When on July 15 it announced its portable gem, Valve has
definitely blown away the public and insiders with a product that, despite the
almost telephone analogies, may not be a real rival for the Nintendo Switch .
An almost infinite library and unlimited expansion and customization
possibilities are just some of the strengths of Steam Deck, but not all that
glitters is gold.
The project carried out by the colossus of Gabe Newell aims
to circumscribe a new market, ground already probed just a couple of months ago
by the much appreciated Aya Neo , a real portable PC with a Switchian memory
form factor. and a desktop environment based on Windows 10. The mini-PC with
Ryzen 4500U APU and Radeon graphics managed to convince even the most skeptical
thanks to surprising performance, thanks also and above all to a 7-inch display
with a maximum resolution of 1280x800 pixels.
An existential compromise that all in all allowed this small
handheld to eliminate the other compromises. As the jewel of Nintendo teaches
us , in fact, a small panel allows you to reduce the resolution to the point of
aiming for higher performance, avoiding excessively skimping on the visual
component.
Under the body ... a lot
With Steam Deck, Valve aims to convince even the most
undecided with an interesting form factor and excellent expansion
possibilities, even through a dock designed for proper desktop use.
What catalyses our attention the most is the hardware
composition of the Deck. In this regard, paradoxically, the fiercest rival of
Valve's portable console will probably not even be Aya Neo. But let's read the
specs.The small Steam Deck will be powered by a 4-Core, 8-Thread AMD Zen2 APU,
with a base clock of 2.4GHz and maximum frequencies of 3.5GHz, along with 16GB
of LPDDR5 memory. The task of making the graphics experience as satisfying as
possible will be delegated to a GPU with RDNA2 architecture with frequencies up
to 1.6GHz and up to 1.6 TF of computational capacity. With a maximum effective
resolution of 1280x800 pixels, similar to 720p but with a 16:10 ratio, the
declared calculation capacity therefore finds more in the Xbox Series S, in
proportion, a bitter rival.
With its 4TF, the main target of gaming in FullHD at 60FPS and,
coincidentally, a Zen2 CPU with RDNA2 graphics of almost 1.6GHz, these two
machines are incredibly close in terms of potential . Portability aside. As
stated by Valve itself, in fact, the 30 FPS are only a starting point for Steam
Deck
One aspects not to be underestimated is the RAM. We are
dealing with a quad-channel 32-bit LPDDR5 and, according to the official
specifications, it can travel up to 5500MT / s. An ideal band when combined
with a graphics sector of this type. The speed of memory, in fact, represents a
particularly intrusive yoke for AMD APUs.
RDNA2, moreover, also means Ray Tracing. It will be interest
to see how it will be able to relate to the latest generation of real-time
lighting techniques. Satisfying, certainly, but definitely demanding in terms
of performance.
The curious case of SteamOS and Steam Play
By eliminating any other device from the equation, there is
no doubt that it is a device with surprising potential on paper. However, to be
demonstrated in practice since, if it is legitimate to expect good performance
at launch, over the medium and long distance a system of this kind could give
its side to the test of time before the consoles proper.
The real test of strength, in this sense, will have to be
given also and above all by the SteamOS operating system, back in vogue after a
period of forced hibernation, renewed in the Big Picture interface but also in
the more traditional desktop environment. In SteamOS resides everything, really
all the potential of the little gem of Valve . Put simply, if the hardware is
perfectly commensurate with the target resolution, or 720p, the titles in the
library may not always be optimized properly. We are not on consoles, but not
on PC either. Steam Deck is a very hybrid system, which will try to combine two
worlds into one, in the palm of your hand.
The versatility of the SteamOS operating system will allow
almost total control over the customization of the gaming experience. From key
mapping to in-game preferences , there is no doubt that this solution will
reward the company over the compartmentalized approach of the console world .
Steam Deck is, on balance, a PC. With all the limitations of the case. The user
could find himself in his hands a system that allows total freedom of choice,
but its longevity is precisely linked to the optimizations that the videogame
industry will be able to provide to the relevant market.
Not only longevity but also compatibility. Yes, because
SteamOS is a Linux-based system and as suchmost of the titles will not run
natively but through Valve Proton .
It is a compatibility layer that combines " a modified
version of Wine and a series of high-performance graphics API implementations
" to allow Linux to run games designed for Windows. Currently some titles,
even high-sounding ones, have serious problems with the Steam Play package and,
by extension, with Proton. A problem not a problem actually. Valve's goal is in
fact to achieve full compatibility on all (or almost all) of the games on the
proprietary Steam platform. In all of this, if we wanted to, we should not
encounter any kind of limitation in the installation of Windows 10 , but losing
that console-like experience that Valve aims to give us.
One hand washes the other
Finally, we want to dedicate a couple of lines to the
so-called tricks of the trade that could allow Steam Deck to stand the test of
time.
For just a few weeks, AMD has given us its latest treasure.
In fact, the highly anticipated Super Resolution has recently been added to the
FidelityFX optimizations package , a spatial upscaling algorithm that could
represent an answer to many of the problems that afflict the PC Gaming market.
One of all is the problem of the semiconductor shortage that has made video
cards literally impossible to find. This solution will in fact allow older
video cards to significantly increase their ability to last over time and,
hopefully, to withstand the next generational leaps. Clearly this is not the
panacea for all ills but, as we have also ascertained in our FSR test, with
this technique you can achieve incredible performance boosts. With the most
aggressive presets we are talking about a framerate more than doubled, as long
as you accept compromises in terms of visual quality.
Compromises that, as we said a few paragraphs ago,
inevitably will thin in the presence of a display of just 7 inches. Moreover,
the presence of FidelityFX Super Resolution will allow to further stratify
users by needs. On the one hand we will find those who aim for the maximum
possible framerate for a more fluid but less pleasing to the eye experience but
whoever wants to, may prefer a Ray Tracing experience with a generous boost of
up to 30% with the Ultra Quality preset.
The road is long, the preorder Steam Deck have left and the
first shipments should not take off on December 1, then enter our homes at the
beginning of the new year. Only time will be able to answer all the questions
that now hover from its presentation and decree once and for all whether the
new Valve console will be allowed to enter the Olympus of the medium or if it
will only be a beautiful meteor.
