch OLED compared to switch v1/v2 - better battery, better screen, same performance. Also, keeping current deck hw specs will allow developers to focus on single device when optimizing game for deck. Some games (i.e. cyberpunk 2077) already have dedicated "steam deck" graphics preset. Some (i.e. sons of the forest) have steamdeck: true/false variable in debug window. Maybe we'll see dedicated deck support in some game engines? Who knows. [1] https://www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview-late-2022 https://www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview...

ip26 4y ago
5nm zen4 can probably beat 7nm zen2 on efficiency, which would help battery life. Perhaps it isn’t a big enough factor to matter, however.
- awill 4y ago
  probably?? A 3-4 year newer CPU architecture, and a 2 generation improvement on FAB. Yes.
shmerl 4y ago
Why wouldn't newer APU help for lower battery drain though? > keeping current deck hw specs will allow developers to focus on single device when optimizing game for deck That argument is used by incumbent console makers to refresh their hardware once in 5 years which results in it being horribly behind and holding games back as well. So I don't really buy this logic.
- fbdab103 4y ago
  Then you can get into a situation where the refresh Xbox plays games better than the original release. That confusion about, "Is this game compatible" is not great for consumers.

gloryjulio 4y ago

The biggest upgrade would actually be the screen. I already found the screen resolution + meh ips made it unappealing to play demanding games anyway. For example, I could make monster hunter world to run at 60 fps but many games like this is just not designed for 720p. There are so many things on screen that are shrunk to few pixels and it just looks bad

djmips 4y ago
Games don't even work well on my older full-sized TV. The UIs seem geared towards high resolutions and people with really good eyesight.
thebruce87m 4y ago
They pair pretty well with Nreal Air glasses - now if only I could write a driver to make the screen stay in space rather than moving with my head.
sosodev 4y ago
I’ve found that forcing games to run at above native resolutions can help quite a bit. The aliasing that happens at the native res can be pretty bad even with high AA settings depending on the implementation. Also, the deck tends to have GPU headroom due to the awful CPU performance so you can do it for free usually.
- gloryjulio 4y ago
  It's not just that. Many modern games are simply not designed for low resolution. 1080p is the barely minimum for them and higher resolutions would be even better. There will be too many objects on screen. When u shrink it to 720p, it's simply not viable anymore as the objects and textures have too few pixels to represent.
  - acomjean 4y ago
    Sounds like more of a game problem. The screen is about 200dpi which is pretty good. As more games test on the deck that should improve. I tried playing some steam board games on there, the text is readable but on a small screen it's not a good experience. It worked well with an external screen. It's a tradeoff between cost, performance, portability, battery life and resolution. They've done a nice job in my opinion.