In a fairly sudden flip of occasions, Valve has launched a revamped model of its Steam Deck console that bought a bigger OLED show, a extra environment friendly system-on-chip, a higher-performance reminiscence subsystem, a 1 TB storage possibility, sooner Wi-Fi 6E, and higher-capacity battery. Whereas efficiency goal of the moveable gaming gadget remained the identical, the brand new unit may simply be sooner than the unique one resulting from sooner reminiscence. In the meantime, the most affordable 256GB model of the console, which retained an LCD display screen, now prices $399.
The principle distinction between the brand new Steam Deck OLED and the unique Steam Deck is the bigger 7.4-inch OLED show. The brand new display screen retains a 1280×720 decision, however it has a 600 nits typical brightness (a serious enchancment) and likewise helps HDR with a most zonal luminosity of 1000 nits, in accordance with Tom’s {Hardware}. The brand new monitor may also cowl 101.8% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut, up from 48.5% in case of the unique Steam Deck, our colleagues discovered. Regardless of the bigger show, the console retained dimensions of the unique one, however bought 29 grams lighter since OLEDs don’t want a backlighting module and a show driver with all the suitable circuitry.
One other main change from the unique one is that Steam Deck OLED makes use of AMD’s new semi-custom SoC with 4 Zen 2 x86 cores and an RDNA 2-based GPU with 512 stream processors that’s now made on TSMC’s N6 course of know-how. Utilization of N6 made the SoC a little bit cheaper to supply and allowed to retain the unique 4W – 15W energy envelope with out the necessity to differ GPU clock from 1.0 GHz to 1.60 GHz, which can have a gentle optimistic impact on efficiency in sure video games.
An fascinating element in regards to the new unit is that it makes use of a 16 GB LPDDR5-6400 reminiscence subsystem with a 102.4 GB/s of peak bandwidth, up from 88 GB/s bandwidth in case of the unique one. We will solely ponder whether a 16% reminiscence bandwidth enhance will considerably have an effect on gaming efficiency, however we really feel it might carry a lift in sure bandwidth-hungry eventualities. Alternatively, sooner reminiscence could also be only a bit extra energy environment friendly.
Talking of energy, it needs to be famous that the Steam Deck OLED additionally comes with a 50 Wh battery, up from a 40 Wh battery within the authentic one, so count on the brand new one to have an extended battery life. In the meantime, the brand new console comes with an extended 2.5-meter energy twine.
One more notable enchancment of the Steam Deck OLED is 1 TB storage subsystem (and the M.2-2230 drive can nonetheless get replaced with one thing totally different) on the range-topping mannequin. In the meantime, to obtain video games sooner, Steam Deck OLED comes with a Wi-Fi 6E adapter, up from Wi-Fi 5 on the unique mannequin.
Valve launches its Steam Deck OLED in time for the vacation buying system and along with make the product extra enticing total, it additionally makes the platform extra accessible. The older 64 GB eMMC mannequin with an LCD display screen might be out there for $349 whereas provides final, whereas the 256 GB LCD model will value $399 to any extent further (down from $529). The brand new Steam Deck OLED 512 GB is priced at $449, whereas the Steam Deck OLED 1 TB carries a $649 MSRP.
