Valve warns of Steam Deck throttling when used in extremely hot environments

For those who’re one of many fortunate avid gamers to personal a Steam Deck (opens in new tab), you would possibly wish to heed this warning from Valve. The corporate has closely implied customers ought not use the hand-held gaming PC in temperatures exceeding 35°C, as that will see the system hit its thermal limits and decelerate or just shut off.

For our buddies within the midst of a heatwave, a fast word about Steam Deck in excessive temperatures. Steam Deck performs at its finest in ambient temperatures between 0° and 35° C. If the temperature will get increased than this, Steam Deck might begin to throttle efficiency to guard itself.July 19, 2022

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The customized AMD APU inside the Steam Deck is designed to run as much as 100°C, no questions requested. That appears excessive sufficient to climate any outside situation, nevertheless it’s all about ambient air temperature. In our testing the Deck’s silicon reached round 60–70°C whereas gaming, although has been identified to stand up to round 80°C with much less aggressive fan profiles in place. Meaning any main fluctuations in outside temperatures may trigger complications.

After 100°C, the Steam Deck will start to crank down efficiency and energy to assist hold that temperature from exceeding its most, which is a sweltering 105°C. At that temp, the system will shut itself all the way down to keep away from any harm being completed to the APU.

It isn’t essentially a harmful factor to occur, as the entire level of your CPU having a safeguard in opposition to excessive temperatures is in order that it does not hit a temperature that shall be an issue for the silicon inside.

However while you’re avoiding harm when hitting that temperature restrict, it is nonetheless not advisable to take action typically.

Exceeding your CPU’s TJ Max temperature—the purpose the place a CPU will start to drive temperatures down by any means vital—is not a brand new one to PC avid gamers. I am positive any overclocker has hit that time earlier than or simply anybody who was unfortunate sufficient to have bolted on their CPU cooler a bit wonky.

The Steam Deck's interior, with the fan front and center.

See? There’s not a lot room and just one little fan. (Picture credit score: Future)

However the Steam Deck is not your common gaming PC, and it does not have a number of room inside to vent out extraordinarily sizzling air. The truth is, in case your CPU is overheating, due to the all-in-one nature of the Steam Deck’s AMD processor, that additionally means your GPU is getting awfully toasty. And your RAM. And your SSD. It is a compact system and there are plenty of thermally delicate components inside it that want as a lot contemporary, cool air as attainable to operate at their finest.

The warmth will have an effect on efficiency of the Deck at some extent, and that is one thing the Steam Deck, with its low-power however well-optimised APU, cannot afford to lose a lot of.

So in the event you’re nonetheless scuffling with the warmth open air, maybe it is best to depart your Steam Deck inside the home this summer season. Or a minimum of hold it safely saved till you are in a shady spot or someplace with AC.

The identical is true in your telephone, laptop computer, and all method of electronics. Most chips have a tendency swap themselves off across the identical form of temperature, so all of it comes all the way down to their cooling resolution as to how effectively they fare. Direct daylight will in all probability be a killer for many, anyhow, as cooling followers and heatsinks can’t cool parts decrease than ambient temperature, and sub-ambient cooling is hardly moveable.

The unhappy reality is that we’ll have to be extra thoughtful of how we use our electronics open air in coming years and many years, as temperatures are set to proceed to rise globally because of human-caused local weather change (opens in new tab) and heatwaves grow to be extra widespread.

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