Why it matters: For a first-gen gadget, Valve’s Steam Deck is quite versatile when it concerns do it yourself repair work and upgrades. Although Valve may not desire you to do a considerable amount of tinkering, it is possible to update the portable’s SSD without excessive hassle. iFixit likewise offers a range of replacement parts however these actually only scratch the surface area of what’s possible. With a little bit of creativity (and some quality-of-life compromises), it’s possible to additional develop on Valve’s vision as Linus Tech Tips just recently showed.
To develop the “Ultimate” Steam Deck, Linus Sebastian and team begun by including a 1TB SanDisk Extreme sd card to the portable. They likewise handled to get their hands on a 30mm Micron 2TB NVMe SSD engineering sample. Micron stated they weren’t sure if it would even operate in the Steam Deck however spoiler– it does.
The group likewise updated the Steam Deck’s thumbsticks, going with a set of electro-magnetic joysticks fromGuliKit The default Steam Deck thumbsticks are potentiometer-based and can use down in time, causing concerns like wandering. GuliKit’s sticks utilize magnets which need to get rid of such concerns and are more exact.
In a previous video, the group included a huge passive cooler from Thermalright– the HR-09 2280— to their Steam Deck. The mod sort of worked, however not as completely planned. Instead of keeping the system cooler, it simply lengthened for how long it required to warm up. After about half an hour, it got simply as hot as previously.
With the most recent round of upgrades, they included a cooling fan to the passive sink. Another little passive heatsink was attached to a small battery management chip that gets really warm under load.
( iFixit has a great tutorial on taking down the Steam Deck)
Continuing, Linus and team included a dbrand Kill Switch to secure the console. Some adjustments were required for the case to fit with the heatsink sticking out the back however this was quickly managed with a rotary cutting tool. They likewise made customized thumbstick protectors and included a tempered glass screen protector along with body skins to decrease scratches.
The group furthermore attached a 10,000mAh power bank to the back of the Steam Deck for included battery life.
To state the develop is overkill would be an understatement however it does resolve numerous of the portable’s imperfections. Not all of the mods are stylish and they definitely include some additional weight to the general plan, pressing it from 1.49 pounds stock to 2.42 pounds. Still, it reveals what’s possible if you want to invest a little bit of money and time into the portable and with any luck, possibly Valve will include a few of these concepts into future builds.
I’m personally eagerly anticipating seeing what the modding neighborhood can manage as soon as the Steam Deck Dock launches. Water cooling, anybody?
