WEBVTT 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:08.480 just a little more no we are finally ready to fully explore 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:12.960 the hardware of the steam deck that includes thermals battery life and even 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:18.000 performance in an assortment of valve approved titles that range from this is 00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:22.600 a great experience to I am really surprised they wanted us to talk about 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:24.400 this I could not be more excited the 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:28.560 seeds of the steam deck were planted over a decade ago with the announcement 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:31.920 of Steam Big Picture Mode I love that this page is still up by the way you 00:00:29.759 --> 00:00:35.840 guys and with all the Innovations packed into it whether you realize it yet or 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:42.760 not you are looking at what is arguably the most Innovative gaming PC in 20 00:00:38.680 --> 00:00:46.120 years more maybe now a lot of the secret 00:00:42.760 --> 00:00:47.640 sauce is software but given its current 00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:51.920 rough edges we're not going to be showing that until valve lifts a 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:57.960 separate embargo but there is still a lot to jump into here starting with this 00:00:55.440 --> 00:01:02.879 message from our sponsor project kill switch very punny Nam de by the way but 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:07.640 there's nothing fny about D Brand's upcoming case for the steam deck it kind 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:12.479 of looks like their grip phone cases and their horrible attitude had a baby and 00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:16.159 then gave it a Cheesy name you can check out the teaser page at the link down 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.040 below while I can assume that most of you have watched our preview steam deck 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:32.799 coverage leading up till now I can't assume that you remember the details so 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:37.920 let's Blitz through the basics three configs with identical key specs varied 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:42.920 storage and aggressive conso like prices that valve CEO Gabe n described as 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:49.280 painful to hit the highlights are the custom amdoc featuring 4 zen2 processing 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:51.439 cores and rdna2 Graphics mobile ddr5 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:57.320 memory and what essentially amounts to an integrated steam controller giving 00:01:53.399 --> 00:02:00.119 Gamers a whopping five Z inputs per side 00:01:57.320 --> 00:02:04.600 including the joystick clicks and remap rear paddles that are in my opinion 00:02:02.520 --> 00:02:08.879 perfectly tuned to be easy to press but nearly impossible to accidentally Mash 00:02:07.119 --> 00:02:15.000 in games you're going to have the choice between analog sticks a d-pad a 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:17.640 haptically enhanced dual touchpad thing 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:21.599 and even onboard gyro controls that by default are activated by placing a 00:02:19.480 --> 00:02:25.440 finger on the capacitive surface of the right joystick it is an impressive 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:29.920 arsenal of input options that promises to make everything from Shooters to 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:34.640 Mouse dependent games like Civ enjoyable with a little bit of kaj jiggering of 00:02:31.959 --> 00:02:38.599 course promises mean nothing if the hardware doesn't live up to the hype and 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:43.120 I want to start with the controller since my rushed Hands-On and my initial 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:48.879 unboxing on ShortCircuit I have logged hours of gaming time on the steam deck 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.040 and while I can reach every button 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:55.879 comfortably from a neutral relaxed position I do find a number of them a 00:02:53.200 --> 00:02:59.400 little awkward to use and I don't really know how to describe this other than to 00:02:57.440 --> 00:03:04.440 say it's kind of like spooning someone taller than you cuddling is fine but 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:08.840 don't try and do anything too ambitious or you might strain a muscle if you have 00:03:06.959 --> 00:03:13.720 larger hands you might not share these concerns but my wife and I both had 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:19.440 similar issues albeit with different buttons for example I struggled to reach 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:23.920 the shoulders without shifting my grip a little and she found the abxy was a 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:28.400 little bit awkward for her but Jake had no issues at all so your mileage may 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:32.720 vary and even for myself I think it's a small price to pay for the unprecedented 00:03:30.920 --> 00:03:36.640 input flexibility afforded by valves design and did I even mention the 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:42.640 touchcreen yet did I even mention LTT Store.com yet get a water bottle and it 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:48.360 gets even better the feel of the sticks buttons triggers and even the d-pad 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:50.720 which I am very particular about are all 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:55.159 right up there with my favorite console controllers the joysticks in particular 00:03:52.799 --> 00:03:59.319 are Miles Ahead of every other handheld that I have touched with the exception 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:04.360 of the I next and valves repair friendly approaching to the joysticks promises a 00:04:01.640 --> 00:04:08.400 long gaming life for your deck of course a big part of Hardware longevity is 00:04:06.200 --> 00:04:12.680 Cooling and I'm extremely pleased to say that temperatures were well under 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:16.079 control in all of our test scenarios the thoughtful design of the deck keeps 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:20.400 touch surfaces at or near skin temperature even during an extended 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:25.280 gaming session which is a big advantage over more compact portable gaming PCs 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:29.479 like the I Neo 2021 Pro and the 1X player mini and even though the fan 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:33.280 looked kind of wimpy in valves official ter tear down video get subbed by the 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:37.560 way cuz our own tear down is coming it managed to do its job effectively and 00:04:35.320 --> 00:04:42.880 without complaint even in control a demanding AAA game on valves approved 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:48.039 list even in the most aggressive s so power profile which allows it to draw 00:04:44.479 --> 00:04:49.840 its full 25 watts we saw both CPU and 00:04:48.039 --> 00:04:54.000 GPU temps that were well within the range that we'd consider safe all while 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:58.600 remaining at the reasonable noise levels that we recorded in our tests one Oddity 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:04.000 we observed though the steam deck ran at its peak clock rate for about 15 minutes 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:11.039 after which it appeared to settle into a ever so slightly lower clock speed like 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:12.759 on the order of 10 to 20 MHz slower now 00:05:11.039 --> 00:05:17.320 at this time we don't have a tool to measure fan RPM but one Theory we came 00:05:15.039 --> 00:05:21.520 up with just now we have not verified this is that we might have reached 00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:25.400 valve's Target GPU temperature and then when the fan ramped up maybe the system 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:29.520 was left with slightly less power budget for the S so hopefully we can dig into 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:33.400 this in more depth than our full review but but even if we don't I'm comfortable 00:05:31.479 --> 00:05:38.720 saying that it's a non-c concern because performance was nearly identical after 00:05:35.919 --> 00:05:44.360 it settled in also this difference was not nearly as significant as what we saw 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:46.160 on the iono 2021 Pro and that is just 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:50.600 the tip of the excite Berg when it comes to Thermal and power management valve's 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:54.440 promised TDP and clock controls mean that while you can just leave the S so 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:58.520 on auto and for most people we'd recommend doing just that and using FPS 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:02.759 limits to extend your battery life while offering predictable performance 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:07.759 for the hardc you can also expect to be able to fine-tune your power profile to 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:09.880 optimize for your exact use case want to 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:14.440 emulate PS3 games and need your CPU going hard for example you'll be able to 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:17.840 and I'm really excited to see what the community comes up with here and the 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:21.720 community for this thing do not kid yourself is going to be enormous like 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:26.400 I've seen haters out there that are like this thing is not going to take off you 00:06:23.599 --> 00:06:31.240 are wrong and now that I can show you these performance numbers you are going 00:06:27.840 --> 00:06:33.240 to see just how wrong you were it's 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:38.319 important to keep in mind that valve did hand select each of the games for our 00:06:35.400 --> 00:06:41.880 preview embargo today but I also haven't seen anything to make me believe that 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:46.680 their goal was to mislead us about the deck's capabilities so kicking things 00:06:43.919 --> 00:06:51.400 off control is a direct X game with no native Linux Port but a platinum rating 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:56.680 on proton DB meaning that it should run perfectly on Linux out of the box and 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:58.199 that's exactly what we saw more than 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:02.199 perfect I'd say given that the steam deck absolutely r and away with the 00:07:00.280 --> 00:07:06.879 performance Crown here another worth mentioning side note is that on a screen 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:13.120 this size even at the low preset control looks absolutely amazing what a time to 00:07:10.479 --> 00:07:17.479 be alive right continuing on Devil May Cry 5 is arguably an even bigger win for 00:07:15.599 --> 00:07:22.599 the steam deck which basically never dipped under 70 FPS on medium settings 00:07:20.520 --> 00:07:28.120 with anti-aliasing enabled okay it's Cheapo basic antialiasing but come on 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:31.599 and it looks great ghost Runner continues valve dominance here with the 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:35.479 steam deck putting up a clear win in directx11 and creating a new standard 00:07:34.039 --> 00:07:40.879 for mobile gaming performance in directx12 I mean the decks lows here 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:45.879 managed to nearly outstrip the average frame rates of competing devices powered 00:07:42.919 --> 00:07:51.759 by Intel XC graphics and AMD's last gen Vega architecture gpus but it also isn't 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:57.159 a completely one-sided fight here dead cells is the first of our why did valve 00:07:54.479 --> 00:08:01.240 want us to look at this games on the surface it actually seems like the steam 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:05.319 deck put up an embarrassing fight here coming in dead last but we also observed 00:08:03.919 --> 00:08:09.520 that even though we unlocked the frame rate s so power consumption was quite 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:13.840 low in this game we've got a couple of theories about this maybe around 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:18.720 optimization or valve doing something in the background to save power rather than 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:21.039 push past 150 FPS but we're not sure at 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:24.879 this time and we have no reassuring explanation for this next one massive 00:08:23.080 --> 00:08:30.479 credit to Val first and foremost for getting forsa Horizon 5 a Microsoft game 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:34.959 running at all but while The in-game Benchmark reports industry-leading 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:40.279 performance here the gameplay experience does not hold up both Jake and I 00:08:37.719 --> 00:08:46.320 experienced what I would describe as kind of a physics rubber banding effect 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:49.040 where the animation stays smooth true to 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:53.920 the frame rate report but the experience of playing the game is uneven and 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:59.200 jarring it kind of reminds me of when a video call gets buffered and then the 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:04.399 speaker's voice goes slow and goes fast to catch and slow and fast to catch up 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:09.839 but issues with forsa aside two things are clear one is that the hardware is 00:09:07.640 --> 00:09:13.480 damn impressive I mean I'm sure that if we had a working Windows GPU driver in 00:09:11.800 --> 00:09:19.800 time for this preview the steam deck would have peeled away from the competition infor as well and the second 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:24.760 is that valve software team and the open source Community are just s tier there's 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:29.120 no other way to put it the fact that any of this works at all is a modern 00:09:26.959 --> 00:09:32.680 technological miracle there's a lot more to get aing than FPS however and 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:37.920 honestly this is where the steam deck both shines and loses some of its luster 00:09:36.040 --> 00:09:42.000 I mean it speaks volume about the efficiency of the Apu that AMD's custom 00:09:40.040 --> 00:09:47.120 s so division put together that in spite of its mere 40w hour battery that's 00:09:44.760 --> 00:09:52.480 almost 20% lower than the competition the steam deck puts up better battery 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:54.839 longevity numbers than its competitors 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:58.680 that 8 plus hours under light loads is particularly interesting to me as a 00:09:56.760 --> 00:10:02.600 retro emulation Enthusiast I'm going to put a lot hours on this thing but it's 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:06.800 not even the star of the show in my opinion compared to the 1X player mini 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:10.720 and everything that I've seen from ya including the limited edition next 00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:15.800 preview unit that they sent me the screen on the steam deck stands out as 00:10:12.880 --> 00:10:20.240 just plain better it's not shockingly vibrant like the switch OLED nor does 00:10:17.839 --> 00:10:26.000 its 1280x 800 resolution give it the sharpness of the 1X player mini but it's 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:27.920 a very complete package deep enough 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:32.120 blacks that you won't find the glow of black bars distracting IND discernable 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:36.560 input leg and motion blur and outof the-box color performance that isn't 00:10:34.079 --> 00:10:41.040 going to win any awards but didn't look off either until we'd run diagnostic 00:10:38.560 --> 00:10:45.920 tests in a controlled environment the best thing about it to me though was the 00:10:43.079 --> 00:10:50.760 excellent exemplary job that valve has done of making the display usable under 00:10:48.040 --> 00:10:55.600 any conditions the anti-glare coding on the 512 gig version does a fantastic job 00:10:53.560 --> 00:11:01.279 of minimizing Reflections in daylight without having any noticeable in my 00:10:57.959 --> 00:11:03.079 experience effect on Shar Ness but I 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:07.160 should make it clear that I don't think I would personally spend the extra if I 00:11:04.880 --> 00:11:11.800 didn't need more storage since I find myself doing the vast majority of my 00:11:08.880 --> 00:11:16.720 gaming at night and regardless of screen finish the steam deck is by far the most 00:11:14.800 --> 00:11:22.040 comfortable handheld that I own to look at in a dimly lit environment it just 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:24.639 gets so much dimmer than anything else 00:11:22.040 --> 00:11:28.519 and details like that really illustrate the care and attention that valve has 00:11:26.079 --> 00:11:31.760 poured into this project do not underestimate the difficulty of 00:11:30.160 --> 00:11:36.600 producing a screen that manages acceptable color performance across such 00:11:33.920 --> 00:11:42.040 a wide range of brightness settings and believe it or not the screen pales in 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:47.320 comparison to the speakers I was able to use Bluetooth or 3 and2 mm headphones no 00:11:44.959 --> 00:11:52.279 problem they performed as expected but the speakers man the other devices that 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:58.800 I'm reminded of when gaming on the steam deck are the original HTC1 and the 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.800 latest generation M1 MacBook 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:07.399 like to be clear they're still tiny speakers valve can't bend the laws of 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:12.440 physics but I was genuinely surprised that a pair of drivers this small could 00:12:09.839 --> 00:12:16.880 create a Sound Stage this wide as I've have cars ripping past me in Forza 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:19.680 Horizon 5 I mean I guess given the performance of both the nearfield 00:12:18.160 --> 00:12:25.079 speakers and the microphone array on the index VR headset I shouldn't be that 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:29.639 surprised so Val can you hurry up and make a gaming headset already I promise 00:12:27.680 --> 00:12:34.680 you it would immediately obsolete most of the other crap that exists and you 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:36.600 would sell millions seriously I promise 00:12:34.680 --> 00:12:41.240 but I said it wasn't all good right I want to talk about haptics by valve's 00:12:38.959 --> 00:12:46.680 own admission Rumble was an afterthought on the steam deck compared to the space 00:12:44.079 --> 00:12:51.480 Power and cost downsides they felt that the benefit was too small and 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:56.720 respectfully I disagree even if I hadn't already experienced the tight responsive 00:12:53.959 --> 00:13:02.519 linear Motors in the io Pro 2021 I would have immediately noticed the loose cheap 00:12:59.560 --> 00:13:02.519 toy feel of the 00:13:03.920 --> 00:13:09.560 touchpads both when using them as a mousing surface and when they're 00:13:07.800 --> 00:13:14.240 providing pseudo haptic feedback for the rest of the controller there's just no 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:20.000 nice way to put this at the moment haptics on this device are a poo stain 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:21.440 on an otherwise crisp white sheet and 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:25.079 valve says they're going to fix it with software but we're going to have to wait 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:29.240 for the full review embargo to find out if I need to stop mashing X for doubt 00:13:27.040 --> 00:13:32.880 over here sorry here's my x button though valve hasn't given me much reason 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:37.399 to doubt them yet they claimed at the Hands-On that both the internal SSD and 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:43.839 the micro SD card would manage similar load times and I didn't believe them but 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:47.800 so far it appears as though I was wrong I still do need to get more detail from 00:13:45.839 --> 00:13:52.639 them about whether this involved some kind of fancy trickery or if you can 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:58.000 actually just copy paste a game folder off of your other desktop onto the steam 00:13:55.160 --> 00:14:01.519 deck and I also need to find out what's going to happen as game titles that are 00:13:59.680 --> 00:14:06.680 optimized for the Blazing fast storage of the PS5 and the Xbox serieses start 00:14:04.079 --> 00:14:11.079 to arrive but for the time being I can say this you can expect to slot a 00:14:09.160 --> 00:14:14.680 terabyte of storage into your steam Deck with very little compromise to the 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:17.759 experience and what that means is that if you're brave enough to tear down your 00:14:16.199 --> 00:14:21.880 deck and upgrade it with the latest from Micron you could rock as much as 3 00:14:19.920 --> 00:14:25.800 terabyt of storage in this thing it's not as much as the 8 terabytes that I 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:29.839 have in my IU next right now thanks to its support for full-size 22 adm. two 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:34.199 drives but that kind of brings up an awkward 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:38.320 conversation that we needed to have at some point I have spent a lot of this 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:43.600 video talking about the steam deck compared to competing handheld gaming 00:14:40.199 --> 00:14:45.920 PCs but the truth is that there aren't 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:49.480 any competing handheld gaming PCs I mean obviously there are other handheld 00:14:47.199 --> 00:14:53.560 gaming PCs we showed them in the video it's just that they don't compete with 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:58.800 the steam deck in the same way that a BMW M5 doesn't compete with a Tesla 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:03.199 Model 3 sure they both have four wheels and they get you from point A to point B 00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:08.600 and quickly but those vehicles are built for very different customers and at very 00:15:06.079 --> 00:15:13.720 different price points that's the bottom line here starting at $400 the steam 00:15:11.800 --> 00:15:17.519 deck is less than half the price of anything else we looked at in this video 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:22.600 so I could complain that the tactile feel of the Steam and quick access menu 00:15:19.920 --> 00:15:27.680 buttons are poo poo or that the width of the deck means that playing in unusual 00:15:24.680 --> 00:15:29.880 positions like lying on my side in bed 00:15:27.680 --> 00:15:33.920 is a little uncomfortable cuz my top ARM is up and the blood drains out of it but 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:40.040 I'm not going to complain about those things because it is half the price and 00:15:37.880 --> 00:15:44.199 even the top spec one has a pretty compelling value proposition with the 00:15:41.959 --> 00:15:49.360 anti-glare screen and the surprisingly nice included carrying case and this is 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:54.160 the real kicker if valve follows through on even half of their game compatibility 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:59.120 promises the steam deck is protected to have more titles available at launch 00:15:56.079 --> 00:16:00.480 than any other game console in history 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:05.000 so it's time to order a steam deck ladies and gentlemen is what I would say 00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:09.480 if I was irresponsible because the software is still make or break for this 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:13.519 puppy and valve has some big questions to answer about funky stuff like the 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:19.759 game engine rubber banding that we saw in for of horizon 5 game compatibility 00:16:16.680 --> 00:16:21.759 across the steam library and things like 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:25.199 their autor resuming gameplay let's say your steam deck wasn't online the last 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:28.759 time you were playing are you going to override a bunch of your progress when 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:33.160 you switch to your desktop we're going to have a lot to talk about next time 00:16:30.560 --> 00:16:37.040 when we get to look at the software and I have a lot to tell you about project 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:41.519 kill switch that's right dbrand made a case for the steam deck I have no idea 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:45.639 how they got their handson one to prototype this thing but it looks like 00:16:43.920 --> 00:16:50.160 kind of like their grip case it's got this sort of ruggedized rubberized 00:16:48.040 --> 00:16:53.160 finish to it looks like it's going to be extremely comfortable and one of the 00:16:51.680 --> 00:16:58.120 features I'm really looking forward to is the kickstand in the back because 00:16:55.480 --> 00:17:02.240 that is one thing valve did not include that I think Nintendo made pretty clear 00:17:00.160 --> 00:17:05.720 is a good feature to have having a little kickstand you can plug in your 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:09.600 dongle get a wireless controller plugged into this thing and that is going to be 00:17:07.439 --> 00:17:14.720 a freaking awesome experience on the plane that valve just doesn't really 00:17:11.439 --> 00:17:16.559 have an answer to out of the box so guys 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:19.559 you can check out the product page on D Brand's website we're going to have that 00:17:17.760 --> 00:17:23.559 link down below they're bad people that make good products that's all you really 00:17:20.919 --> 00:17:27.240 need to know about them JK JK JK love you 00:17:24.199 --> 00:17:29.039 dbrand and lots of love to valve for 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:33.679 sending this over for the preview I look forward to covering it in more depth as 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:39.640 we go forward did I include an LTT Store mention in this video no oh crap let's 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:39.640 go back and find a spot